[arrl-odv:28762] Membership Stats
Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall totalwas -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, butthey’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and RockyMountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it,but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give thiseffort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility ofhaving a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F toconsider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we maketo the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch anaggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for sucha campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9%
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv < arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73, Rick – K5UR .............................
*August 2019 vs 2018*
Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 *Northwestern* 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 *Roanoke* 0.2 * *Rocky Mountain * 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4
*Total* -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Hi Ria, Rick, Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time. Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc. The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign. Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count. And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL. Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats Hi Ria, Rick, Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time. Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc. The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign. Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count. And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL. Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com <mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that's because of out-migration. We've been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> > wrote: Hi all: Here's something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they're still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let's make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I've asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick - K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur RadioR 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org <mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net> wrote:
Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
*Bob Famiglio, K3RF*
*Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division*
*610-359-7300*
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
*From:* arrl-odv *On Behalf Of *Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) *Sent:* Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM *To:* Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com *Cc:* arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> *Subject:* [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv < arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
*August 2019 vs 2018*
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
*Northwestern* 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
*Roanoke* 0.2 *
*Rocky Mountain *0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
*Total* -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
--
Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX
Chief Executive Officer
ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio®
225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA
Telephone: +1 860-594-0404
email: hmichel@arrl.org
Howard Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect? It clarify the life member burden to the League. 73. John N5AUS Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com" <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration.
73 Ria, N2RJ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
Bob Famiglio, K3RF
Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division
610-359-7300
<image001.png>
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
August 2019 vs 2018
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
Northwestern 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
Roanoke 0.2 *
Rocky Mountain 0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
Total -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org
arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Hi John, It's not quite that simple. In addition to the age of the members, we need to make assumptions on the future value of money, and the projected future cost of membership. I've attached the last "Adequacy review of life member reserve funds" that covers all of this in detail. As I stated in the May EC meeting, I believe that ARRL has taken conservative approaches in both those forecasts. Such an approach (the inherent risk) is considered by auditors when they conduct our audit. As an aside, the ARRL Balance Sheet, which is provided monthly to A&F and periodically to the full Board, shows that we have a current liability of $7.8 million in deferred life member dues. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/16/2019 1:20 PM, N5AUS wrote: Howard Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect? It clarify the life member burden to the League. 73. John N5AUS Sent from my iPhone On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>" <rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>> wrote: I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net<mailto:RBFamiglio@verizon.net>> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 <image001.png> www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF<http://www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF> From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>>; k5ur@aol.com<mailto:k5ur@aol.com> Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@arrl.org>> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats Hi Ria, Rick, Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time. Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc. The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign. Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count. And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL. Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111<https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org> _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
Howard My request stands. Please supply the information. 73 _______________________________________ John Robert Stratton N5AUS Vice Director Legislative Director West Gulf Division Office:512-445-6262 Cell:512-426-2028 P.O. Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 *_______________________________________*** On 9/16/19 5:15 PM, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) wrote:
Hi John,
It's not quite that simple. In addition to the age of the members, we need to make assumptions on the future value of money, and the projected future cost of membership. I've attached the last "Adequacy review of life member reserve funds" that covers all of this in detail. As I stated in the May EC meeting, I believe that ARRL has taken conservative approaches in both those forecasts. Such an approach (the inherent risk) is considered by auditors when they conduct our audit.
As an aside, the ARRL Balance Sheet, which is provided monthly to A&F and periodically to the full Board, shows that we have a current liability of $7.8 million in deferred life member dues.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 09/16/2019 1:20 PM, N5AUS wrote:
Howard
Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect?
It clarify the life member burden to the League.
73. John N5AUS
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com <mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>" <rjairam@gmail.com <mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>> wrote:
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration.
73 Ria, N2RJ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net <mailto:RBFamiglio@verizon.net>> wrote:
Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
*Bob Famiglio, K3RF*
*Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division*
*610-359-7300*
<image001.png>
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF <http://www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF>
*From:*arrl-odv *On Behalf Of *Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) *Sent:* Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM *To:* Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com <mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>>; k5ur@aol.com <mailto:k5ur@aol.com> *Cc:* arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@arrl.org>> *Subject:* [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com <mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
*August 2019 vs 2018*
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
*Northwestern* 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
*Roanoke* 0.2 *
*Rocky Mountain *0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
*Total* -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
--
Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX
Chief Executive Officer
ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio®
225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA
Telephone: +1 860-594-0404
email:hmichel@arrl.org <mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email:hmichel@arrl.org
Howard: How many ARRL Life Members are there? Do you have an estimate as to how much time it would take to gather the information requested by Director Stratton? Is this issue currently being reviewed by A&F? 73, Jay, K0QB Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 5:15 PM, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) <wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote:
Hi John,
It's not quite that simple. In addition to the age of the members, we need to make assumptions on the future value of money, and the projected future cost of membership. I've attached the last "Adequacy review of life member reserve funds" that covers all of this in detail. As I stated in the May EC meeting, I believe that ARRL has taken conservative approaches in both those forecasts. Such an approach (the inherent risk) is considered by auditors when they conduct our audit.
