BUSINESS PLAN STRUCTURE The Business Plan for the TCBL Foundation covers four periods: from 1 July through end 2019 and then the full years of 2020-2022. In the attached tables, the first section keeps track of the Endowment Fund, which in addition to the required minimum amount of € 30.000 can provide operational cash reserves for the Foundation. The starting value is the sum of contributions deposited by the First Founding Members. Following the first half-year period, the Endowment Fund is increased by contributions of new Founding Members, while incorporating the positive or negative results from the previous year (the Foundation is nonprofit). The operational balance for the Foundation is to be achieved between: •
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Revenues: o Income from yearly fees of Participant members (see the Membership Fee structure) o Grants and donations. Costs: o Fixed/recurrent costs necessary for the basic management and communication. o Non recurrent/project based costs of operations, including direct funding of innovation projects for Labs and Associates as well as expenses for network promotion and development activities.
TCBL POPULATION An important element of the TCBL Foundation’s Business Plan consists of the yearly fees from Labs, Associates (including Startups) and Supporters. As a result, it is important to estimate variations in the number of members of each type from year to year. The starting figures are based on informal surveys among the network of Labs and Associates built during the TCBL Project, leading to an estimate of 50 Labs and 120 Associates, of which a third is estimated to qualify as Startups. From there, the growth estimates for the following years are based on three factors: •
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Network effects: this factor captures word-of-mouth and social network based subscriptions and is represented as a year-to-year percentage of the size of the existing community. This is estimated at 5% for Labs, 10% for Associates, 20% for Startups, and 20% for Supporters. Recruitment: this factor results from active recruitment by TCBL Foundation members, generally in their own territories of reference. The estimates are based on recruitment results during the project lifespan, reduced to reflect the drop in funding. Recruitment for Supporters includes the discount bundled with the conference fee. Turnover: this factor captures those leaving the network, due to ending activity, loss of interest, etc. It is estimated at 5% for Labs, 10% for Associates, 30% for Startups, and 30% for Supporters.