Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so how ?

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scs.sam
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Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so how ?

Post by scs.sam »

I think that this concept could merit some discussion outside of the thread on Early Birds bonuses so here are my two cents worth - please feel free to comment with constructive criticism.

Why do I think that tournament organisers need financial assistance from The NAF ?

To put it in a nutshell running a tournament is very expensive and normally costs like the venue and the caterers need to be paid for well in advance. I think that the fact that TO's are offering Early Bird bonuses to get people to pay as early as possible suggests that some TO's are struggling with these initial outlays.
I am only familiar with the UK Blood Bowl scene where according to Joemanji in the previous thread we have 35 tournaments a year - I think that is brilliant and enjoy the many different flavours available here in the South. I would hate to see tournaments I have enjoyed being cancelled because the organiser can't afford to pay out in advance for the venue. I imagine the members of the NAF from other countries feel much the same about their BB scene.

So how would the system work ?

My first though was for the NAF to loan the TO's the money but as an organisation the rules for this for just the UK alone are very difficult - it involves a licence that costs £1466 initially and then needs renewing. Between the cost of the licence and the complication of regulations it really would not be practical - especially if you consider the logistics of rolling out the scheme in other countries.

My second thought I think could work - starting with a trial run in the UK the NAF appoints some Finance Directors two would probably be enough. If a TO requires assistance with the cost of their tournament they apply to the Tournament Director who would get in touch with his areas Finance Director and they would decide using strict criteria whether funds would be released to the TO.
Instead of a loan there would be a donation with a verbal agreement that the TO would repay the funds by donating an identical amount to the NAF at the end of his tournament. I am aware that this would be a system open to abuse but that is why there would be strict criteria in place and a decision would need to be reached by both the Finance and Tournament Directors. Also while you couldn't recoup the funds in a small claims court a deterrent to effectively stealing from the NAF would be the threat of expulsion - I don't think any TO would want to be unable to run or attend NAF BB tournaments for the sake of a few hundred pounds.

As for the criteria they could be fairly strict I would think along the lines of :

For an existing TO who needs assistance :

(1) A NAF member for at least 2 years.
(2) Has attended at least 4 Tournaments in the past 2 years
(3) Has run a successful tournament in the last 2 years

For a new TO who needs assistance :

(1) A NAF member for at least 2 years.
(2) Has attended at least 6 Tournaments in the past 2 years.
(3) Can be vouched for by another TO who has run a tournament in the past 2 years.
(4) Can convince the Tournament Director that their tournament should be a success (good location/theme/timing).

So for example I'll use my personal favourite of the year Thrudball. Lets say the social club burns down and Frank needs to find a venue at short notice he manages to find one but they want a whopping deposit which Frank doesn't have he has just spent all his disposable income on School Uniforms. So he would apply to the TD who would chat with Finance guy and they would agree that Frank meets all the criteria for assistance agree that the community would be better for having the Thrudball tournament running so they donate Frank the Deposit. After Thrudball is finished Frank Donates an equal amount to the NAF. This is how I envisage it would work and of course if it were successful a similar model could be rolled out into other countries until we have a kind of Worldwide NAF TO hardship fund.

I'm sure people will correct me but I can only see one downside in that the NAF could lose a few hundred pounds if people exploited the system and I don't think that would bring down the organisation although if it happened once too often it would bring an end to the scheme.

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Re: Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so ho

Post by Pipey »

Hi Sam, so far this sort of thing has not been on the NAF agenda. TOs have needed to be financially autonomous, and sadly that means sometimes events don't run due to financial uncertainties. There is always risk, and it is the job of NTOs and TD to support and advise TOs as best they can to plan a successful event. However we accept we can't control everything. Also the process would be quite complex (as you describe) and potentially open to abuse.

One of the key things the committee are discussing is financial planning over the coming months. I'll certainly raise this as a suggestion to Geggster (Treasurer) and the others.

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Re: Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so ho

Post by SillySod »

scs.sam wrote:Instead of a loan there would be a donation with a verbal agreement that the TO would repay the funds by donating an identical amount to the NAF at the end of his tournament.
This sounds very much like a loan.

The licensing and regulations are in place for all sorts of reasons but one of the more important is that the regulations make it easier to prosecute loan sharks. I'm absolutely not an expert in this sort of thing but I would be very surprised if a "donation that you are expected to repay" is an acceptable alternative. I would expect the law to treat is as unlicensed loaning.

Whether or not you would ever be prosecuted is another matter but this doesn't seem like a legitimate dodge.
scs.sam wrote:strict criteria
We have a very different idea of what constitutes strict criteria!

If I were to design a system then it would involve TOs giving a thorough breakdown of how the finances are expected to be used alongside a business case for their event that sets out a clear and viable plan for recouping the funds (via tickets!). I'm not sure if I would add additional checks just to make the system extra miserable to use (discouraging people from using it unnecessarily) but I would be tempted :P

---

I'm not saying that we should kill the idea without investigating further or that your set of criteria were unworkable. Just providing you with a somewhat alternative viewpoint.

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Re: Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so ho

Post by sann0638 »

Pippy wrote: One of the key things the committee are discussing is financial planning over the coming months. I'll certainly raise this as a suggestion to Geggster (Treasurer) and the others.
Could you talk about releasing indicative minutes of committee discussions too?

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Re: Should the NAF offer financial help to TO's and if so ho

Post by Pipey »

General point - yes, we need to improve the way we communicate what we're discussing. Point taken. And high on our agenda for sure. Watch this space (or more likely the newsletter!).

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