As an aside, the ARRL Balance Sheet, which is provided monthly to A&F and periodically to the full Board, shows that we have a current liability of $7.8 million in deferred life member dues.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 09/16/2019 1:20 PM, N5AUS wrote: Howard
Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect?
It clarify the life member burden to the League.
73. John N5AUS
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com" <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration.
73 Ria, N2RJ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
Bob Famiglio, K3RF
Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division
610-359-7300
<image001.png>
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
August 2019 vs 2018
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
Northwestern 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
Roanoke 0.2 *
Rocky Mountain 0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
Total -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org
arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org <H&H Life Member Reserve.pdf>
arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Vice Director Famiglio’s institutional memory appears much more rosy than I recall it, and I believe I was chair of A&F at that point. Marty’s calculations were approximations, as he readily admitted, and not a rigorous study. Just as a point of calibration, at the time this issue was last discussed, we were informed that many organizations, both amateur radio and other affiliation societies, were de-emphasizing or eliminating new Life Memberships because they were a loss to the organizations. Some were undoubtedly inappropriately priced, but others presumably priced their offerings appropriately, as they thought, but were forced to admit that they had underestimated the cost. I am sure that A&F Chair Ryan and the committee will take a balanced, dispassionate look at this issue. 73, Greg, K0GW On Monday, September 16, 2019, John Bellows <jbellows@skypoint.com> wrote:
Howard:
How many ARRL Life Members are there? Do you have an estimate as to how much time it would take to gather the information requested by Director Stratton?
Is this issue currently being reviewed by A&F?
73, Jay, K0QB
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 5:15 PM, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) <wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote:
Hi John,
It's not quite that simple. In addition to the age of the members, we need to make assumptions on the future value of money, and the projected future cost of membership. I've attached the last "Adequacy review of life member reserve funds" that covers all of this in detail. As I stated in the May EC meeting, I believe that ARRL has taken conservative approaches in both those forecasts. Such an approach (the inherent risk) is considered by auditors when they conduct our audit.
As an aside, the ARRL Balance Sheet, which is provided monthly to A&F and periodically to the full Board, shows that we have a current liability of $7.8 million in deferred life member dues.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 09/16/2019 1:20 PM, N5AUS wrote:
Howard
Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect?
It clarify the life member burden to the League.
73. John N5AUS
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com" <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration.
73 Ria, N2RJ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF < RBFamiglio@verizon.net> wrote:
Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
*Bob Famiglio, K3RF*
*Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division*
*610-359-7300*
<image001.png>
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
*From:* arrl-odv *On Behalf Of *Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) *Sent:* Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM *To:* Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com *Cc:* arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> *Subject:* [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv < arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
*August 2019 vs 2018*
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
*Northwestern* 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
*Roanoke* 0.2 *
*Rocky Mountain *0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
*Total* -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
--
Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX
Chief Executive Officer
ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio®
225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA
Telephone: +1 860-594-0404
email: hmichel@arrl.org
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org
<H&H Life Member Reserve.pdf>
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Jay, John, We have about 20,500 life members. I will check to see what is involved in getting the data John wants. I don't believe it will be simple. But I reiterate, what a member paid or when he paid it is irrelevant when considering ARRL's current life-member liability. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/16/2019 7:35 PM, John Bellows wrote: Howard: How many ARRL Life Members are there? Do you have an estimate as to how much time it would take to gather the information requested by Director Stratton? Is this issue currently being reviewed by A&F? 73, Jay, K0QB Sent from my iPhone On Sep 16, 2019, at 5:15 PM, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) <wb2itx@arrl.org<mailto:wb2itx@arrl.org>> wrote: Hi John, It's not quite that simple. In addition to the age of the members, we need to make assumptions on the future value of money, and the projected future cost of membership. I've attached the last "Adequacy review of life member reserve funds" that covers all of this in detail. As I stated in the May EC meeting, I believe that ARRL has taken conservative approaches in both those forecasts. Such an approach (the inherent risk) is considered by auditors when they conduct our audit. As an aside, the ARRL Balance Sheet, which is provided monthly to A&F and periodically to the full Board, shows that we have a current liability of $7.8 million in deferred life member dues. