In this case we surveyed PIOs and found that ¾ of the
respondents thought a charge of $20 (or more) was acceptable. See question 8 in
the attached.
The PR-101 course is not exactly in the category of “materials
required to perform their volunteer tasks.” The Swiss Army Knife, Talk on
a Disk, and other material that we provide free of charge fall into that
category. The course is aimed more at bringing volunteers up to speed who may
not already possess all of the necessary attributes to be effective as PIOs.
Allen also makes the point that someone is more likely to
complete the course if they have some buy-in.
Dave K1ZZ
From: John Bellows
[mailto:jbellows@skypoint.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 10:40 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: PR 101 CD vs Other Volunteer Materials
Allen
Pitts, W1AGP, and the good folks at HQ have developed a PR-101 course for ARRL
volunteer PIO’s (see below). The course is in CD form and is sold for
$19.95+shipping. The course was available at Dayton at the ARRL EXPO booth.
With all the activity at the ARRL EXPO it didn’t occur to me to ask why
we decided to charge for this course. An initial and obvious answer is that
it required ARRL resources to develop the course and we would like to recoup
that expense. Still, I’m a bit troubled by the idea of asking members to
volunteer for a Field Service task and then charging them for the materials to
perform that task.
The promo
material states “The future of Amateur Radio depends on how we are
perceived by the public. As a PIO, you are our “face” to the
public.”
Surely we value and encourage the members who give their time to that goal. I
just wonder if we should charge them for putting additional time into doing the
job well. We don’t charge VE’s or OO’s for the materials
required to perform their volunteer tasks. While we do charge for the EC-001
materials that involves a certification program.
My basic question is
how do we determine when to charge volunteers for materials helpful in
performing their tasks?
73,
Jay, KØQB
_________________________________________
From
the HQ Notice of the new PR-101 CD
At
the end of ’08 we did a survey of PIOs and are using the results to
create educational materials for PIOs, more “fill-in-the-blank”
materials and greater accountability for actively fulfilling the PIO
role. Mailing in only one or two press releases a year to a local paper
is unacceptable for a PIO. That’s where you come in as the some of
the most important people in the ARRL organization. The entire basis of
our PR planning rests with the actions of the local PIOs and PICs. The
old saying that, “All news is local,” is true. By your
actions in providing news releases, information, PSA’s and talking to
your local media, you make it all happen.
The
future of Amateur Radio depends on how we are perceived by the public. As
a PIO, you are our “face” to the public.
To help new PIOs we created a whole course titled PR-101. This course is on a CD you can study at your
own pace. It is available for ordering from the ARRL website at
http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=0133