What the Club Is Worth

Eleven years of the club's bank balance, read off the treasurer's handover workbook. Totals only.

The club’s money is not complicated. Members pay dues, most of the dues go to Toastmasters International as international membership, and what is left buys snacks, the occasional dinner, printing, and the ribbons handed out at the end of every meeting.

What is interesting is the shape of the line. The balance fell to ¥8,783.86 at the end of 2018, its lowest point on record, then grew almost without interruption for four years to ¥67,155.60 in May 2022. Since then it has drifted down and settled around ¥55,000.

The 2015 to 2018 dip and the 2020 to 2022 climb both track the membership numbers on the club programme record closely. A club with fifty-nine members collects a great deal more in dues than a club with ten.

Publishing this is a deliberate choice. The money is the members’, so the members should be able to see it.

Balance at each handover
DateBalance, RMB
Dec 2015 ¥15,862
Aug 2016 ¥25,389
Dec 2016 ¥26,105
Jan 2018 ¥18,588
Sep 2018 ¥15,679
Dec 2018 ¥8,784
Dec 2019 ¥9,717
Jun 2020 ¥19,990
Dec 2020 ¥31,157
Jun 2021 ¥45,227
Dec 2021 ¥56,393
May 2022 ¥67,156
Dec 2022 ¥64,155 date unconfirmed
Jun 2023 ¥58,004
Nov 2023 ¥58,336
Jun 2024 ¥53,815
Dec 2024 ¥51,646
Nov 2025 ¥56,984
Jun 2026 ¥54,978 date unconfirmed
Low ¥8,783.86 in Dec 2018. High ¥67,155.60 in May 2022.

The sheet header says June 2023, but the tab covers the term beginning 1 December 2022 and its first entry is “Payment from Dec 1”. Dated here to the start of that term. Unconfirmed.

The cell in the workbook is a broken reference; the figure comes from the treasurer's written handover record for the same date.