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/16/2019 1:20 PM, N5AUS wrote: Howard Can you provide a breakdown of life members by the amount they paid for their life membership and the time period for when those life member rates were in effect? It clarify the life member burden to the League. 73. John N5AUS Sent from my iPhone On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>" <rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>> wrote: I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net<mailto:RBFamiglio@verizon.net>> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 <image001.png> www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF<http://www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF> From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>>; k5ur@aol.com<mailto:k5ur@aol.com> Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@arrl.org>> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats Hi Ria, Rick, Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time. Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc. The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign. Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count. And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL. Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111<https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org> _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org> <H&H Life Member Reserve.pdf> _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
A bit more institutional memory is in order. Life Membership at some reduced rate for older members has long been politically popular, but the professionals whom ARRL has retained examine Life Memberships funds over the past many years to have repeatedly discussed the potential negatives of the program. ARRL has long relied upon sales of publications, fees, investment income and additional member contributions to fill the significant gap between income from membership dues, including Life Membership income and operating expenses. Having been a Director for ten years I understand the desire to please those members who would like some lesser form of “Life” Membership. Former VD Woll’s evaluation should be considered, but only in conjunction with that of professionals in evaluating such plans. It is worth remembering ARRL has had to rely upon additional contributions from members, investment income, publication sales and fees to supplement the annual shortfall between member dues and expenses. A. Whether contributions will continue at prior levels is uncertain. Contributions have become a “political football”. Members dissatisfied with one Board decision or another have been encouraging members to withhold contributions. This year it is the Winlink and anti-Winlink advocates, last year it was some vocal members of My ARRL Voice. Asking members not to contribute has become a new political tool that has and likely will negatively affect contributions in the future. B. The 10 plus year Bullish stock market has provided investment income to supplement the dues shortfall. If market slows or turns around, as has always happened in the past, we may not be able to rely on that income. C. Maintaining income from publication sales and fees is becoming more and more challenging. Whether we can expect this income to rise is uncertain. D. Given the current climate and market determining what income we can expect from invested Life Membership funds is equally challenging. The temptation is to use funds from prior contributions to meet operating expenses. That is like eating your young. I suspect most contributors were under the impression their contributions were to be applied to a specific purpose such Spectrum Defense or for new projects, not to meet an operating expense shortfall resulting from member dues insufficient to meet current needs. If current annual dues of $49 are not sufficient to meet current operating expenses, our fiduciary responsibility as members of the ARRL Board requires caution in pricing Life Memberships, either regular or for senior members, to make sure we are not cannibalizing our endowment to provide a popular but underpriced Life Membership. 73, Jay, K0QB Sent from my iPad
On Sep 16, 2019, at 11:48 AM, "rjairam@gmail.com" <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration.
73 Ria, N2RJ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard.
Bob Famiglio, K3RF
Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division
610-359-7300
<image001.png>
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com>; k5ur@aol.com Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats
Hi Ria, Rick,
Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time.
Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc.
The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign.
Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count.
And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL.
Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with.
73, Howard, WB2ITX
On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com wrote:
I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off.
As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea.
73
Ria, N2RJ
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Hi all:
Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend.
Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers!
Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division.
You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know.
73,
Rick – K5UR
.............................
