One of the organizational values and goals of the Orange County Wine Society is to provide quality wine education and experiences to its members without marking up the pricing of events to make a “profit” off its members. As a nonprofit organization, we work very hard to fulfill our mission of supporting wine education for our members, the public, and the future generation of winemakers. In the spirit of being transparent, we wanted to share with you the recent challenges for our organization with regard to expenses.
OCWS was able to weather the recent pandemic through a variety of strategies including cutting back on costs and moving programming online. We survived what was a difficult period for many nonprofit organizations. Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen several factors that have led to substantial increases in the cost of doing business, especially those in the following areas:
- Increase in food pricing at all venues – All of our venues have increased the base cost of food and minimums required to secure the facility. Tax and gratuity have increased since they are a percentage of the food cost. One of our venues increased an incredible 72%, causing us to look for other venues to hold events.
- Increase in venue prices – Even if we are able to provide the food and/or wine for an event, the actual venue costs have increased substantially.
- Increase in insurance costs – As with all insurance, our alcohol liability insurance costs have skyrocketed. Our insurance carrier now charges for a per-event policy as opposed to our previous annual coverage. This has resulted in an increase of nearly 100%. We are continuing to search for annual coverage at a more reasonable rate.
- Increase in labor cost – With the aging of our membership, we have had to rely on paying young adults to help with the physically demanding task of moving wine and equipment.
- Increase in technology upgrade costs – Over the past few years, we have had to invest in the upgrading of our website and software to maintain a secure website and services for our members.
We are sharing this information with our membership so that there is a clear understanding of the cost increase in dues and events. Please know that the Board of Directors is doing everything in its power to control costs and minimize cost increases for our members. All events are setup to break even, except for The Courtyard and Wine Auction, our two biggest fundraising events during the year. We appreciate your support as we manage the organization through fiscally challenging times and remain committed to the organization’s mission.
—Carolyn Christian, OCWS President