[Ansteorra] Lifetime Membership

[Ld.blackmoon]

greetings

>>But what about
> something with a quantifiable, recurring cost, like postage for print
> newsletters? If someone was born to parents in the SCA who signed them
> up for membership as teenagers, it is conceivable that they would
> qualify for lifetime before they were 50 years old and play for
> another 20 years after that. 20 years of mailings are going to add up.<<

except that postage is no longer or soon will  no longer be an issue for 
most news letters as the sca is going online only for membership news 
letters with paper copies costing extra .
and didn't I hear that even membership cards will eventually be printed on 
your home printer , and not received in the mail ??

>By keeping up your payments you may one
> day qualify for lifetime membership. Which might encourage people to
> keep paying instead of lapsing when life gets in the way and they know
> they're not going to be attending anything for a while anyway.<<

yes unfortunately " life happens " like having to choose between a 
membership fee, and going to events , or paying rent, or feeding yourself or 
a family, or even having gas to go to work the next week  : /

at the current membership fee, and the current non member penalty , a person 
would have to go to 9 events before his penalties would equal his membership 
costs , so for those who are single, it is actually cheaper to pay the 
penalty at each event , especially if they know finances / work / or life 
won't allow them to go to 9 events in a year .

as for the " benefits" of paying for a membership..... lets see, the sca 
benefits when people buy memberships, the kingdoms benefit when people buy 
memberships, the local groups benefit when people buy memberships, but what 
about the individual purchasing the membership ?  well they get a membership 
card that's only valid if they remember to carry it on them, ( or have a 
picture of it on their phone ) at events , they get access to a private web 
page with electronic news letters on it , they get the privilege of being 
able to volunteer their time , energy, and knowledge to become a volunteer 
officer ,and / or marshal for the local, kingdom, or society offices, and 
they can " possibly " fight in crown tourneys ...
( hhmmmm , doesn't look too appealing to newbie's ( unless they want to be 
king )

I have to admit it seems odd to me that I continue to purchase a membership 
every year ( currently $45.00 ) in order to spend many hours of my time, 
energy and knowledge, every year marshaling, teaching, cleaning, doing 
paperwork, etc . , but then again I like to feel needed and useful, so maybe 
it's not too crazy to keep paying $45.00 a year to work for both local group 
and kingdom group , even if I have to cut other corners just to attend local 
events. $4000.00 a year just doesn't go as far as it used to : (

oh and before people start having too big a cow I have been an officer 
constantly , sometimes more than one office at the same time , on the local, 
regional, and kingdom deputy levels for going on 10 years , and just renewed 
my membership because of empty offices needing filled ,for which I have 
applied . so if paying to work for a " non profit " is crazy, I must 
certainly be qualified : )

Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
Arthur
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bree Flowers" <evethejust at gmail.com>
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 11:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Lifetime Membership


> Sorry, when you said "determined by them" I assumed "them" was the
> member, not the corporation. So maybe you would pay $300, but what if
> Lord Cheapsalot over there thinks that paying for 30 years was good
> enough and he wants his lifetime membership for $5? That's why I
> thought it was a rubbish idea. If the corporation set the rate it
> might work.
>
> Something else to consider... what is included in lifetime membership?
> Obviously those things which can be provided at no cost (or
> insurance-related cost, which is hard to calculate on an individual
> basis), like ability to hold office, ability to fight in Crown
> tournaments, and access to electronic newsletters. But what about
> something with a quantifiable, recurring cost, like postage for print
> newsletters? If someone was born to parents in the SCA who signed them
> up for membership as teenagers, it is conceivable that they would
> qualify for lifetime before they were 50 years old and play for
> another 20 years after that. 20 years of mailings are going to add up.
> I know that's the exception, but still...
>
> I suppose the flip-side of the coin would be that this would be adding
> "value" to your membership. By keeping up your payments you may one
> day qualify for lifetime membership. Which might encourage people to
> keep paying instead of lapsing when life gets in the way and they know
> they're not going to be attending anything for a while anyway.
>
> ~Eve
>
> On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Robert G. Ferrell <rgferrell at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>> On 5/16/2012 9:45 PM, Bree Flowers wrote:
>>
>>> I think that if the organization is in financial trouble right now
>>> that this would probably not help.
>>
>>
>> I disagree. Lifetime memberships decrease income somewhat over the long
>> term, but provide additional income in the short term, and the short term 
>> is
>> where we need it most. If I pay you $50 a year, for example, you will get
>> $300 from me over a period of six years, presuming I continue to
>> participate. Every year that $50 will represent a little less spending
>> power, due to cost of living increases. But If I give you $300 right now,
>> you'll have $300 worth of spending power at current rates. True, seven 
>> years
>> from now you'll begin to experience a decrease in annual income because 
>> I'll
>> no longer be giving you that $50 payment, but of course if I decide to 
>> stop
>> playing next year, you'll effectively be $200 richer than you would have
>> been. This is a gamble, something like insurance, and we'd need to run 
>> the
>> numbers to see whether or not it would, in fact, be a viable financial 
>> move,
>> but to state that it could not be of (short term) benefit to the SCA's
>> coffers is not a sound assertion.
>>
>> Cynric
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ansteorra mailing list
>> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
>> In order to make changes and manage your account please go to:
>> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
> _______________________________________________
> Ansteorra mailing list
> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
> In order to make changes and manage your account please go to:
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2425/4981 - Release Date: 05/06/12
> Internal Virus Database is out of date.
>