[Ansteorra] Pay-2-play, Pay-2-fight, Pay-2-whatever...

[Lori Campbell]

> Can someone knowledgeable post -exactly- what the membership cost
> covers? I know we get a membership card and a newsletter. Is there
> anything else? If costs are rising, what are those costs?

One should not interpret my attempt to respond to this as any kind of a
claim that I am "knowledgeable". I haven't seen a Corporate financial
statement in a good long time, but I seem to recall (anyone with better
info feel free to jump in and set me straight) that our membership
dollars to corporate in the past have covered such things as: 

- expenses of the corporate office including:
business/office equipment (computers, copier, fax machine, etc.)
administrative costs (phone, electricity, office space; incidentals
like paper, paperclips, staples, etc.)

- corporate positions which are paid positions (both salaries and
travel expenses)

- legal counsel (which has become a much bigger expense in recent
years)

- insurance policies (which have also become a bigger expense)

- costs associated with the SCA.org website (if/when there are any)

- publishing the TI and CA (when subscription income wasn't sufficient
to make them self-supporting)

About the question "what does the existence of the corporation do for
all of us who never see it aside from sending us a little blue
membership card and kingdom newsletter?" 

The best explanation I've heard is that the corporation ensures that
the SCA exists with some semblance of uniformity worldwide. You can
live pretty much anywhere and find some similar version of the game to
play. Despite interkingdom anthropological differences, no matter where
you land your awards still give you rank and your heraldry is
recognized as your own... whether you live in Oregon, Florida, London
or Brisbane. <shrug>    

I've seen alot of good arguments on both sides of the P2P issue (never
one good enough to change my opinion), but one of the strongest
arguments I've seen in favor of P2P is that it would set an
across-the-board membership benefit standards for all kingdoms. For
those of you who are newer, this means every kingdom would have the
same membership requirements for the same activities. Currently
kingdoms set their own membership requirements for armigerous awards,
fighter authorization, archery authorizations, participation in
competitions, etc...).  

It also provides us with 501(c)3 status, not to mention giving us a
"higher court" for all those issues that kingdoms can't seem to settle
on their own... appeals, banishments, etc.

As our Kingdom Grand Council Rep Armand said, I too am happy to listen
to your opinions on this issue. Rest assured, I'm reading every
pay-to-play post here on the list. You can e-mail me personally if you
prefer at countesskat @ yahoo . com  and if you put P2P in your e-mail
subject line I'll love you even more. :) 

~ Kat MacLochlainn
Grand Council, at-large member


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