[Ansteorra] SCA membership dues - another view

[Jay Yeates]

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from the previously cited web site with the BOD meeting notes made by
a observer, and basis for much discussion last couple days  ...

To prompt discussion, PF considered a motion to:
1. Unbundle TI (leaving membership at $35)
2. Increase fee for extra-newsletters
3. Implement a $3/event nonmember surcharge
4. Increase associate membership fee to $25 (from $20).

... After break and much more discussion (which was allowed to wander
perhaps a bit more than was useful, and evidenced some
misunderstandings of current offerings), Paul Foster made the
following Motion, with straw polls of the Board on each point to
allow for agreement / wordsmithing before it was official submitted:

1 Unbundle TI as above (OK)

2 $3 "member discount" on event admissions, difference to be sent to
corporation by group/kingdom, implementation details to be worked out
by individual Kingdoms and Soc. Sen. (OK)

3 Increase cost of additional newsletter subscriptions by an amount
to be worked out by staff (the number $2 was discussed.)

4 Increase stipends to Kingdoms (newsletters) by (amount debated) $2.
(OK)
Stricken (5) Increase cost of Associate Membership to $25 (not ok,
removed.)

5 Raise all fees relating to 1st Class mail option to cover increase
costs (OK)
all to be implemented by Jan. 1, 2003.

....
let's put aside the odious issues of "pay to play" and
"discouragement of non-member volunteers" and look at another issue
in these same sections.

one of the strongest recommendations to date to help resolve the
non-member / declining membership issues was to unbundle the
publications from membership and set them up as their own profit
centers).  the intent being to drop the membership rates to something
more reasonable to the rank-n-file.

this "unbundling" is a good idea on a  number of fronts ....

.. many get their critical information online or from friends copies
of TI / kingdom copies and have no use for more "dead tree"
publications  i enjoy the TI, but get critical information online
(where available), it being more timely and useful to me.

... with declining costs of machines and access, couples with the
widespread (and growing) public access points, the old "not everyone
has a PC" arguement is losing ground.  it's about time for the
organization to grow up and give those who want simplified access
without all the fluff a option (and the publications will still be
available if you want / need to subscribe).  and thee days. the
transition from DTP copy to Web is *usually* a simple matter.

... spinning off TI into a stand-along publication would probably
improve the quality of the publication and open it up to
non-scadian's who had interest in it.  spinning the organizational
business to a online (possibly with a simple insert for member
subscribers ...) would allow TI to become more a magazine dedicated
to medieval / historical issues, which in turn would widen it's
appeal.   this works well in another non-scadian group i follow with
same publication schedule and mix of business / articles.

... spinning TI into a stand-alone, would better allow advertiser
support, such support would dcrease / end need for corporate support
and put it on a more professional footing.  i think it would improve
greatly


now note that #1 above was proposed *without* the decline in
membership fees.  so that means that all members will have to
subscribe to TI seperately (additional $5/year from what i've been
reading elsewhere).  so to get same level of membership service most
enjoy - membership, TI, kingdom newsletter you will possibly be
paying $40/year instead of the current $35

so, if the publications are being "unbundled" and you are paying the
same rates, then the monies that were previously going to support
those publications is going back into the empires coffers.  if folk
are hard pressed to come up with $35/year with publications, then
will far fewer will come up with the funds for those publications and
those publications will suffer in turn.  what i (and many other who
are discussing this elesewhere) do not understand is what is the
difference between this and "associate" membership at $10/year less
(possibly you wil not be allowed the discounted publication rates)

and it's all camoflaged as "unbundling" when it's actually a
membership increase (of at least $5/year based on current readings
and estimates ... more if you want 1st class postage).  so it appears
not only is a non-membership "tax" being pushed, there's also is a
associated "membership" tax in the works

it's definitely time to force "our emperor and the senate" to become
more fiscally responsible with OUR money (by the by, did you note the
$5000 for a replacement computer and virus removal listed later in
teh document ... don't know about you, but it's been *many* years
since i spent $5K for a business class computer and antivirus
package.

'wolf

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