Two months in 2021 with no football and the club, not just its supporters, has gone into an effective lock-down. The club’s committees spent only £1,283.73 and once again, most of this relates to merchandise, including postage (£485.96), PayPal fees (£142.08) and the Finance Committee seeking some urgent advice on VAT from our accountants (£350).
Despite the lack of games, we did reimburse some unpaid expenses for kit laundry (£120) from back in 2020. It felt like the old days…
Our income in February was £4,410.11, largely unchanged from January. This includes merchandise sales of £3,179.27 (before the deduction of PayPal fees of £142.08), monthly direct debit donations (£65.12)and other individual donations totalling £230.
In February, we also received membership fees totalling £935.72 (£990 less PayPal fees of £54.28). With 71 subscriptions, this was a record number for the month and took the club’s total new or renewed members since July 2020 to 1418 (and means we currently have 1553 active members in total).
This is the most members we have had joining or renewing in a single year: the previous high was 1405 in in our opening 2018/19 season. Credit for encouraging new membership and reminding existing members to renew should go to the Communications and International Committees, the Old Spotted Dog Ground Trust and everyone behind the fantastic new Clapton History section of the club’s website.
Promoting the club’s past and future, even when there has been no football to watch, has helped keep the Clapton family together.
In reporting the club’s expenditure, VAT is listed separately, In February, we collected £229.96 from the sales of our merchandise and can claim back £522.18 from VAT added to purchases made by the club and by the Old Spotted Dog Ground Trust. This means that we can reclaim £292.22 for the month from HM Revenue & Customs.
CLAPTON AGAINST CORONA HARDSHIP FUND
We have recorded Hardship Fund income and spending separately since this initiative was set up ten months ago and in February 2021, the income and spending for the Hardship Fund was:
| Donations received for CCFC supporters | £28.63 |
| Payments made from Hardship Fund | £300.00 |
In total, £12,279.03has been received and £12,040.00 has been paid out so far from the Hardship Fund from March to the end of February 2021.
The club’s full income and expenditure for February 2021 is as follows:
INCOME
| Merchandise | £3,179.27 |
| Membership * | £935.72 |
| Monthly direct debit donations ** | £65.12 |
| Other income | £230.00 |
| £4,410.11 |
*After £54.28 fees
** After £2.88 fees
EXPENDITURE
| Club Board | |
| Online meeting costs | £36.00 |
| Communications Committee | |
| Postage | £485.96 |
| PayPal fees on merchandise sales | £142.08 |
| Mailchimp credits for members mailings | £70.71 |
| Online store costs | £3.49 |
| £702.24 | |
| Finance Committee | |
| Accounting advice on VAT | £350.00 |
| Accounting software | £25.50 |
| £375.50 | |
| Men’s First Team Committee | |
| Kit Laundry | £120.00 |
| Kit bag | £41.66 |
| Socks | £8.33 |
| £169.99 | |
| TOTAL CCFC Expenditure | £1,283.73 |
THE OLD SPOTTED DOG GROUND
Expenditure on our new home is managed by the Old Spotted Dog Ground Trust (OSDGT), the subsidiary company we set up. However, like the club, spending will appear on the OSDGT website and for transparency, here are the figures for February 2021:
INCOME
| Donations | £1,837.50 |
EXPENDITURE
| Expenditure | |
| Clubhouse roof repairs | £9,658.00 |
| Skip hire | £1,400.00 |
| Loan repayment for purchase of the ground | £1,108.69 |
| Materials for clubhouse | £284.33 |
| Refreshments | £11.86 |
| Travel costs | £6.57 |
| Equipment costs | £5.98 |
| £12,475.43 |