Money doesn't make the world go around - and I've witnessed both ends of the stick.
I am a dedicated comittee member of Gladstone at present, and I can tell you that our bank balance fluctuates only by $5-10 K per year, depending on how whimsical we get. Our sole incomes are certain performances, member fees, Brass academy lessons (4 students) and a nice City council grant which changes yearly depending on where we promise to spend it.
My last band charged exorbitant fees per gig, charged low membership fees, and spent money left, right and centre on instruments, music, and whatever else the conductor wanted. We were actually short a few thousand on our coach costs when we went to the Nationals in 2001, but as the coach owner's daughter was in the band, the bill seemed to "dissipate" somehow.
Finally, the other Rockhampton band is very lucky to have been given whatever permits etc they needed to be able to run Bingo nights once or twice a week. These are well attended, and as such are rumoured to have $100k sitting in the bank account (I have a reliable source on this fact), yet cannot hold a conductor to save themselves.
So to hear Fodens is short on money, I gotta ask where is it going? I acknoledge to be a top band, you gotta have the goods, but if you were to convert that to Aussie dollars, that over 100 thou!!!