Overview
The Big Red Bands operate on an annual budget of approximately $165,000. Aside from a small, past subsidy related to the Band Center, the University does not provide any annual support to the Band. In general, all band expenses, including travel costs, music advisor compensation, instruments, and Band Center costs are supported by annual alumni giving and payout from the Band’s endowment funds. Each fiscal year, the BRBAA Advisory Council establishes a budget for the Bands’ operations based on student and alumni input. This budget is presented to Band Alumni at the annual Homecoming BRBAA meeting. The following summary provides highlights of the fiscal year 2018 financial results and the fiscal year 2019 budget.
Fiscal Year 2018 Performance
Overall, the Band had FY18 income of $182,706 and expenses of $159,335. Income was 7% higher than budgeted and expenses were 6% lower than budgeted.
Fig 1: FY 2017 Income and Expense- Budgets vs Actuals.
Over the last 5 fiscal years (2014-2018), the bands’ income has grown an average of 11% per year. This is mainly due to the introduction of Cornell Giving Day in 2015; income growth has slowed down significantly since then. Over the same period, the bands’ expenses have grown by an average of 6% per year. This is due to Band Center-related costs as well as increased costs for bus travel.
Fig 2: Historical Annual Income and Expenses.
Income Statement
The Band Endowment payout continues to grow, due in large part to a growing utility endowment and past share purchases. The actual payout of $58,725 was 13% above the FY17 payout amount, even though the payout rate per share dropped by 6%. Total gifts of $99,024 were 13% higher than budget, but actual FY18 gifts were $4,200 less than FY16. Pep Band SAFC funding was within 3% of budget, while Marching Band SAFC funding matched the budget. Marching Band fees were almost 30% below budget for unknown reasons. Despite this, the Marching Band student leadership is confident that it will meet their budget this year due to the large freshmen class and fees already received.
Fig3: Band Income Sources. The Bands rely primarily on annual alumni giving for operational funding.
Expense Summary
The Bands’ expenses in FY18 were mainly at or below budget. Notable differences between actual and the budgeted expenses were:
- Marching band uniform expenses (under budget by $3,300) – The dry cleaning expense prior to the 2018 Fall season was budgeted for FY18 but occurred in FY19. The FY19 uniform budget will therefore by higher due to the possibility of having two dry cleaning charges in the same fiscal year.
- Marching band equipment expenses (under budget by $6,100) – We encouraged the student leadership to use this budget to ensure that the bands’ instruments stay in a state of good repair.
- Marching band miscellaneous expenses (under budget by $3,200)
Net Financial Standing
The Band’s current endowment value stood at over $1.4 million as of July 1, 2018. Endowment shares payout based on the University Board of Trustees payout policy which considers a rolling performance average. The FY19 payout is $2.48 per share, down from $2.58 per share in FY17. Cash as of July 1 stood at $105,000 and an additional $84,000 in booked equipment reserve is held in the endowment, representing 5.8% of the total endowment value.
Fig 4: Endowment Value and Total Number of Shares. Endowment Value is a function of the number of shares and share value. The Band is the beneficiary of the Fischell Endowment Fund, created to offset annual operational costs of the Band Center.
Fiscal Year 2019 Budget
The BRBAA Advisory Council submitted a budget for FY19 based on $177,000 of income and $166,000 of expenses. The FY19 budget includes travel costs for three Marching Band trips and four Pep Band trips, $14,000 in Pep Band playoff expenses, and $21,000 of Band Center overhead charges. Annual band giving has been budgeted about 11% below FY17 to maintain a conservative estimate of income available to the Bands. Alumni with financial questions are encouraged to get in touch with Adam and Nick, the BRBAA Treasurer and Resource Chair, respectively.
Let’s go Red,
BRBAA Treasurer: Adam Mangano Drenkard ’11 (adrenkard@gmail.com)
BRBAA Resource Chair: Nick Janiga ’00 (nick@janiga.net)