Dear friends, hello again!
 
Finally you can see some tracks of your Treasurer, and even, let me tell
it, some tracks of myself, after a long absence.
As you probably already know, friends, I had several serious problems
with my computer, losing a lot of precious material that was in the
memory of this diabolic machine. A long time spent trying to adjust it,
to save some part, to survive.
Finally I’m back. I came back in time to see the last fight between one
of us and the others. Unfortunately it can happen when in a group you
can find different ways to work. But then I finally checked our
financial situation for the 2003 and for the current 2004, and then I
was sure: actually there’s a crisis, here!
 
You can see the results of my short and little work in the attachments:
the first one is about all the NetCom Trips of the last year, meanwhile
the second is just an overview of this current time.
 
First of all, some notes.
In 2003 our budget was of 4000 € , divided into 2000 € devoted to the
NetCom Meeting expenses, and 2000 € devoted to the NetCom Trips.
This year, in 2004, the budget is higher, and we have 4800 € divided
into 2400 for the NMs and 2400 for the NTs.
 
About the overview of the current year, there’s not so many to say! No
NetCom Meetings were done since the beginning of January and then no
reimbursements (the first expenses for this part of the budget will be
the one for the reimbursement of the Speaker going to the Agora in
Ohrid), and even no NetCom Trips already reimbursed.
At the moment I know that only Serge made a NetCom Trip in this term,
but he still didn’t ask for the reimbursement. If somebody else made a
NetCom Trip, please let me know! The summary has to be updated day by
day.
 
But let start talking about last year. Fortunately we have a clear
overview of the whole year and we can comment the results.
 
NetCom Meetings (Bruxelles and Zielona Gora, and Bucuresti and Zaragoza
for the Speakers) cost 1.780,89 €.  2000 € were forecast and we saved
219,11 €. Considering in Bruxelles Far-West and Spirit were not present
and in Zielona Gora DACH, Far-West, North and Spirit were not present
too, maybe it’s not a great result! 
 
Then, unfortunately, if we focus our attention of the other part of the
budget, the one devoted to the NetCom Trips, we can notice that the
situation is radically worse!
In 2003 the Treasurer of AEGEE-Europe appointed 2070 € to the whole
Commission for NTs, but even if we planned to spend the whole amount, in
the end we spent only 641,05 €, that means only 30,97% of that amount.
In the summary of 2003 in attachment you will see even in which
percentage each of us actually spent the money he asked for his/her NTs.
You can see a clear result: two big trends, and no one of them is
positive.
1.      NetCommies not planning any NT (when you see only the name of
your predecessor and not yours, it means he/she made those NTs indicated
there, and you…
simply didn’t plan to do any of them during your term; the same is when
you see only the old name of your Region: it means that part regards
only the old term when your Region was called with the old name, and if
there’s no tracks of the new name, it means even no tracks of NetCom
Trips planned in the last term!). 
2.      NetCommies planning even many NTs, but in the end not putting
anything (or putting just a very few of them) in practice. In such a
case simply check the
percentage between the brackets!).
 
I hope, I really hope a discussion will start now, cause these results
are really serious and negatively impressive! I invite all of you to
express his/her opinions concerning them. I will start expressing my
ideas, then I hope other ones will follow!
 
Generally speaking this is the image of a Commission really in crisis. 
NetCom Trips should be the best instruments we have for reaching our
locals and trying to be really in touch with them: when we decided about
our budget, we gave the priority to the NetCom Trips guaranteeing a
reimbursement up to 100%. It means we consider NetCom Trips as our most
precious tools… but in such a case why don’t we use them really? 
In the ouline 2003 we can see that 61 NetCom Trips were planned, and in
the end only 12 of them were reimbursed. No one reimbursement was
requested for the other ones. Fortunately it doesn’t mean that 49 NetCom
Trips were planned and never done: maybe some of them, or even many of
them, were done and nobody asked for any reimbursement! Nobody knows
that, and for sure detecting about this is not the task of a humble
Treasurer. Concerning me and my Region, I can say that only one of the
NTs never reimbursed present in the outline were done without a
successive reimbursement, and it was the one to Verona (Veneto), made by
my former-SubCommie and now precious support Francesca Fedrizzi. For all
of the others, then for 7 NetCom Trips, half a part of the ones in the
outline, unfortunately I have to admit they were never done. For sure
all of you missed definitely less NetCom Trips then me: I know for sure
somebody is working a lot without asking for any reimbursement, but
please, let me highlight a crucial aspect!
 
Even if some of us are so generous to work also without asking for
reimbursements, this is one of the worst way I’ve never seen to use
funds, to deal with money: we always book money, and then always we give
it back. We could be the best friends of each Treasurer, cause
practically we are a wonderful, efficient emergency fund, a real
precious guarantee for the finances of AEGEE! But are we sure we are
even the best friends of our locals? We have a lot of money we can spend
to serve and protect them, and we simply decide to give it back each
year!
 
Often the most common and effective excuse of the administrators when
they don’t work properly is that there’s no money enough. Well… we
really can’t use that excuse,  my dear friends! Money is there! A lot of
money, and we decide to use only the 30% of it! Then… there are only
other two options:
 
1.      The Network doesn’t need we use that money, cause everything is
going really fine and it’s better to save money for critical moments.
2.      We are simply not able to do our “work” properly.
 
Now, let me say about the number 1 that in the last period there were
not candidates enough for the CD, there was a serious financial crisis
that blocked many useful activities of the Network and demotivated many
locals, there was the crisis of the Year Plans, there were 3 harsh and
serious MemCom cases, there was the deletion of a PM and the necessity
to find immediately an emergency place for it, there was the Magusa
crisis, the human resources crisis of the Human Resources WG, a general
lack of participants to ALL the AEGEE events.
Hmmm, it really doesn’t seem the image of the Paradise, where we can
save money cause we don’t need any “extra”-activity!!! Mainly it seems
the image of the Hell!!!
 
Meanwhile, about the number 2, I don’t comment, leaving all of us the
opportunity to think about it.
 
Waiting for feedbacks, even cruel and aggressive feedbacks,
 
always your friend
 
 
Luca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
======================================
 
Luca Falcone 
"Rainbow" Region  Network Commissioner 
AEGEE-Napoli Honorary Member
AEGEE-Ljubljana Ordinary Member
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