Club Dues Discussion

[CHMLEON]

Currently Jeff (81DaytonaPaceCar) is working with me on the back account situation. We need to find a treasurer to add to the accounts.

Are any of the possible Firebird Club members a registered/certified CPA?

If not maybe one of our MiFbody.com friends is a registered/certified CPA?

[phoenix_rising]

Good idea I'll ask the community.

[phoenix_rising]

I'll be setting up the club bank account this week through Keybank. Until we can locate a club treasurer, I will be placing Jeff and Mike names on the account as well as mine. That way if they need to access it, it is available to them. As I was working on this, I was thinking about the dues discussion again. I have decided this, Club dues will be collected January 1st, 2008. They will $30 per person. This will include the following:

Year membership in the Firebird Club
Choice of Club Decal (Small, Med, Large) and color
Monthly Newsletter
Club Roster
Possibly a club t-shirt (I am looking at the cost of this) Will not be available until after Jan. 1st, 2008 unless otherwise posted.
Heavy discounts on other items including having your car drawn by Amy Kugel - WMCC

[CHMLEON]

Dang, the money is already burning a hole in my pocket.


Just as an advisement, please don't shoot me , you want to make sure that the stuff we get for our first years registration does not cost more than the dues that we are paying. Since the club still needs money left over to operate.

[WMCC AL]

My 2 cents:
Don't buy expensive stuff like T-Shirts until you have enough interest and have members pay for them before you order them until the club is financially able to pay.

[WMCC Gary]

.....Choice of Club Decal (Small, Med, Large) and color.......

I would Advise agaist that. It could get expensive. You need to come up with a standard and others can be had at an additional cost.

[phoenix_rising]

I would Advise agaist that. It could get expensive. You need to come up with a standard and others can be had at an additional cost.

The Decals are being sold to us at very near cost. Also where do you get your shirts done WMCC AL? General Idea on price? I figure the first batch for shirts will be paid for separately from club member dues. I figure whatever costs I incur having the shirts made I can recover from their sale price.

[hgffrank]

Sounds decent to me so far...definitely keep t-shirts seperate from dues for the first year. $30 doesnt sound like much but when your on a fixed income like I am and bill's outnumber income then $30 is a huge amount to part with and anything more would just kill it for sure. Also, allowing the dues to be paid in 2 payments would be great. So $15 every six months. monthly payments sound cool in theory but months when members dont like planned events they may choose not to pay that month, plus keeping up with monthly payments would be a nightmare, especially if members got behind. I think the annual or every six months would be great for due's with 6 months being an option. Also allowing every six months would allow new members to get in for less making it more attractive and once in they will hopefully like it and stay. Also merchandise could be sold at events and offer discounted memberships with purchase. Just a few idea's to throw out there.

[MikeM]

Well, I chimed in on the subject of dues on the other thread already, so I'll just toss a couple more ideas in this thread:

1) Let's not set a fixed dues price until we do a first cut at the budget. That way we know we are not over- or under-charging.
2) I personally think we should strive to keep the dues as low as possible in the first year or 2, to encourage membership. We don't want to slow down our growth by charging too much. We can adjust each year as needed, based on the budget and planned activities.
3) To help with the above, we should really decide as a group what the club should buy vs. what members should individually buy. For example, in my opinion, t-shirts, decals, etc. should be bought by the ones that want them. The club should spend money on things that benefit everyone in the group, like rental fees for a meeting place or "seed money" to start our annual car show.
4) However, we could also use the first year's dues to print decals & business cards, then sell them to the members and pay the club back (keeping it afloat.)

Just some thoughts. Also, since we need one, I would be willing to volunteer as treasurer if we don't already have someone lined up.

[WMCC Gary]

Well, I chimed in on the subject of dues on the other thread already, so I'll just toss a couple more ideas in this thread:

1) Let's not set a fixed dues price until we do a first cut at the budget. That way we know we are not over- or under-charging.
2) I personally think we should strive to keep the dues as low as possible in the first year or 2, to encourage membership. We don't want to slow down our growth by charging too much. We can adjust each year as needed, based on the budget and planned activities.
3) To help with the above, we should really decide as a group what the club should buy vs. what members should individually buy. For example, in my opinion, t-shirts, decals, etc. should be bought by the ones that want them. The club should spend money on things that benefit everyone in the group, like rental fees for a meeting place or "seed money" to start our annual car show.
4) However, we could also use the first year's dues to print decals & business cards, then sell them to the members and pay the club back (keeping it afloat.)

