SubCommittee Report - Contribution Incentives - or how to get your membership paid for!

[JWLaRue]

[color=#000000]Folks,

I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that starting with the March 2005 issue of the SCR, we will begin a SubCommittee membership incentive plan. The idea behind this is not new and in fact a number of you have asked if we could put something like this together. The basic idea is to make it easier for us to produce the SCR, while at the same time offering an easy way for members to reduce their annual membership cost.

Here's how it will work. For any member that does one of the following, we will now offer a 50% discount off their next year's membership renewal cost]

[boss subfixer]

I think the idea of

I think the idea of an incentive program is great. I have one question though, Because membership dues for me are not a problem as this is an inexpensive club to belong to could I donate my incentive "IF" (big bold letters #76 font) I qualified for one? I remember reading some posts in the not so distant past from a young lad who was around 12 or 14 yrs old who could not afford the dues. Helping someone like this, with parental concent, could go along way to fostering membership. The "how to" would be left up to the Executive Committee but as a suggestion, If two members donated and qualified for 50% off then these two could be combined for a full scholarship if you will. I think you get the idea.
Any thoughts from other members?
Thanks
BSF

[ron]

BSF,

I think you have a

BSF,

I think you have a great idea. Possibly some sort of guideline
could be made up for people to qualify (short paper on why they want to be a member or idea they have). The executive
committee or a panel could review for merit. Availability of the scholarship as you stated would be based on the number of people willing to put their portion up for allocatiion from accepted article submissions. I think that anything the club can do in the way of fostering this hobby among young people is a real plus.

Ron

[JWLaRue]

BSF,

Excellent idea! We can definitely

BSF,

Excellent idea! We can definitely make this happen.

My suggestion would be to minimize (or eliminate) the involvement of the Executive Committee and keep this at the member level. Can I get you to pull together a small group lf SC members to develop a process for this?

-many thanks,

Jeff

[boss subfixer]

Jeff,
Sure thing, anyone interested in

Jeff,
Sure thing, anyone interested in joining me? I don't want to make this too hard or too easy for someone to get this help and as stated in the original reply to this post, If this is for a child then the parents have to agree. Just reply here and we can set something up.
Jeff all that I ask from you or someone from the executive committee to keep an eye on this project so we don't overstep our bounds. I'm too new to the club to know the difference.
Also I have an old copy of page maker software that I'm going to try to learn how to use, could you send me some old stuff and examples of what to do for laying up SCR articles? Please nothing that is going to be needed for an upcoming issue. I could start proof reading now though. Just use my home E-Mail, I think you have it already.
Thanks
BSF

[JWLaRue]

BSF,

Sure.....maybe the easiest way would

[color=#000000]BSF,

Sure.....maybe the easiest way would be to cc]

[dietzer]

BSF,

I think the donation/sponsorship idea

BSF,

I think the donation/sponsorship idea is a great one! I, too, would be willing to donate my incentive to someone else should I qualify.

However, I think the recipient of any donation should be sponsored by an active SubCommittee member. In other words, any current member of the SubCommittee would be able to submit a name for possible donation of their dues, but the recipient can't ask for it himself/herself. I think it would open up too large a can of worms to let people just ask for someone to donate their dues...

Carl

[boss subfixer]

Carl,
I agree that this

Carl,
I agree that this should be a sponsored deal, it's kind of what I had in mind in my original reply to Jeffs post when I mentioned the young kid. Your thought is a keeper and will make for a strong foundation, the decision is not mine alone though. So far there are myself and Ron to work out the details, I'll make sure he sees your post and see what he thinks. Would we be able to count on you for further input? I know your busy with the SCR but any help, thoughts or ideas would be great.
Come on guys and gals, this is your club too. What do you think?
Thanks
BSF

[dono]

BSF and Ron;

This is a

BSF and Ron;

This is a really good and noble idea you have come up with. Just don't forget to keep Carl in the loop so he can inform the Membership Chairman on who the sponsored members are.

[dietzer]

BSF,

Yes, you can count on

BSF,

Yes, you can count on me for further input.

For example, I thought of one clarification already]not[/b] involve an Executive Committee member, to avoid any charges of politics or partiality.

For the record, as Managing Editor of the SubCommittee Report, I will be the one in charge of determining who qualifies for the incentive program. That's because I have to keep track of who does what for each issue of the SCR just to get the issue put together each quarter. I will inform the Membership Chairman in Nov/Dec of each year (as soon as the Dec issue is done) who qualified for the incentive program that year to be applied against the next year's dues.

So please don't blame Jeff or Don or anyone else on the Executive Committee if you think you qualified but didn't receive it come the end of the year. The buck stops with me.

Carl

[ron]

Carl,

I am sure that by

Carl,

I am sure that by the time you identify future recipients
we will be able to finalize a procedure for awarding a membership that will satisfy "most of our members". I think the
opportunity to bring young people into the hobby far outway
the extra time we may have to spend trying to present this as a fair and unbiased process. Part of the process will also
be to identify all the key players as yourself in the handling of the sponsorship.

Ron

[boss subfixer]

Ron,
I think your right we

Ron,
I think your right we should be able to hammer out the details by November of next year. We could do it a little sooner if more members contributed their ideas or thoughts on what they would like to see. I for one don't want the members to feel that this is going to be a behind closed doors cloak and dagger operation. The process should involve all the members whether you intend on participating in the incentive program or not and even if you do participate and want to keep the incentive then so be it and god bless, donation is strictly voluntary.
Ron I will e-mail you as soon as I can with what I have gleened from this discussion as well as thoughts of my own. It will be in Word format, let me know if you may need it in another format.
Thanks
BSF