Blog

Introduction

As you probably know, in January 24th, we finally created the WOCommunity Association as a real entity, a non-profit corporation registered in Canada. Starting with the incorporation, we reworked the "products" that we offer, and now you can support the Community by becoming a first-class member of the community.

Operations expenses

By becoming a first-class member, you help to help pay the expenses for the WOCommunity Association services and tools, and also to make deposits for WOWODC. So you might ask yourself, where's my money is going? Let's drill down:

Dedicated server for wocommunity.org. The cost for the server's rental, which is hosted at iWeb in Montreal, is $779.88 every 6 months. You might say: wow, that's expensive! But the server needs to run:
- Three Project Wonders apps
- Confluence
- PostgreSQL
- Jenkins
- Atlassian Crowd
- CommuniGate Pro (mail server + mailing lists)

The server is currently using 6 GB of RAM, 104 GB of disk space and an average of 50 GB of bandwidth each month (it can go as high as 125 GB when we release the WOWODC recordings).

FreshBooks. We use FreshBooks for accounting and to create invoices. $31.45/monthly.

Shopify. The WOCommunity Store needed some reworking but we (well, Pascal) didn't have the time to work on it. We started using Shopify so that we can have a nice and speedy online store. $61.95/monthly.

CrashPlan. We needed a backup service so that we have a backup of important data and configuration outside iWeb. $32.99/annually.

Incorporation of the association. $250 to register it at the Canada government, and $34 to register it at the provincial government. One time fee.

PayPal and Stripe (credit card gateway) transaction fees: 2.9%.

So, basic expenses are $2713.55 annually, meaning we need 45 first-class members at $50 each to pay just for the basic expenses.

Expenses

	Annual total (including taxes)
Dedicated server	1559.76
FreshBooks	377.40
Shopify	743.40
CrashPlan	32.99
Total	$2 713.55

Needed revenues: 56 first class members @ $50 each.

WOWODC 2013 expenses and revenues

Now, let's see the WOWODC 2013 numbers.

We hired an event manager who is dealing with the logistics and he will also be on premise at the event, he's the one who will deal with the hotel for any inquiries like special needs, adjusting the heat, etc. We had to pay 50% ($1724.62) of his fees when we signed the contract, and the other 50% ($1724.62) will be paid when the event ends. The first 50% was paid from the revenues of membership from 2012.

The estimated cost, before taxes, done by the Hilton is $17 000. We had to make a initial deposit of $1700, which was paid by cheque from the 2013 membership/sponsorship revenues. We also need to do one 25% deposit before April 25 and another 25% deposit on May 22. Our own estimated cost is $27 971.

We had to make a 50% deposit for the A/V provider. That deposit was $2,832.70, and was paid by Pascal's credit card. The other 50% must be paid right after the event.

Since Andrus is going to do a full training day, we are paying his stay at the hotel + his plane trip from NYC to Montreal. Estimated cost is $1287.22.

	Total (including taxes)
Hilton banquet service	27 971
Event manager	3 449.24
A/V provider	5 665.40
Andrus' hotel bill and plane ticket	1 287.22
Badges and larnyards	150
Total expenses	$38 522.86

We are expecting the same number (64) of guests as last year and all presenters gets a free pass, bringing the number of people to 75 (including the event manager).

It's a bit hard to estimate the revenues for WOWODC because of the group rebates, but if we have a similar number of groups as last year, revenues should be:

	Total (including taxes)
Ticket sales	$35 050
Gold Sponsor	$1 127
Silver Sponsors	$1 500
Bronze Sponsors	$600
Total revenue	$38 277

Which gives us a $245 deficit.

Conclusion

As you can see, it's a lot of expenses, and we do not expect a profit.

So please support the WOCommunity Association by becoming a first-class member or by coming to WOWODC. Everyone benefits from the WOWODC material, but to have WOWODC content, we need to actually do the event.