I'm really not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I am seeing a steady rise in the average player turn out at HQ and a drop in food committee donations, which basic math tells me is a bad thing long term. I am working with staff to create new and exciting incentives to get food donations, but until I can get that off the ground, I have to constantly remind people about what I need to make a weekend's worth of food for 70+ people work. On average per event, I get just about all the donations from about 10 people who shell out between 10-20 bucks with scattered larger (read as 50) here and there to make up the shortfalls. I am trying to increase participation so that this is no longer the case, as I don't think its fair.
A pledge list is grand and all and I am more than happy to take donations on site, the issue is that I have to put a LOT on faith that I will drum up the needed money. As the average player attendance increases, so does my costs. Little known fact, I front the money for the food for everyone every event and then am reimbursed from the donations. Every Friday night I front between 300 and 400 dollars with the HOPE that I will get enough donations on site to make it up. So far its all worked out, but I came REALY close to the wire last event and had to pull most of it from the 1000 donation which I was hoping I could spread through the year and ended up using a third of.
Bottom line is this: Advance donations give me a better calculus of what I have to work with and to help me make sure I get reimbursed. IF I don't think I am going to hit my cost for an event, I have no choice but to scale back the menu. This isn't meant as a guilt trip, its the facts of the situation. If it seems harsh, its because I care a great deal about keeping the food going and keeping the menu interesting and high quality. I don't ever want to go back to the days of game stops for 4 hours at logistics cuz everyone is out getting food in town. I also don't want to serve pasta.
If you plan on donating on site, aces, my posts regarding needing people to donate do not apply to you then. Next month I'll try out a "pledge" thread and see how many people make good on it to test its viability and if that works, awesome.
--bill
