I have a question:

When will JF announce the amount that will be donated to the ST PocketMoney Fund?

Part of the net proceeds from both the movie and the MTF were given to UIP/Festive Film for the ST School Pocket Money Fund.

This amount was given as a lump sum and presented by BYJ to the Fund at the cinema that night.

There is no distinction between what they raised and what JF raised.

For further infor, you would have to check with UIP.

Thank you for your reply, but $10000 seems a paltry sum considering that we were told 50% of the takings from the MTF would go towards the ST PocketMoney Fund:( Care to explain further?

For the record, S$38,270 was given to UIP. This includes the S$500 given separately by another fan, Katherine Wong, especially to the fund. However this amount would also include costs for the cinema tickets, as well as other admin costs to the organisers. I have already explained that this event is only partially sponsored.

I believe UIP has also mentioned that net proceeds will go to charity. What this means is that they have to deduct costs on their end as well.

I'm sure we would all like more to be given to the charity but there are lots of hidden costs that you are probably not aware of.

However, if you would still like to have further infor or beakdown, you will have to check with UIP as I do not have the answers or infor to explain to you.

Hi Tiffany,
Appreciate the openness of your reply and the information shared.
Thank you for your professional attitude in dealing with queries.

Have a nice day

I think half of money raised from MTF should be given by Joonsfamily directly to ST SPM Fund instead of giving to UIP bcos MTF session had nothing to do with UIP. It was BYJ who wanted to meet his fans.

Most people thought half of what they paid for went to charity and that was one reason why ticket sales were good bcos basically all of us were willing to donate to charity.

I agree that S$10,000 is really a meagre sum considering that the MTF session was a great success! This S$10,000 included ticket sales by UIP for Lido 1, which is $35 each ticket.

Yes, BYJ wanted to meet his fans but it was UIP/ Festive Films and other sponsors who made it possible. Otherwise would the fans have the financial means to bring him in?

There are many, many hidden costs that one is not aware of. Even when you donate directly to a cause, it does not mean that the whole amount will go towards that charity- parts of it will go towards adminstrative costs. Of course, it is always better if more money were raised.

We have worked very well with all the various parties and even his mgrs commented about that. Why the need to differenciate between us and them? We are all donating to charity. There is no need to shout to the world that the money raised is from Joon's Family. BYJ often does charity work on the quiet. As long as we know that we have each contributed towards the cause, I think that is what matters.

At the end of the day, the fans got to see him, some money was raised for charity and I believed most people are happy.

It is time to bring this to a closure and look to the future instead of dwelling on this event. I believe the future will be exciting for both BYJ and JF.

Jennhoon- you are most welcome. We are most willing to give the nec infor when and if possible. It's just that sometimes, it is not possible.

Sorry, I still think the figure given to charity from MTF session is a great shortfall.

Considering $45 x 1,200 = $54,000

Half of this should be given to charity as we were all told before we purchased our tickets. Half of this, which is $27,000 could still go to all sorts of admin expenses and UIP should foot the rest of the bill relating to the trip bcos in the end they get all the box office fees.

Dear Junie

We did not have 1,200 paying guests. At least 300 were free, as stated in many of my previous postings. They went to the sponsors, media and those who won tickets in the contests organised by the various media.

Out of the 900 or so left, some were also free - like BYJ and his team of mgrs.



You are assuming they will get it back in terms of box office. Then I do hope you will be supporting the movie by watching it a few times.

For the movie premiere, none of us paid the S$35 ticket and it was supposed to be a charity premiere. So we contributed to it via MTF.

But if you really want to have a full breakdown as to where the money goes, you could perhaps contact UIP for more answers?

Hi Junie,
I think many of us share the same sentiment with you- after all the sum involved was quite substantial. As much as we would like to close this matter, there remain some nagging thoughts about what had happened to that 50% that was categorically stated would be donated to the STPocket Money Fund.

I'm glad you had the courage to mention this again after I had initiated the topic because I was a little worried that I might be seen as a bad guy for starting it :!:

I had wanted to rest the case after Tiffany's explanation because I took her words in good faith. Her reply did come across as open hence my compliments to her

Besides, on hindsight, I believe that in our country, when an event as big as this had been organised, with so much public awareness due to the enthusiastic media attention, and especially where PUBLIC MONEY is involved, there is NO way any fraudulaent practice could take place. I have faith in our taxmen - they will be on the lookout for any discrepancies in the accounting. After all, this is Singapore and people should know better than to sidestep the rules and regulations :roll:

Having said that, perhaps we should just let the people involved in the management of the monies collected for the MTF put everything in order according to good book-keeping and accounting practices

Thank you for helping me to lend weight to this issue :wink:

Cheers

Dear Tiffany and Jennhoon

Thank you for your responses.

I am actually not talking about any fraudulents acts here, but I just hope that UIP is not using JF to fund the expenses in the name of charity! When we were told half of the ticket fare would go to charity, we take it is 1+1 = 2.

I just want to make sure money goes to where it is due.

I will now close this subject.

Dear Junie and Jenn

Thank you. Of course you have every right to know what is going on, esp where money is concerned. Believe me, the committee members are even more concerned and worried as the responsiblities rest more with us than with you all.

I'm sure UIP/Festive Films want to donate as much as possible to charity.

Whilst running the event, we realised that everything costs money- from the stationery, to printing, to designing to distribution of tickets. (We had to rent a room in the CC as we could not possibly do it in a public area)

So rest assured that the organisers did not misuse the club's name in the name of charity.

I hope that in future comm members do not announce that half of ticket price will go to charity as this is very misleading. just say that $10 from each ticket sale will go to charity. it makes me feel better knowing where the money is going. I am also wondering how much UIP has spent for these events. that's all for now.

best of luck in future events!