FEBRUARY 1985 oy i
The CIVIC GARDEN CENTRE — Garden Topics & Events Newsletter
MESSAGE TO MEMBERS
not meet rising costs (ie. postage and printing) without setting up specific
fund raising events of their own. But,
by Gordon D. Wick, Exec. Dir. Our budget preparation’s involve many
weeks of analysing CGC’s needs for the complete year ahead.
This leads
me to feel that we should strive for a high degree of continuity in committees, to allow a maximum involvement when setting up our budgeting goals.
[ feel it is desirable that CGC’s active volunteer element have a channel through which to input suggestions on areas needing higher emphasis in overall budget considerations. At the same time, we should welcome ideas for new ways in which the volunteers feel
they could generate different sources of funds through activities which can be supervised and operated by the volunteers themselves while generating the minimum need for extra staff time involvement. We have just come through two years
of restructuring the base financial support system of this organization. The changes made, have been aimed at allowing us to continue to operate this beautiful but expensive building,
for the good of all amateur horticultural organizations. We continue to underwrite the operating costs for all the horticultural user organizations by
charging rentals, which in no way cover
the
overall
operating
-costs,
Even these artifically low rentals are a burden to some of the small horticultural clubs. They are finding they can-
is this not only as it should be? Each club has to operate within its own resources and realize that it takes some fund raising activities to balance any active club’s budget. As an organization, CGC and its staff are doing our utmost to ensure that amateur groups have an opportunity not only to have an inexpensive place to meet, but also have an opportunity to gain access to the gardening public through our extensive releases of coming events information to the media. We have also been able to open up an opportunity for the other organizations to participate in the educational exhibit area of the Garden Festival Show held in Feb. Just how aggressively the individual clubs approach their educational exhibit is up to them, but it reflects directly on the manpower and dedication of those currently involved in the individual clubs. Putting their best foot forward is important to each group as they utilize this opportunity to access the 60,000 people who are expected to attend that show. Once again, CGC is playing a supportive role by publishing the
“Growing and Creating” information booklets which are distributed by the individual clubs at their educational exhibit. We have also tried to tie in as many specialty speakers as possible in the Theatre program which will be running adjacent to our educational display area in the East Mezzanine.