[Sca-cooks] Fw: request for commentary regarding membership numbers

[caointiarn]

something I found in my mail today, and thought you all would appreciate me
passing it along.  Caointiarn

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Baron, Meg" <Meg.Baron at experian.com>
> To: announcements at sca.org
> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 08:52 PM
> Subject: [Announcements] request for commentary regarding membership
numbers
>
>  Greetings unto the membership of the SCA,
>
>  Recently the Board of Directors received a request asking us to review
the
> current rules governing the types of SCA memberships that count toward the
> status of recognized groups, and to consider allowing all types of
>  memberships (including Associate and Family) to be counted in the makeup
of
> SCA branches. Under our current rules, which have remained unchanged for
> some 20 years, only subscribing memberships (Sustaining and International)
>  are counted toward the minimum number of members required for SCA
branches.
>
>  Similar suggestions were made by a number of individuals in the recent
> membership survey, and the Board feels this would be a positive change
which
> would benefit both SCA branches and individual members.  To that end, we
> are  seeking commentary from the membership on the following:
>
>  1.  Should all types of membership (Sustaining, International,
Associate,
> and Family) count toward the number of members required for an  SCA branch
> to maintain or advance its status?
>
>  If the above change is made, we must then consider what modifications, if
> any, should be made to the current minimum numbers required for an SCA
> branch to exist, or to advance in status.
>
>  The current minimum Society requirements (which have been in effect for
> some  20 years) are as follows:
>
>  Kingdoms: 400 Subscribing members
>  Principalities: 100 Subscribing members
>  Baronies: 25 Subscribing members
>  Other branches:   (shires, cantons, colleges, etc.)  5 Subscribing
members
>
>  These numbers were originally set with the idea that, in addition to the
> minimum number of subscribing members, each group would likely have a
number
> of other types of members as well, which would help sustain the group.
> Therefore, the Board has discussed whether these numbers should be raised
if
> all memberships count toward a branch's status.
>
>  At present, slightly more than 40 percent of our members are Associate or
> Family members.  This percentage is fairly uniform across the kingdoms of
> the Known World, though it is somewhat lower in Drachenwald and
Ealdormere.
>  In order to attempt to maintain the current ratios, one option  would be
> simply to raise the required number of members for each type of branch by
> approximately 40 percent.  This would result in the following new minimum
> Society requirements:
>
>  Kingdoms     560 members (any type)
>  Principalities 140 members (any type)
>  Baronies 35 members (any type)
>  Other branches 7 members (any type)
>
>  The questions the Board would like the membership to comment on, related
to
> this subject, are:
>
>  If all types of memberships count toward branch status, should the
required
> numbers of members be adjusted upward?
>
>  3. Should these adjustments be for every type of branch, or only for
> certain ones?  If only certain ones, please be specific.  For example, one
> option would be to increase required numbers for principalities and
> kingdoms, but leave groups below the principality level as they are.
>
>  4. Is the 40 percent proposal cited above reasonable?  We are
particularly
> interested in hearing of specific examples of branches that  this change
> might negatively impact.
>
>  Please note that, in the event the minimum required number of members for
> some or all types of branches is increased, there will very likely be a
> grace period for existing groups to meet the new numbers; that grace
period
>  would be at least a year, perhaps longer.
>
>  The only revision to the Governing Documents that this change would
require
> is to Corpora, Section III.C.4-7, in which the word "subscribing" would be
> struck in the sections that explain how many subscribing members are
> required for that type of branch.  If the numbers are raised, then the
> specific number would also need to be changed in each branch description
> affected.
>
>  It can't be stressed enough how much the Board appreciates input from the
> membership. When tackling issues such as the ones above, it is easy to
miss
> subtle ramifications these changes may cause. Your comments will go a long
>  way toward helping us make the best decision for the SCA. So please tell
us
> what you think.
>
>  The deadline for commentary on this proposal is July 1.  Please send your
> comments to comments at sca.org
>
>  or by mail to:
>
>  Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
>  P.O. Box 360789
>  Milpitas, CA 95036-0789
>  Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:
>  SCA Inc.
>  Box 360789
>  Milpitas,  CA 95036
>
>  You may also email comments at sca.org
>
> Get free webmail at www.KnownWorldWeb.com
> Known World Web - How the current Middle Ages keeps current.
> *************************************************
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Moore, Linda" <Linda.Moore at mam.org>
>
>  Greetings, fellow members of the SCA.
>
>  The SCA has reached a membership milestone!  As of February 29, 2004, we
> have 31,362 members of the SCA worldwide.
>
>  This marks a huge growth for the SCA, acquiring 5,312 new members since
> February, 2003. For comparison, that means we added more members in one
> year than we did in all of the years combined from 1993 - 2003 (4058).
>  Membership numbers by year are available at
> http://www.sca.org/officers/treasurer/welcome.html.
>
>  Below is a breakdown by kingdom of total current members, in order of
> size.  This includes all levels of membership: International,  Sustaining,
> Associate and Family.
>
>  Middle - 5101
>  An Tir - 3416
>  East - 3167
>  Meridies - 2361
>  Atlantia - 2238
>  Caid - 1931
>  Ansteorra - 1829
>  Atenveldt - 1586
>  Outlands - 1567
>  West - 1555
>  Aethelmearc - 1439
>  Calontir - 1271
>  Trimaris - 1237
>  Artemesia - 790
>  Drachenwald - 736 *
>  Ealdormere - 578
>  Lochac - 560 *
>
>  Thank you all for your support of the SCA!
>
>  Linda Moore
>  Chairman, SCA Inc.
>
>  *Please note that Lochac's numbers include 537 members of the
SCA-Australia
> and 23 members of the SCA, Inc.; likewise, Drachenwald's numbers include
639
> members of SCA, Inc., and 97 members of the affiliated corporation
covering
> Finland, Suomen Keskiaikaseura Ry (SKA).    Comments are strongly
encouraged
> and can be sent to:
>  SCA Inc.
>  Box 360789
>  Milpitas,  CA 95036
>
>  You may also email comments at sca.org or reply to this message.
>