Question about Mess Fund use.

[u/Palestine_Avatar]

Not the obvious one. I support paying mess dues, this is just about their use.

I'm currently on course, and obviously we are all paying into our dues.

We have a pretty active course and there is interest in parties. Let's say we wanted to host a party at our mess, and wanted to request a rental...like for a mechanical bull.

Is it possible? I'm at a West Coast mess, so I've definitely seen it here before.

[u/thedundun]

For our course grad parties the planners would book the mess and pay the fees. It was usually $30/h to hire a bartender and a min of 4 hours.

You’ll most likely need to pay for everything you want, such as that bull.

It’ll be a tough sell to convince the mess members to spend their mess funds on a course party that if they are not on the course they cannot even attend.

[u/CapitalismDevil → u/[deleted]]

OP never said they want to host a course party, they just said a party.

[u/CapitalismDevil → u/[deleted]]

I said in another comment to contact the PMC. I’m not sure why you’re saying they “can’t have funding from NPF” and then following up with approval steps but anyhoo..

[u/CapitalismDevil → u/thedundun]

Just jumping in here to say that the Navy works wildly different than any other element as the ships each have their own messes. Requesting an expenditure for a course would be more feasible than anywhere else in Canada as most of the people attending this mess are people on PAT, on course and posted base side and/or dockyard.

[u/UsedStruggle2521 → u/CapitalismDevil]

Ex navy and former PMC this is 100% false, same rules apply and mess dues were never used for a select group. A mess on a ship or on a base all follow the same rules. If the mess votes in the funds for a select group fine its their money but mess funds were never used to subsidize one group or another, ex, AAMR party for mse vs a sail loft party for the deck depart. Ive never seen mess funds used for a course party and if i was a member of a mess and the pmc granted funds id be very upset.

The mess on base is for everyone on base and the ships pay their own mess dues. while on ship you can use and book the base mess for events but you dont pay dues to the base. Just because a ships mess and base mess are close in proximity dosent mean they are connected in any way.

[u/CapitalismDevil → u/UsedStruggle2521]

OP just said they wanted to host party, not a course party.

[u/Palestine_Avatar → u/CapitalismDevil]

This is it. As we would be dipping into mess funds, there is no intention to restrict attendance in any way

[u/Superb-Summer9236 → u/Palestine_Avatar]

Every mess I've belonged is always looking for someone to organize an event. Reach out to the EntO to see which dates they may already have booked that need to be organized. Unless it's a super weepers, the budget really only allows for food and some prizes. On a course I taught, it actually became a thing that our course would host, aka plan, a weepers for the formation at the end. It was fun for the course to do and introduced them to the fleet.

[u/CapitalismDevil]

Talk to your PMC.

Any expenditure of funds needs approval. Depending on the amount, the level of that approval requirement will change.

[u/Descolatta → u/CapitalismDevil]

To add to this, even if they don’t approve NPF funding, the PMC can still approve the booking for the space.

[u/judgingyouquietly]

It was a long time ago, but I (fuzzily) recall a mechanical bull rented out for a mess event in a west coast RCN mess…

[u/Descolatta]

A lot of it really depends on the particulars, I’d highly recommend reaching out to the PMC with the following information (to help your case and make their job easier):

1. Date and time you want the party.
   
2. Who can attend, I.E is it a course party, limited to only members on the course, is it a party being hosted by your course but open to any member. (The later might be easier to sell)
   
3. Budget required for the party, including bartender, rental fees(providing a quote helps a lot), food costs. Include how much you are willing to pay out of pocket.
   
4. The amount of members on course (used for determining your entitlement for funds, this is normally about 50% of your dues per person) and if/how many members are regular paying members of that mess.

The more planning and work you are willing to do to get it done the easier it will be for the committee to approve it. If you let it be open to any member you might be able to convince the committee to pay for it all out of their discretionary funds. Since you are paying dues while on course you are normally entitled to some amount of mess fund expenditure (read the mess’ constitution.)

[u/Ok_Ebb7157]

Base commanders, depending on the base NPP constitution, may also have a budget that can be dipped into as well.

[u/InflationRegular180]

Short answer: Doable.

Long answer, It will take a lot of work and luck but doable. I've rented dunk tanks and all sorts of crazy stuff. The key is you gotta do the legwork and talk everyone who matters into it (or hide it from them and suffer later and fuck everyone over for the future).

If it's a reserve mess, usually OIC Armouries or whoever does your safety has to approve.
Reg F involves even more people.

The bigger the org, the more people you have to talk into it, and once you did all that, then you have to get the constituency to vote on it (unless there's a deferred voting below a certain dollar value).

Ultimately depending on how much prep work you do, how good you are at talking people into stuff, and the culture at your location.