August 2019 vs 2018
Atlantic -0.7%
Central -0.6
Dakota -0.8
Delta -0.9
Foreign -5.0
Great Lakes -0.9
Hudson -3.1
Midwest -1.5
New England -1.7
Northwestern 0.5 *
Pacific -1.1
Roanoke 0.2 *
Rocky Mountain 0.4 *
Southeastern -0.2
Southwestern -0.2
West Gulf -0.4
Total -0.9%
_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
-- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org
arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Hi Ria, The EC passed this item to the A&F in May. We are working with Jeff to get the information A&F will require for their November meeting. 73, Howard On 09/16/2019 12:49 PM, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I agree with that. In fact this report should currently be in front of the executive committee for reconsideration. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM Bob Famiglio, K3RF <RBFamiglio@verizon.net<mailto:RBFamiglio@verizon.net>> wrote: Maintaining institutional memory is always a challenge in these situations. I believe the topic of special life memberships was studied by ex-vice-director Marty Woll, an expert in the field, who worked up a proposal to create a Life Membership with an actuarially based premium for older members with age brackets determining the dues multiple to be paid. It was viewed with favor by the board I understand, but not the CFO and then president for unknown reasons. It was back in 2013 or something like that. The bottom line was favorable to the League on both income and member retention. It may be time to review that information again if you are not aware of it Howard. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 [X] www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF<http://www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF> From: arrl-odv On Behalf Of Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 3:39 PM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ, (Dir, HD) <rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com>>; k5ur@aol.com<mailto:k5ur@aol.com> Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@arrl.org>> Subject: [arrl-odv:28764] Re: Membership Stats Hi Ria, Rick, Thanks for your thoughts. We would all like to find ways of reducing the cost of membership, but unfortunately this is not the time. Staff has looked at several options. Ria is right, advertisers don't value digital media. If we reduce the number of print copies of QST, it will negatively impact adverting revenue. And a digital-only magazine might not let us reduce the dues by very much. Currently, dues do not cover the cost of member benefits provided. Member benefits are subsidized by books sales, awards, etc. The facts are that we need to grow new and existing sources of revenue first. Part of that growth-plan is to provide more value in membership. As I mentioned in the Board meeting, we will roll out On the Air (OTA) magazine in January. This will be available as a member benefit, not as a paid subscription like QEX or NCJ. Every member will be able to get both QST and OTA in digital form as part of their membership dues. Members will have the option of receiving either QST or OTA in paper form. OTA, plus lifelong learning, new marketing capabilities with the Personify AMS, and other very-early initiatives we are pursuing that should help bring in more revenue. We will be heavily "selling" these benefits as part of an aggressive membership campaign. Why is more revenue critical? In addition to dues not currently covering member benefits, as I stated in my reports to the Board, income from operations does not cover the cost of operations. We balance the budget with donations and investment return. This is not a healthy situation. This problem has grown over many years, and will take years to reverse. Some have suggested that we use a portion of our reserves to provide more member benefits. While I am not opposed to spending reserves as an investment to grow ARRL (and I will be using this philosophy when I present the 2020-2021 Plan to the Board), spending reserves to balance operations is a very bad idea. For every $1 million we take out of reserves (equivalent to a $6.00 member benefit or dues reduction) , we will have (on average) $50,000 less to spend to balance operations. This is the equivalent of one head count. And speaking of reserves, yes we are looking at a reduced rate for life members. But I need to remind the Board, as our auditor reported, the single biggest liability ARRL has on our books is the reserves we need to maintain to provide services to life members. If I remember correctly, it is 20%-25% of our reserves. That is money we can not spend, and increasing the number of life members will only increase the amount we need to maintain. That is money we cannot use to invest in ARRL. Instead of the Board entertaining ideas of reducing dues, the Board should debate the value of an annual dues increase. Since the Board made the last dues increase, the cost of living has reduced the cost of dues by almost 10%. This is also a 10% reduction in income vs expenses that we have to work with. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 9/14/2019 7:18 AM, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111<https://www.google.com/maps/search/225+Main+Street,+Newington,+CT+06111?entry=gmail&source=g>-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org> -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
