Re: [Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission?
Hi Dana , In the SF Bay Area, we use a sign-in sheet for liability purposes (I’m told) and dancers can self check “member, non-member, or student” and pay that rate. $12 non-member, $10 member, $6 student. However we also have $20+ “supporter” and “pay as you can” and negotiable family rate (at my dance we ask adults to pay and offer any amount for kids). I can send you a copy of that sign in sheet if that’s helpful. Another dance in our area uses a simple tally sheet for $5 youth, $10 others, $ pay as you can. I also put out a talent tip jar, since our rent is based on 40% of the door take, and our talent is underpaid at our dance compared to other dances in the area. I’ve found that most people pay the asked price, $10-12, and a couple pay extra or donate to talent and a couple pay less. Claire Message: 1 Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2017 19:04:17 -0400 From: Don Veino To: Shared Weight Organizers Subject: Re: [Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission? Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Like Heitzso reported, I've successfully used a tally sheet broken into range values to manage statistics on a sliding scale admission scheme in the past (hint: make the most common expected price band amounts have the larger tally area). I've moved on from that since. For my weekly dance I didn't want to administer the complication of a true sliding scale, yet wanted to try a similar concept to see how our community might engage with our revenue issues. As a result we've gone to a "You Pick A Price" scheme, described here: http://mondaycontras. com/pages/you-pick-admission.php . This has worked out extremely well, with self-selected admission payments greatly skewed towards mid and higher amounts. Very few pay the least stated amount or lower and several give us additional donations on top. The net effect is we have been able to pay each of our performers something on the order of $10-20 or more on average vs. our prior standard admission scheme (while still enabling financially challenged folks to participate if they can't volunteer). I set up a cheap Android tablet with the Square POS (Point of Sale) app on it to manage the admissions scheme. After a short initial training period our door sitter volunteers have come to praise it and can process in dancers quite quickly. You can see our "process manual" here: http://mondaycontras.com/pages/volunteering/door-sitting-process.php . The Square app itself is free and cash transactions incur no charge - credit card transactions do pay a fee (we only offer cash sales publicly). The reporting is quite good and you can manage cash drawers and see sales reports by item. Should you decide to go with Square and find the information I've supplied to be helpful, I'd appreciate you signing up via one of the referral links from the groups I'm working with (you and the selected group will each get free credit card processing for 180 days/first $1000 of sales as a result): Concord Scout House, Inc. https://squareup.com/i/SCOUTHOUSE (preferred, greater use of credit cards) Monday Contras Dance Committee https://squareup.com/i/MONCONTRAS *Note: you must sign up by clicking on one of these links to obtain the credit*. There is no way to gain the credit if you sign up in their standard way starting at their regular web site or via the link included in a retail reader package. They are very firm on this. You do need at least Square's basic mag stripe reader to set up the app for the first time. However, they will send one for free upon request after sign up or will rebate $10 to cover a retail purchase (units available at Staples, etc.). Please give me a shout with any questions, Don On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 8:12 PM, Dana Dwinell-Yardley via Organizers < organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi all, > > Our dance in Montpelier is considering several models of raising > admission, including going to a sliding scale admission instead of a fixed > fee. > > If your dance does sliding scale, how do you keep good records on > attendance? We would ideally like to track how many people paid what dollar > amounts, as well as a total attendance figure and average payment. > > Also, does anyone do a tiered payment system ($8 low income, $10 regular, > $12 dance supporter, or something like that)? > > If you used to charge a flat rate and now do sliding scale, has your > average admission gone up or down? > > Thanks for helping us make a good decision! Our committee is meeting again > on Oct 29, so having responses by then would be very helpful. > > Thanks, > Dana > > -- > Dana Dwinell-Yardley > graphic design & layout > Montpelier, Vermont > 802-505-6639 <(802)%20505-6639> > danad...@gmail.com > > _
Re: [Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission?
I work at Square, so it's great hearing it's worked well for your group, Don. The activity tracking you describe is a benefit many people overlook. -Lex PS -- That is a really slick wooden assembly in the linked instructions! ___ Organizers mailing list Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
Re: [Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission?
