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The overwhelming success of the TEI MM, both at University of Maryland (2007), and at Kings College London (2008) in which the community moved from a one and a half day MM to a three day conference, coupled with a growing community of practice and inflationary pressures, makes this an opportune time for the Board to reconsider the funding model that supports what is arguably the TEI’s most important public event.
The current funding model is as follows:
- The Board provides the local host with $5,000 in support
- The Programme Committee seeks outside support to augment this amount
- The local host contributes an amount raised from local funds
- Any number of delegates from an institution from institutional members may attend free of charge
- Individual subscribers attend free of charge
For the KCL meeting, unfortunately, the local hosts have not had time to prepare a post-meeting budget, so the numbers below are at best an estimate. I do not have the total amount received from fundraising, nor any other income generated by a conference fee. Although these numbers are thus quite rough, but are nevertheless illustrative. At the KCL meeting, there were 150 attendees. Total costs ran to approximately £7,560; per head costs were c £50 per head. The $5,000 the TEI used to subvent the MM paid for 60 individuals to attend. The local hosts feel they may have lost a small amount on the MM.
At the UM meeting there were 125 attendees. Total expenses were $9,300. Per head costs amounted to $75. The $5,000 subvention from the TEI thus paid for 66 attendees. Additional income received (both from fundraising and local sponsorship) amounted to $3,600. We thus lost $704 on the meeting. However, $2,475 was collected in individual subscription fees to attend the meeting, which was turned over to the TEI. Since I made a mistake and charged people $25 too much, that extra money covered the deficit.
In spite of the fact that the numbers we have to work with are not ideal, there is enough of a pattern to suggest several proposals for different funding models that the Board may wish to adopt in part or in full:
- The $5,000 the TEI contributes to the MM should increase each year at the rate of inflation;
- The individual subscriber fee should be decoupled from the conference fee. At $50, for 2007, for example, the TEI would have lost money on individual subscribers who attended the MM;
- Individual subscribers should receive a discount for attending the MM. The discount should be set at a rate so that it is attractive so that they might also consider joining the Consortium;
- Institutional subscribers should be limited to two or three attendees as part of the institutional subscription; any attendees over 2/3 should be charged. This fee should be heavily discounted over the regular conference rate (this might be calculated at the marginal cost per attendee);
- There should be a regular conference rate and a student rate
- If the cost to the local host for the free attendees from institutional subscribers exceeds the per person costs as represented by the $5,000 subvention coupled with funds raised via sponsorship, the local host and the TEI Board will agree on a marginal per person additional subvention (i.e. per person costs, for example for coffee breaks, conference bags, gifts, marginal reception costs, etc.). This rate should be substantially less than the cost per person that includes fixed costs.
As this proposal covers more than a simple request for additional funds, I suggest we consider the proposals above before deciding on an amount (if we decide on an amount at all) that we will offer to the local hosts for increased support.