Hello Ria and Rick I have heard a lot of support for a life-membership for "older"members. Since the cost of member retention works out to about $8/yr/memberperhaps we could consider this a way to lock-in positive recruitment formore than just year-to-year.... 73, Kermit On Saturday, September 14, 2019, 6:18:49 AM CDT, rjairam@gmail.com <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall totalwas -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, butthey’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and RockyMountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it,but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give thiseffort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility ofhaving a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F toconsider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we maketo the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch anaggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for sucha campaign, please let A&F know. 73,Rick – K5UR............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7%Central -0.6Dakota -0.8Delta -0.9Foreign -5.0Great Lakes -0.9Hudson -3.1Midwest -1.5New England -1.7Northwestern 0.5 *Pacific -1.1Roanoke 0.2 *Rocky Mountain 0.4 *Southeastern -0.2Southwestern -0.2West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9%_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Hi Kermit, The thread seems to have grown three heads... 1) the initial thread to provide a reduce membership 2) reduce life member dues 3) and now, the cost of member retention. I've addressed the first two in other replies. I'm not sure if your estimated cost of member retention is accurate -- whether it is high or low. It's hard to tie all the costs together. What I do know is that we currently mail up to five letters to members to renew. We have trained many of them to wait until the 4th or 5th solicitation so they can receive a free book. I have asked Kathleen (new MarCom Manager) to find a way out of this mess. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/15/2019 11:21 PM, Kermit Carlson via arrl-odv wrote: Hello Ria and Rick I have heard a lot of support for a life-membership for "older" members. Since the cost of member retention works out to about $8/yr/member perhaps we could consider this a way to lock-in positive recruitment for more than just year-to-year.... 73, Kermit On Saturday, September 14, 2019, 6:18:49 AM CDT, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> <rjairam@gmail.com><mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
Hello ALL, Thank you Howard for checking into the details of how todecrease the membership retention costs. With respect to the issue of life membership "pricing"; Determining the reasonable cost of a life membership is akinto offering a life insurance policy since it has the two same basicissues; that of life expectancy and that of future value versuspresent value. In my discussions with many members in the 65+ range, thenumber that seems to arise is 10 or 15 years lump sum as apposedto the 24 year lump sum. One danger in offering such discounts ingeneral is that it places the League in the position similar to aninsurance company looking for which loaded actuarial tablecan be believed as being correct. In 2017, the White male populationLD50% at 65 years was 18.1 years according to the NVSR (National Vital Statistic Report the CDC's NVSE) so offering a life membership to a white male 65 year old really needs to be based on the present value of basically an 18 year term for break-even.The life expectancy number at age 65 that I used was from the 2017 NVSE; https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf Another problem is the variability of future value of an asset,such as the future value of a life membership purchased today.If it is purchased by that same white male population today atage 65; at 2% interest for 18 years a $490 sum is equal to future value of $700; at 5% that $490 sum would, at 18 years, have a future value of $1,180. A 3% aggregated increase ofinterest during those 18 years would have an increasedcost of $480 based on the change future value. (Of coursethe compounding rate for the calculation would change the numbers.I chose once a year for the term to produce this estimate.)What it does show is that risk from the variability of future value can equal the present value with a 3% change in inflation. Another variability which will affect the outcome isthat life expectancy will likely continue to increase beyond the 2017figures. The result of that likelihood increases the term and would increase the real cost of the offering. 73, Kermit W9XA On Monday, September 16, 2019, 5:28:59 PM CDT, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) <wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote: Hi Kermit, The thread seems to have grown three heads... 1) the initial thread to provide a reduce membership 2) reduce life member dues 3) and now, the cost of member retention. I've addressed the first two in other replies. I'm not sure if your estimated cost of member retention is accurate -- whether it is high or low. It's hard to tie all the costs together. What I do know is that we currentlymail up to five letters to members to renew. We have trained many of them to wait until the 4th or 5th solicitation so they can receive a free book. I have asked Kathleen (new MarCom Manager) to find a way out of this mess. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/15/2019 11:21 PM, Kermit Carlson via arrl-odv wrote: Hello Ria and Rick I have heard a lot of support for a life-membership for "older"members. Since the cost of member retention works out to about $8/yr/memberperhaps we could consider this a way to lock-in positive recruitment formore than just year-to-year.... 73, Kermit On Saturday, September 14, 2019, 6:18:49 AM CDT, rjairam@gmail.com <rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73,Rick – K5UR............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7%Central -0.6Dakota -0.8Delta -0.9Foreign -5.0Great Lakes -0.9Hudson -3.1Midwest -1.5New England -1.7Northwestern 0.5 *Pacific -1.1Roanoke 0.2 *Rocky Mountain 0.4 *Southeastern -0.2Southwestern -0.2West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9%_______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
