Page 20 - ABF Newsletter August 2024

ment, allowing their members to pay their table fees through their MYABF account.
MYABF Current State
By the end of 2024, the total investment in MYABF will be approximately $900,000. The impact on the ABF’s cash reserves has been far greater than origi- nally anticipated.
Operating MYABF, in addition to its development, is also contributing to the ABF’s rising costs. For exam- ple, when we pass event money that we have col- lected on behalf of clubs back to them we attempt to recover the transaction costs that Stripe have charged us. Although we aim to “break even,” we have in fact incurred more costs than we have re- covered. These operating expenses and additional behind-the-scenes administrative costs are covered from the ABF’s general funds.
MYABF Future
Whilst MYABF is already offering significant savings and benefits to clubs and is admired worldwide, we still have more work to do to complete the develop- ment of MYABF. There are three core elements still to be done:
• Complete club membership module to enable clubs to retire existing systems
• Integrate masterpoint centre (MPC) with MYABF as MPC software is running on outdated soft- ware that is no longer supported
• Integrate a scoring program with MYABF to reduce errors and overheads
To complete this development and cover the costs of the ongoing operation and support of the soft- ware, as well as address the deficits the ABF is incur- ring from their general operations, we estimate we will need to raise an additional one million dollars over the next three years.
Funding Our Future
The ABF has two main sources of income: capita- tion fees, a charge paid by all clubs based on their number of members, and masterpoint fees, which vary based on the colour (green, red, and gold) and grade of competition. Clubs and event organisers need to cover the cost of masterpoints in the fees they charge players each time they play.
As one might anticipate, both capitation and mas- terpoint fees have gradually increased over the years in alignment with rising operating costs. Recognis- ing the financial strains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we halved the capitation fees for a year to alleviate some of the financial pressures experienced by our members during this challenging time. This
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was in addition to funnelling over one million dollars in table fees from online games back to the clubs between May 2020 and September 2021.
Some alternative methods of raising the required funds were considered, but they all would result in even more costs to administer, so it was agreed that raising the capitation and masterpoint fees would be the best approach. Rather than solely burdening competition players with these additional costs, the ABF Council agreed at its AGM that, since the ben- efits of the ABF’s operations and MYABF will be en- joyed by all, and are essential for the sustainability and growth of our bridge community, it is appropri- ate that the increases be shared by everyone.
Impact On Players
As a result, we will be increasing the annual capi- tation fee and masterpoints fees by less than $4 a year for the next three years. This reflects our com- mitment to keeping bridge as an affordable pastime whilst providing huge benefits to players across the country.
Capitation Fee Increases for 2025, 2026, and 2027
Year
Capitation Fee Increase
New Total
2025 $3.30
2026 $3.30
2027 $3.30
$23.30
$26.60
$29.90
Masterpoint Fee Increases for 2025
In April next year the cost of masterpoints will in- crease as follows:
Colour
Current
April 2025
Green
Club Red
Congress Red
State Red & Gold
$2.02 $2.53
$1.62 $2.03
$2.14 $2.68
$1.39 $1.74
To put these increases in context, the following table illustrates the impact on some example sessions:
Session Type
Increase
Or Cost Per Player
12-table duplicate
$1.20 5 cents
Red point event run over four sessions
$20
$1.50
Gold point event run over four days
$350
70 cents per day
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: August 2024