Like Heitzso reported, I've successfully used a tally sheet broken into range values to manage statistics on a sliding scale admission scheme in the past (hint: make the most common expected price band amounts have the larger tally area). I've moved on from that since. For my weekly dance I didn't want to administer the complication of a true sliding scale, yet wanted to try a similar concept to see how our community might engage with our revenue issues. As a result we've gone to a "You Pick A Price" scheme, described here: http://mondaycontras. com/pages/you-pick-admission.php . This has worked out extremely well, with self-selected admission payments greatly skewed towards mid and higher amounts. Very few pay the least stated amount or lower and several give us additional donations on top. The net effect is we have been able to pay each of our performers something on the order of $10-20 or more on average vs. our prior standard admission scheme (while still enabling financially challenged folks to participate if they can't volunteer). I set up a cheap Android tablet with the Square POS (Point of Sale) app on it to manage the admissions scheme. After a short initial training period our door sitter volunteers have come to praise it and can process in dancers quite quickly. You can see our "process manual" here: http://mondaycontras.com/pages/volunteering/door-sitting-process.php . The Square app itself is free and cash transactions incur no charge - credit card transactions do pay a fee (we only offer cash sales publicly). The reporting is quite good and you can manage cash drawers and see sales reports by item. Should you decide to go with Square and find the information I've supplied to be helpful, I'd appreciate you signing up via one of the referral links from the groups I'm working with (you and the selected group will each get free credit card processing for 180 days/first $1000 of sales as a result): Concord Scout House, Inc. https://squareup.com/i/SCOUTHOUSE (preferred, greater use of credit cards) Monday Contras Dance Committee https://squareup.com/i/MONCONTRAS *Note: you must sign up by clicking on one of these links to obtain the credit*. There is no way to gain the credit if you sign up in their standard way starting at their regular web site or via the link included in a retail reader package. They are very firm on this. You do need at least Square's basic mag stripe reader to set up the app for the first time. However, they will send one for free upon request after sign up or will rebate $10 to cover a retail purchase (units available at Staples, etc.). Please give me a shout with any questions, Don On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 8:12 PM, Dana Dwinell-Yardley via Organizers < organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi all, > > Our dance in Montpelier is considering several models of raising > admission, including going to a sliding scale admission instead of a fixed > fee. > > If your dance does sliding scale, how do you keep good records on > attendance? We would ideally like to track how many people paid what dollar > amounts, as well as a total attendance figure and average payment. > > Also, does anyone do a tiered payment system ($8 low income, $10 regular, > $12 dance supporter, or something like that)? > > If you used to charge a flat rate and now do sliding scale, has your > average admission gone up or down? > > Thanks for helping us make a good decision! Our committee is meeting again > on Oct 29, so having responses by then would be very helpful. > > Thanks, > Dana > > -- > Dana Dwinell-Yardley > graphic design & layout > Montpelier, Vermont > 802-505-6639 <(802)%20505-6639> > danad...@gmail.com > > ___ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net > > ___ Organizers mailing list Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
Re: [Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission?
Our Gainesville, Georgia (about an hour away from Atlanta) dance is small, so keeping track isn't a big problem. I have the person at the door do hashmarks for the different categories w/ detailed counts for familes ($20 family max). After the dance I cross check the official door counts (hashmarks) with the $ in the cash drawer. Often the hashmarks are less than the cash drawer by a few dancers. So it is an approximation. The count is important to me because: what is the proportion of students & kids (under 13) to adults are my numbers going up or down, etc. My goals are a 30% under 30 (easy quip) or 25% or more students. The 150-250 (or more) dancers dances in the SE with the majority being under 40 are my idols (e.g. Charlotte's dance or River Falls). But I digress. We charge $10/adult, $5 students (teens and up), $20 family maximum (cost friendly for large families) with non-dancers and children under 13 free. This isn't a true self-identified sliding scale but the family max helps large families w/ limited income. BTW, related to that, our dance is baby/child friendly. We have a carpeted walking track around the dance floor where kids often hang out (wooden train sets). Also common to see a child strapped to a parent who's dancing, or a child sitting on a parent's shoulders. At our last dance 2 beginners we had 2 3rd grade aged sisters. They did great and by the end of the evening they were dancing together (as a couple) in the line. Worked well. They stayed to the end of the dance (11 PM). The cute factor goes along way in making the experienced dancers tolerant. Most of our dancers are very experienced dancers, many of whom drive a distance to come to our dance. -Heitzso Hi all, Our dance in Montpelier is considering several models of raising admission, including going to a sliding scale admission instead of a fixed fee. If your dance does sliding scale, how do you keep good records on attendance? We would ideally like to track how many people paid what dollar amounts, as well as a total attendance figure and average payment. Also, does anyone do a tiered payment system ($8 low income, $10 regular, $12 dance supporter, or something like that)? If you used to charge a flat rate and now do sliding scale, has your average admission gone up or down? Thanks for helping us make a good decision! Our committee is meeting again on Oct 29, so having responses by then would be very helpful. Thanks, Dana -- Dana Dwinell-Yardley graphic design & layout Montpelier, Vermont 802-505-6639 danad...@gmail.com ___ Organizers mailing list Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net ___ Organizers mailing list Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
[Organizers] record-keeping for sliding scale admission?
Hi all, Our dance in Montpelier is considering several models of raising admission, including going to a sliding scale admission instead of a fixed fee. If your dance does sliding scale, how do you keep good records on attendance? We would ideally like to track how many people paid what dollar amounts, as well as a total attendance figure and average payment. Also, does anyone do a tiered payment system ($8 low income, $10 regular, $12 dance supporter, or something like that)? If you used to charge a flat rate and now do sliding scale, has your average admission gone up or down? Thanks for helping us make a good decision! Our committee is meeting again on Oct 29, so having responses by then would be very helpful. Thanks, Dana -- Dana Dwinell-Yardley graphic design & layout Montpelier, Vermont 802-505-6639 danad...@gmail.com ___ Organizers mailing list Organizers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
