[Ansteorra] Membership

Mr. and Mrs. Fryday fryday at swbell.net
Fri Mar 1 14:37:41 PST 2002


    When I first started playing in the SCA I was told paid membership would
allow me to hold an office, receive Tournaments Illuminated, The Blackstar,
and get discounts at some events. I know that the money goes to pay for SCA
Inc. expenses as do most other members. So the real question is, Why don't
people support the SCA Inc.?
    The answer lies in what you get with your membership. If you don't plan
on holding an office there is no real benefit to paying for a membership.
How many discounts have you received at events for being a paid member? I
haven't gotten any discounts. Why subscribe to the Tournaments Illuminated
and The Blackstar when you can barrow a copy from a paid member such as an
officer of a local group? There isn't much incentive for being a paid
member, that's why you don't see an increase in funds generated due to
increasing members. I don't know how to solve this problem but the truth is
that most people like getting something for nothing.
    I pay and will continue to do so, not because I want to help pay for SCA
Inc. expenses. I pay because I want to hold an office and help out my local
group. I don't just want to attend practices, guild meetings, and events.
The people in my SCA group are my friends and I want to assist where I can.
Maybe we should try to fill those open offices. Since only paid members can
hold offices this could increase income for the SCA. We may also want to
establish additional incentives such as a years membership for winners in
newcomer competitions. I'm sure there are many other ways to get people to
pay for membership. Hopefully some ideas will come out of this discussion.
Well that's my 99 cents worth...

Gassion

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lady Simone ui' Dunlaingh" <simone at elfsea.net>
To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 10:36 AM
Subject: [Ansteorra] Membership


> After Reading the membership reduction proposal the BOD wants commentary
on
> and some discussions on membership on another list I belong to I began to
> wonder.
>
> local groups over all are getting larger and yet SCA paid membership
numbers
> have remained constant over the past few years. This brings to at least my
> mind several Questions:
>
> 1)Why are paid membership numbers not going up?
>
> 2)Why are folks choosing not to pay an SCA memberships?
>
> 3)What can we do to change it?
>
> 4)Are newcomers educated on what comes with membership,    and what our
> membership funds are used for? (i.e...the mundane  running of SCA INC. )
>
> 5)How can we encourage the growth of paid memberships?
>
> 6)What is the long term effects on the SCA if funds raised by memberships
do
> not increase and corporate expensed continue to increase?
>
> I know this is a topic we normally do not discuss much but I feel we
> probably should. I don't think the topic is one that will resolve itself
> without discussion. I would also like to find answers to these questions.
To
> be honest it is a topic that has me concerned.  I would like to know what
> others in our kingdom think about this topic good bad or indifferent.
>
> Lady Simone Maurian ui' Dunlaingh
> simone at elfsea.net
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ansteorra mailing list
> Ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/ansteorra




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