Hi Dave, Yes, I’m aware of the Diamond Club. However, participation in the Diamond Club amounts to 1% of the total membership. I would suggest a structured, tiered membership fee, similar to the Diamond Club, but allowing for a basic membership fee of (let’s say) $45 with no value added, but then a “Bronze” level at $5.00 over the Basic level, a “Gold level” at $10 over the basic, and a “Platinum level” at $15.00 over then basic. Each level above the Basic would have value added similar to the Diamond Club but structured as dues and not as donations. The Diamond Club could continue as a donation program geared primarily geared towards “Life Members” who typically stop paying in once they have fulfilled their membership fees. A structure of tiers will also take the sting out of a dues increase as it allows for those on a fixed income to maintain their membership at a slightly lower rate than others. Membership dues should also tie into the cost-of-living to allow us to periodically raise dues incrementally to keep up with the rate of inflation. As to a la carte pricing, I am not suggesting that stop. We obviously need to continue to charge for LoTW, DXCC, Outgoing QSL Service, etc. However, we could offer discounts to valued members for League programs, discounts to books, awards, etc. as we do now in the Diamond Club, but to perhaps a lesser degree. As it stands now, we typically give something to a lapsed member after we’ve reached out to them a few times to renew. This is costly and I believe a money loser for us. We should stop this this practice. Incentives through a tiered membership should be the only offer that a lapsed member would have. An across the board increase of $10 might secure enough funds to get us by at the moment, but I think it’s short-sighted. For what it’s worth, in my opinion a bigger picture approach would provide us with more financial security in the future. 73 de Mike N2YBB From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 11:22 AM To: Lisenco, Mike (DIR, Hudson) ; G Widin ; arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:23636] Re: Dues increase Mike, we already practice a la carte pricing of a number of services: for example, the outgoing QSL service, LoTW credits, operating awards, and vanity license renewal. The Diamond Club offers tiers with progressively greater benefits although those tiers begin higher than you probably had in mind. Other national societies generally have much higher dues, especially if they do less a la carte pricing. For example, DARC dues are 96 Euros per year or about $120 which includes the use of their very expensive QSL service. 73, Dave K1ZZ From: arrl-odv [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Lisenco, Mike (DIR, Hudson) Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 10:47 AM To: G Widin; arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:23636] Re: Dues increase Greg, Was any consideration given to a tiered dues structure with value added as an incentive for paying in additional monies? By the way, I’ve raised the issue of a dues increase at a few club meetings and have not met with any real resistance, however, I assume that will change when the reality sets in. 73 de Mike N2YBB From: G Widin Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 9:43 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:23632] Dues increase I have had several questions about A&F's involvement with a dues increase. Here is a brief summary. Even in 2013, members of the Board had begun discussing the inevitability of a dues increase. With the Centennial coming up in 2014, it clearly was not going to be a year to announce a dues increase, so everyone was spared having to think about it too deeply. As we began 2014, the need for a dues increase became more and more evident. In the first half of 2014, A&F had two subcommittees that began work on a dues increase and possible changes to life membership. There were brief reports by these groups included in the July Report of A&F, with further discussion at the July Board meeting, which may have been lost in the noise of the Convention. The dues study subcommittee developed scenarios for a $6 and a $10 increase, and these were presented at the November A&F meeting. Simultaneously, staff was developing the 2015-16 plan, and included a dues increase in the plan. At the November meeting, A&F voted to recommend the plan to the Board for acceptance at the upcoming January meeting. This is the plan which includes the $10 increase. A&F did discuss a smaller increase, but it was realized that this would mean coming back to the membership again in 2 or 3 years, and it was felt that taking our medicine all at once was preferable to multiple small sips. Of course, we will still not be able to wait another 10 years for the next increase. A&F also discussed life membership, and decided not to make any changes at this time, although since life membership is priced at a multiple of the current yearly dues, the price of life membership would necessarily rise, as well. Thus, in order to implement the dues increase, Dave sent out the necessary enabling changes to bylaws, enough ahead of time so they can be properly voted on at January's meeting. This probably wouldn't have taken people so much by surprise if the A&F Minutes from the November meeting had already been issued, but some situations conspired to delay their compilation. I will be working on the minutes and get them to the Board as soon as possible. I apologize that it was not sooner. No one likes the idea of a dues increase. The financial analysis that led to the current 2015-16 plan made it clear that we could not postpone an increase any further and still maintain a fiscally healthy organization. Most members I have talked to, and other Directors have told me this as well, understand that 10 years of no dues increase cannot continue, and many are even surprised that the increase would only be $10. Every now and then, the Board must take action that it knows will not be popular, but that is necessary for the health of the organization. Regretfully, this is one of those issues. 73, Greg, K0GW 2014 A&F Chair -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv