MCJ Final Report 2025

Ernest Collins
Sep 17, 2025
2 min read

Greetings family. As promised, we have the financial portion of the final report for MCJ 2025 Chicago and will share it with you now. I would like to preface the report with a few comments prior to releasing the report. The comments are in bullet form below.

1). We should commend our Chicago hosts for delivering an event that required no event day fundraising in order to balance the books. As you know we have on occasion in the past needed to raise additional funds at the banquet to cover a deficit. This was not the case in Chicago so our hosts should be commended for their substantial fundraising efforts which resulted in covering all expenses related to the reunion.

2). The scope of the budget and activities in Chicago was larger than normal. The average total reunion costs in recent past years ranged from approximately 12k-15k. When you view the report you will find the budget and scope this year significantly exceeded this amount. We will incorporate guidance on this point for future hosts in the SOP that we're writing up this year so that all future hosts clearly understand the historical norms concerning budget and scope of activities. However, the intent of the SOP is not to inhibit the planning, creativity, or scope of planned activities, It is simply to point out budgetary ranges of past events in terms of expectations. If individual hosts make the decision to reach higher because they want to provide a higher level experience for the family, they will do so with the clear knowledge that they will be required to cover any deficits. This is exactly what was done in Chicago and kudos to them for pulling it off without the need for help to pay for it.

3). The format for the financial report is a bit different than what we are accustomed to. Curtis, one of our Chicago hosts has significant experience in business and strongly felt that this approach for financial reporting provides greater detail and more in-depth analysis of the various income and expense categories. The report should be viewed considering all three pages of information since they are complimentary to each other and thus presents a more holistic understanding of the financials of the event. So, after careful inspection of the report if you still have questions, Curtis will be happy to answer your questions.

4). The report will only appear on the MCJ website, not on any social media including FB. Our financial information is confidential and access should only be provided on our own secure platform.

5). Bottom line of the financial report is that we raised a lot of money, we spent a lot of money, we had a great time and we didn't have to come back to the family to ask for more. Going forward, we will continue to make sure that the reunion dues along with reasonable turnout continues to provide the basis for executing a quality event. Thank you for your patience

and understanding as we continue this amazing tradition of family reunions dating back to 1947 (or 1949) depending on the source of your information.

Much Love,

MCJ Family Reunion