Club Dues

[Snowlover]

Does the cost of club dues affect whether you join a club or not?

Our club dues is $10 and has been $10 since the beginning of the club (30 years). We had our general club meeting last night and one of the discussions was about raising the club dues. The board has suggested raising it to $15, a $5 increase. During the discussion with the members that were present at the meeting, they thought it would be better to raise it $10 and leave it for however many years rather than only $5 and then coming back in a few years and wanting to raise it $5 more. So with the OSSA portion added in, membership would now be $45 instead of $35.

Although we really need the money, one of our concerns with this big increase is that we will loose many of the members we just recruited. We have doubled our membership this year and are at 215 families. About 40 memberships are brand new and about 50 are people who had been members before and are now back.

What do you think? Good idea, bad idea? Would you balk at this increase or see it as a bargain? Am I concerned for nothing? Would really appreciate some thoughtful suggestions and insights...

[ben]

Does the cost of club dues affect whether you join a club or not?


My own personal opinion is that it may not affect your "home club" memberships much. Given the cost of equipment, fuel, etc. $45 is not that much in the scheme of things. Those that you lose probably would eventually leave anyway. The cost differential should more than make up for any lost memberships, from a financial standpoint.

Where you would probably see a bigger hit would be those that belong to other clubs and have already covered their OSSA membership. Right now $10 is a no brainer to support your club. Raising it to $20 might make people think twice about joining more than one club. What is your ratio of home club to non-home club members?

My own personal thought is that $10 is not enough to support the club long-term. However, if you do take a membership hit that does not help you either. If it was my decision, I would raise it.

Good luck!

Ben

[Movin]

we voted to raise it for next year but that may not matter, the other club is rewriting our bylaws and nominating officers. The dual members out number us and they have the same voting rights that we do.

[Snowlover]

Well I sent a letter out to all the members who have email or internet access and the notice will be in our newsletter. The decision is in the hands of the membership now and we will vote on it on April 1st.

We are worried we will lose memberships from this but hope if we show good cause for the raise, we will retain everyone. Although it is early yet, I have had several emails from members who support the raise. I have some who wish it was a smaller raise but no one yet has expressed the opinion that there shouldn't be a raise. YET.

Ben, I hadn't thought about those with dual memberships. That is a concern although a quick look at my records shows that only 5% of our membership are non-home club members. And one of the emails I had was from a different home club who supports the raise.

Movin, I know of your situation and I hope that calmer, clearer heads in all the clubs (including mine) will prevail in the end and that we remember that it is the sport we are supporting and protecting, not personal egos and agendas.

[Movin]

Thanks! Our perspective is usually more extreme than it really is. Almost all of us are embarrased to be in this situation. The group that loves the sport is waiting for the dust to settle. We did vote early in the season to raise the dues for next year as some of us had already paid our dues by the first meeting. We doubled ours.