Social Committee Funds

I did a search on this forum, but I couldn't find an answer. I want to know how your social chair handles expenses for parties. We have a $20k budget and have several parties throughout the year. The social chair is required to use their personal funds for parties and then get reimbursed about 2 weeks later. Is this typical? Some parties cost several thousand dollars. Thanks in advance for your responses!

Our SC has a budget of $12,000, throws several parties a year, and holds 10 "Movie Nights" a year, which includes pizzas, popcorn & soft drinks.

They just held our biggest event last Saturday night, our annual Holiday Gala, which was catered with tray passers, a food station, a bartender, and a guitar duo. It cost about $5,500 & 140 attended.( We comprise 200+ condo units.) Our 2nd largest event is a summer BBQ or luau held in the poolside BBQ area, served 120 and cost $2,700.

Our upcoming Tailgate Superbowl Party (held indoors; name is just for fun) is potluck, with the SC providing hot dogs & beverages, and they'll hold an indoor potluck brunch in the late spring.

The SC has 8 members and 1-2 are in charge of 1-2 events per year. The chair does the bulk of the work, though.

It's typical for 2-3 members to submit receipts for reimbursement per event. They usually are reimbursed in about two weeks. The reason is the receipts are sent to our MC in another city, who writes the checks and sends them back to our PM (Prop. Mgr.)

This set-up is typical among the dozen-plus high rises in our urban neighborhood, though budgets vary considerably. Some charge $5-$10/event depending on its size. We do not.

The board approves the budget each year and when there was a much smaller budget, there were fewer events and the SC members did a lot more food prep. But their numbers dwindled and numbers of community members were rather small.

The caterers and, for example, the restaurant/caterer that provided food for our summer luau, all have wanted about 1/2 in advance. But that might be typical in our urban area, or this part of CA, or?