[NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
AtwoodDon at aol.com
AtwoodDon at aol.com
Mon Dec 25 12:50:08 AKST 2006
Ron, I agree....
Having served a term as VP for District 7 and participating in the
'management' of the NSRCA, I can assure you the NSRCA Officers and others that help
are very focused on expenses, promoting of the NSRCA and most importantly
supporting and promoting pattern activities.
For those that think there may be a one time fix for promoting pattern or
swelling the ranks of NSRCA membership, I would guess you do not understand the
overall situation. In the not so distant past, Pattern was a glamour
'niche' RC activity. If you flew pattern, then you were the elite flyers in the
club or area and known for flying and building skills. That glamour image has
been significantly diluted over the past years with the development of
helicopters, free style type flying, etc. We are pretty sedate compared to some of
the newer groups so we are no longer the 'glamour' guys at the field. There
are many other types of challenging flying to attract people from the
newcomers ranks.
To me, the challenge of maintaining our sport is a day to day, week to week,
personal challenge that we all have in supporting, teaching and generally
being good RC citizens. We just happen to fly pattern at our local clubs. I
don't think there is a magic pill or one time fix for our challenges, but a
continued, constant, steady push to gain new members and more importantly to
keep the ones we have.
Over the years, the Kfactor has been our single largest reason to join the
NSRCA and it has spread/shared an incredible amount of knowledge, tricks, tips,
etc. If you have ever had the 'opportunity' to write an article each month
for the Kfactor as each of our officers does, then you know how hard it is to
gather interesting tips, building articles or news worthy items to include
in the Kfactor. And if you haven't shared your personal tips or tricks,
please do so with your VP to help make their life easier!!!
How we deliver that information can probably be changed for most via the
internet, however, without good content, delivery methods are kind of beside the
point. If we want the NSRCA and Kfactor (or some other delivery vehicle) to
be better, it is up to us as individual members to pitch in and help, share
and promote, more so than our officers. Sure, they represent us to
coordinate, steer, etc, but our presence at the field on a week to week basis, helping
someone trim an airplane, fix an engine, building tips, etc, goes much
further to attract members than advertising campaigns, or tricky slogans.
Here in District 7, we are blessed with a large geographic area with lots of
contests. For most of us in D7, it is easy to go to 8-10 contests a year
without terrible driving challenges. We have enjoyed a gradual increase in our
membership, contest attendance (with a burp here and there) and newcomer
interest. That is because we spend time personally encouraging people to
participate, not because we have flashy slogans, banners, etc. It has been a slow
but steady process that takes time to see an impact but I think we have been
pretty successful at it.
Sorry for the long winded email.... flame suit on..
Happy Holidays
Don Atwood
,
In a message dated 12/25/2006 9:26:49 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
ronlock at comcast.net writes:
Here is one way to look at it.........To a large degree, the product is us.
Were a membership community, having characteristics of a technical society,
a social club, and much more.
The "management" of NSRCA and the K Factor is partly a product those in our
membership that choose
to run for an office, and then volunteer time and resources for the
betterment of pattern.
Later, Ron Lockhart, NSRCA 321
(Renewed on line, worked fine)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne" <Whinkle1024 at msn.com>
To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 11:54 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
> Ok guys I guess I'm the only one not willing to renew because the product
is
> poor. By the way my dues last year were only $30 not $15,000. 500 members
at
> $10 increase each is only $5k and merely a Band-Aid on the issue.
>
> The advertising $ is not there because our great quality color publication
> doesn't go to enough people to make the advertising as worthy. I think we
> need some drastic changes to the way we do business.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Hester" <kerlock at comcast.net>
> To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 8:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
>
>
> > Ummm..........Merry Christmas.........I'm going to swallow the freakin
> > blood
> > from biting my tongue clean in half and I'll get back to this one after
> > Christmas is over. Not trying to be adversarial, but wow, I'll get into
> > that
> > after we have a nice holiday.
> >
> > Merry Christmas, and hold that thought....but if you don't see anything
> > going on to promote pattern, I wonder where you're looking.