Hi Kermit, You are absolutely correct. If you are interested, the assumptions ARRL uses (and the impact of variations in those assumptions) for the future value of our investments and the future cost of delivering membership are spelled out in the report I sent to ODV yesterday. 73, Howard On 09/16/2019 10:26 PM, Kermit Carlson wrote: Hello ALL, Thank you Howard for checking into the details of how to decrease the membership retention costs. With respect to the issue of life membership "pricing"; Determining the reasonable cost of a life membership is akin to offering a life insurance policy since it has the two same basic issues; that of life expectancy and that of future value versus present value. In my discussions with many members in the 65+ range, the number that seems to arise is 10 or 15 years lump sum as apposed to the 24 year lump sum. One danger in offering such discounts in general is that it places the League in the position similar to an insurance company looking for which loaded actuarial table can be believed as being correct. In 2017, the White male population LD50% at 65 years was 18.1 years according to the NVSR (National Vital Statistic Report the CDC's NVSE) so offering a life membership to a white male 65 year old really needs to be based on the present value of basically an 18 year term for break-even. The life expectancy number at age 65 that I used was from the 2017 NVSE; https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf Another problem is the variability of future value of an asset, such as the future value of a life membership purchased today. If it is purchased by that same white male population today at age 65; at 2% interest for 18 years a $490 sum is equal to future value of $700; at 5% that $490 sum would, at 18 years, have a future value of $1,180. A 3% aggregated increase of interest during those 18 years would have an increased cost of $480 based on the change future value. (Of course the compounding rate for the calculation would change the numbers. I chose once a year for the term to produce this estimate.) What it does show is that risk from the variability of future value can equal the present value with a 3% change in inflation. Another variability which will affect the outcome is that life expectancy will likely continue to increase beyond the 2017 figures. The result of that likelihood increases the term and would increase the real cost of the offering. 73, Kermit W9XA On Monday, September 16, 2019, 5:28:59 PM CDT, Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) <wb2itx@arrl.org><mailto:wb2itx@arrl.org> wrote: Hi Kermit, The thread seems to have grown three heads... 1) the initial thread to provide a reduce membership 2) reduce life member dues 3) and now, the cost of member retention. I've addressed the first two in other replies. I'm not sure if your estimated cost of member retention is accurate -- whether it is high or low. It's hard to tie all the costs together. What I do know is that we currently mail up to five letters to members to renew. We have trained many of them to wait until the 4th or 5th solicitation so they can receive a free book. I have asked Kathleen (new MarCom Manager) to find a way out of this mess. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 09/15/2019 11:21 PM, Kermit Carlson via arrl-odv wrote: Hello Ria and Rick I have heard a lot of support for a life-membership for "older" members. Since the cost of member retention works out to about $8/yr/member perhaps we could consider this a way to lock-in positive recruitment for more than just year-to-year.... 73, Kermit On Saturday, September 14, 2019, 6:18:49 AM CDT, rjairam@gmail.com<mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> <rjairam@gmail.com><mailto:rjairam@gmail.com> wrote: I see Hudson Division is the worst performing at -3.1%. Ouch! I do suspect that’s because of out-migration. We’ve been steadily losing population here, particularly among retirees. Our hamfests here have also been getting smaller and smaller as hams either move to warmer, more tax friendly locales or die off. As far as dues go I am consistently told by members and ex members (as recently as last night at a club meeting) that they want some sort of tiered membership with an option for a digital magazine instead of print. While I do get that we have to balance this with advertisers, it may be a good time to look at this idea. 73 Ria, N2RJ On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:46 AM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> wrote: Hi all: Here’s something to think about as you kick back for the weekend. Listed below are the membership stats for August. Only 3 Divisions had a positive number compared to one year ago, and the overall total was -0.9%. Statistically, the percentages may be small in many instances, but they’re still negative. Congratulations to the Northwestern, Roanoke, and Rocky Mountain Divisions for having positive numbers! Our numbers have been suffering since the dues increase in 2016 and the recovery has been similar to the dues increase 15 years before it, but that should be no excuse. We need to turn this around. Please, give this effort priority and let’s make these numbers positive in every Division. You may recall that A&F is studying the feasibility of having a layered or tiered-style Life Membership. Also, I’ve asked A&F to consider having a general membership drive in conjunction with any changes we make to the Life Membership. Seems like that would be an opportune time to launch an aggressive membership campaign. If you have any ideas that might work for such a campaign, please let A&F know. 73, Rick – K5UR ............................. August 2019 vs 2018 Atlantic -0.7% Central -0.6 Dakota -0.8 Delta -0.9 Foreign -5.0 Great Lakes -0.9 Hudson -3.1 Midwest -1.5 New England -1.7 Northwestern 0.5 * Pacific -1.1 Roanoke 0.2 * Rocky Mountain 0.4 * Southeastern -0.2 Southwestern -0.2 West Gulf -0.4 Total -0.9% _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org> _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>
participants (9)
-
Bob Famiglio, K3RF -
G Widin -
John Bellows -
John Robert Stratton -
k5ur＠aol.com -
Kermit Carlson -
Michel, Howard, WB2ITX (CEO) -
N5AUS
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rjairam＠gmail.com