Those who are full (playing) members of the Oak Bay Lawn Bowling Club will know that our annual dues for 2019 are set at $250 per member. You might wonder what becomes of this money.
First, from the $250 collected $35 is sent from the club to Bowls BC (BBC) which in turn sends $19 to Bowls Canada Boulingrin (BCB). Thus, of the $35 sent to BBC $16 is retained by the provincial body with the remaining $19 being sent to the national organization. This leaves our club with a net $215 per member to fund annual operations.
What does BBC and BCB do with our money? The list of expenditures for both organizations is extensive. Starting with BBC, monies collected fund a host of activities in support of BC bowlers and their clubs. These include providing individual membership cards, promotional material, scorecards, insurance, various grants, rebates, and achievement awards.
BBC also has responsibility to organize provincial playdowns and thus fund or assist in funding travel and accommodation, payment to host clubs for use of greens, employment of umpires, promotional activities, etc. Provision of instructors for coaching and umpiring clinics is another important service provided by BBC to clubs.
BBC supports the Long Term Athletic Program, BC Blind Bowlers at national competitions, and the Junior Program. As with most organizations today, maintaining a high-quality website is another essential expense.
The foregoing items are under continual review by volunteers who serve on the BBC Board. Suffice it to say that the money sent is not spent without careful consideration of how it can best be used for the benefit of each and every BC bowler.
What about BCB? As the national organization for our sport, BCB has many of the same expenses as our provincial body. Additional expenses include the rental of office space, paid staff, and a need to conduct business with both world and provincial governing bodies.
A common belief at the club level is that our money is spent by BCB on high performance bowlers. This is not true. The high-performance program is supported by Sport Canada, the national team members, and BCB other fundraising initiatives.
BCB uses our dollars to develop initiatives which specifically target local clubs. Examples include the national Learn to Bowl Program, a pilot club development workshop and a new blog (biasedbowls.ca) designed to share best practices amongst clubs. Additionally, BCB provides an online newsletter This Week in Bowls which can be subscribed to on their homepage at www.bowlscanada.com.
The preceding information about our provincial and national bodies offers only a glimpse at what they do for us and how they use our money. A good way to learn more is to visit their websites at http://bowlsbc.com/ and https://www.bowlscanada.com/.
Last but not least is the club. Your Executive Committee is responsible for deciding how best to operate the club on the basis of income through net membership dues of $215 per full member. Disclosure: we have additional sources of income including grants, bar sales, tournaments, grocery store cards, facility rentals, and donations, to name a few. But membership dues are our primary source of income from which we can more predictably forecast revenue and in turn provide you, the member, with maximum value for your membership.
The club level expenses funded through your dues are many and varied. When a former Greens & Grounds member was asked to report on the state of the greens, his response would sometimes be to “look out the window”. Likewise, a careful look around the club should make clear the numerous capital projects and maintenance items that require funding. The easiest way to follow club expenses is to view our financial statements which are available to members in the Members Only section of the club website.
In summary, there will always be debate about how much should be assessed for dues and how much of our dues should be shared with BBC and BCB. That’s as it should be. But what needs no debate is that at the national, provincial, and club level, many of the most dedicated members of our bowling community continuously strive to provide the rest of us with the best value possible for what we pay to enjoy the sport of bowls.
