Excellent article. I'm a 40 year AOPA member. (PP-ASEL-IA) Mark said, "So our job at AOPA is to show members there is value there either through education, information, access to our legal services plan, and being part of this greater community that allows us pilots to have a voice in Washington DC." Mission. Vision. Values. In one sentence. These are the foundation of a strategic plan. Until we get those solidly established, it will be difficult to establish a working plan. Membership revenue at AOPA runs about 50% higher than ARRL (about $18M), but the total operating revenue is over $50M. Commssions on aircraft brokerage/financing and are a large segment of their revenue, but they're hauiing in a lot of advertising revenue as well. Airplanes are expensive. It's always good to go look at financials of other organizations. AOPA has excelled in reducing General Aviation accidents through an excellent training program. Their cooperation with FAA in using their seminars given around the country toward required flight safety training requirements has ensured that almost all active GA pilots are AOPA members... not to mention their activism in FAA matters, with several attorneys (and specialized paralegals) on staff... some paid by their legal insurance offerings. It seems as though the only program we have is membership. And everything else is bundled in. We could do a lot with an extra $8 to 10M. Thoughts? Mickey Baker, N4MB Palm Beach Gardens, FL *“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead." Robert K. Greenleaf* On Thu, Oct 8, 2020 at 4:05 PM Kristen McIntyre <kristen@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
I’ve spoken before about similarities between ARRL and AOPA. If you have the time, take half an hour and listen to this interview. Many of you may not be aviators, but there are many parallels with Amateur Radio, for example, new recruitment, aging population, demographics, regulatory issues, providing value to members, new technology, the meaning of “non-profit”, effects of the pandemic, etc. Think about how ARRL could proactively get in front of someone like a Forbes columnist to talk about our hobby in similar fashion. And think about whether we at the League are hitting the issues for our members like AOPA does.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2020/10/07/why-small-plane-aviati...
-Kristen (K6WX)
"Your eyes ... it's a day's work just looking into them" Laurie Anderson
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