> >
> > -Mike
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Wayne" <Whinkle1024 at msn.com>
> > To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:16 PM
> > Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
> >
> >
> >> Don't worry Paul it wasn't announced in the KF either!
> >>
> >> So you didn't miss anything.
> >>
> >> I understand the need for increased dues. I also understand the need
for
> >> the
> >> NSRCA to give us something in return for our support. Today I don't see
> >> much
> >> going on to PROMOTE pattern. While I wish to support pattern and
promote
> >> it
> >> I will take my $40 and spend it on attendance at an event rather than
the
> >> NSRCA.
> >>
> >> Sorry but poor management of more of our funds are not going to get it
> >> done.
> >> 2 years ago when folks asked questions of Derek and Lamar the bank
> >> account
> >> was sitting on a surplus of about $12,000 or so. If I remember the
> >> numbers
> >> correctly. I'm going to go find the old KF that had this number in it.
> >> Rusty
> >> Dose tells us last month that we are down over $15,000 is dues and
> >> advertising revenue. Looks to me like this has been a sinking ship for
> >> some
> >> time. The very fact that I received a renewal notice with the $40 price
> >> tag
> >> on it a full week before we heard about it from the board is another
sign
> >> of
> >> mismanagement. A 30% increase in dues just because there has not been a
> >> increase in many years is not the solution to our problems. Where is
the
> >> 30%
> >> increase going to help support precision aerobatics.
> >>
> >> I think that with all products and services in the market place today
the
> >> NSRCA needs to show some value to the modelers out there. If this
happens
> >> then membership will grow. Revenue will increase. And Pattern flying
will
> >> prosper. I feel that I and other vote with our pocket books. The reason
> >> advertising dollars are down, the reason dues dollars are down is due
> >> directly to the product supplied.
> >>
> >> Perhaps the NSRCA leadership is listening but instead we talk about
what
> >> a
> >> great job has been done and how far we have come. I'm not into bashing
> >> the
> >> guy that just left but Derek we have seen nothing about how to get us
out
> >> of
> >> this pickle we are in. Therefore I elect not to renew at this time. I
> >> think
> >> there are better places to spend our money to support Precision
> >> Aerobatics.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Wayne
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Paul Brine" <pbrine at uoguelph.ca>
> >> To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> >> Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 3:19 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
> >>
> >>
> >>> It also wasn't announced to the membership until Dec 22nd via Lamar's
> >>> email.
> >>> Remember not everyone (ie myself ) is in a position to download and
read
> >>> the
> >>> k-factor on-line.
> >>>
> >>> Applying the increase to those who renewed before then is like you
> >>> signing
> >>> on the line to buy a car and being told a week later by the dealer
that
> >>> the
> >>> price went up a $1000.
> >>>
> >>> Paul
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: Martin X. Moleski, SJ <moleski at canisius.edu>
> >>> To: NSRCA Mailing List <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> >>> Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 1:07 PM
> >>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] NSRCA Dues Increase
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Anthony Abdullah wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> > Silly quesion:
> >>>>
> >>>> > After a long pattern lay off for grad school and such I am
returning
> >>>> > in
> >>>> > full force. Part of that included renewing my NSRCA membership.
When
> >>>> > I
> >>>> > downloaded and printed the form from the NSRCA website the dues was
> >>>> > listed as $30.00 and that is how much the check was written for
(just
> >>>> > two days ago). Do I need to send an additional check for $10.00 or
is
> >>>> > the price increse effective Jan 1?
> >>>>
> >>>> There was a missed communication between Lamar and myself early in
> >>>> December, so I didn't hear about the change in dues until two or
> >>>> three days ago.
> >>>>
> >>>> The law is probably on your side, if you want to take the time
> >>>> to take it to court.
> >>>>
> >>>> It would be a huge kindness to simply send along another $10 check.
> >>>>
> >>>> I believe the forms have all been updated.
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm hoping to work on the Paypal front end over this vacation.
> >>>> It hasn't been satisfactory for a couple of years ... my bad.
> >>>>
> >>>> Marty
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> >>>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> >>>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> >>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> >>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
> >>>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
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> >
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>
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