Just some thoughts. Also, since we need one, I would be willing to volunteer as treasurer if we don't already have someone lined up.

Mike is Correct. The only disagree with i thing, you should get a STD club window decal for your car when you join.

[ajaciuk]

Well here's my 2 cents on this.

Dues for the club should be due all at once no payment plan. If you join mid-year then they would be pro rated for the remaining year.

T-shirts should not be provided by the club they should be the responsibility of the individual who wants to buy the shirt. Based on the different sizes of shirts they could cost some members more or less. The clubs money should go toward events and the such to promote for new members.

You should get a standard club decal the only choice you would have is between a few colors.

A newsletter is a must but at first I would do the e-mail then go to print. Local advertisers love to see their name in print they think it gives them more exposure if it's in print, plus you could work out some discounts with local dealerships for service or parts if they actually have a coupon in print.

[CHMLEON]

Not to make it to complicated, but, you could have a certain $ amount for the first years registration (to cover the cost of possessing the paper work). Then have a lesser $ amount for renewals.

For example:

1st year (2008) $30
2nd year (2009), and all continuous years - $20 per year (34% discount)

If someone skips a year or more they have to pay the 1st years registration again.
2008 - $30
2009 - Did not renew.
2010 - $30
2011 - $20


I also agree with pro-rating fees, but the pro rating must be on the renewal not the initial registration. If the initial registration was pro-rated then people would just rejoin every spring and not stay the whole year, at a big club loss.

2008 Member joins in July - $30
2009 Member Pro-Rated Renewal - $13.50 (If you need the formula i used to come up with this Ben let me know, I am not going to try to explain it in here.)
2010 Member Renews - $20

I think i have covered my thoughts so far. Sorry for the long post.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Well, I chimed in on the subject of dues on the other thread already, so I'll just toss a couple more ideas in this thread:

1) Let's not set a fixed dues price until we do a first cut at the budget. That way we know we are not over- or under-charging.
2) I personally think we should strive to keep the dues as low as possible in the first year or 2, to encourage membership. We don't want to slow down our growth by charging too much. We can adjust each year as needed, based on the budget and planned activities.
3) To help with the above, we should really decide as a group what the club should buy vs. what members should individually buy. For example, in my opinion, t-shirts, decals, etc. should be bought by the ones that want them. The club should spend money on things that benefit everyone in the group, like rental fees for a meeting place or "seed money" to start our annual car show.
4) However, we could also use the first year's dues to print decals & business cards, then sell them to the members and pay the club back (keeping it afloat.)

Just some thoughts. Also, since we need one, I would be willing to volunteer as treasurer if we don't already have someone lined up.

I think you pretty much nailed it, Mike, especially to point #2..

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

[meissen]

Only thing I will say is that dues can be a burden and a positive. While it does give the club the ability to spend more money, it's also a shot in the foot because it'll sway people away.

Perfect example is Street Lethal. When I joined, they were in a somewhat transition period with starting to have Club Dues.

They were an established *FREE* club that used to have a member list as thick as a book. Members from all over the state, all over the country, etc. It was really organized but at the same time with all those "loose knit" members, it was really only 10-15 people that would ACTUALLY show up on a regular basis. Kinda like MiFbody, 800 strong but only 200 actively posting.

They didn't have the funds to really do anything, so they started charging Club Dues. They held monthly club meetings and discussed it and got everyone's opinion and everything beforehand. Well, club dues came into effect and their membership PLUMMETED. No one wanted to pay the dues, and a lot of their members left.

Likewise, look at the attendance of members going to car shows that are free vs going to paid (charity, even) shows. I remember someone complaining because he had to pay to show his car at a charity event. Using Meet & Greet vs Superfest as an example... Meet & Greet had 100+ MiFbody members there not including WMCC/EMCC members. Superfest, which is a paid event, had how many MiFbody members, not including WMCC or EMCC? I think 3 or 4?

Don't get me wrong, in both examples, funding is necessary and is a must. The thing to balance is how much do you charge to fund your club vs how many people you turn away because they don't want to pay that much. You'd be surprised how many people didn't want to pay $15 a year to join SLP and get monthly newsletters and one organized picnic per year.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Definately some wisdom there.

Maybe we should define what we want the objectives of this club to be.