I sent Mary's letter to all of you in hopes for some feedback. While I have received a few, I would really like to hear from more of you on what she has said.
Some of my thoughts on her letter:
Mary: My idea was to provide servies, You guys are into providing programs
Rick: I believe NAMSA should provide both
Mary: My idea was to make membership voluntary. You guys are into mandatory.
Rick: I strongly believe eventually our strength will be in the associations. But since some are acting a bit sluggish and others will not be assessing dues until next year, we may possible have to keep pursuing the associations, but also actively pursue individual memberships.
The reason I am against individuals only is from the history of the MHC of US Sailing -- no one joins, nor wants to join.
So, perhaps the dual attack on associations and individuals will reap us more membership quicker.
Mary: My idea was to make membership very cheap, like $5 a person. You guys want anywehre from $10 to $30
Rick: The original idea of getting many members at $10 through associations might still work, but I now believe we need to also aggressively pursue the individuals. And I think $10 IS cheap.
I think we do need the magazine, but we still need to know how to marry the two.
Thanks for you opinion,
Rick
Services / Programs: I agree that we should provide both.
Membership voluntary: I don't think we set out to make membership mandatory but it does look like that a little now. The more I think about it, I think the associations might appreciate a softening on this stance by a significant reduction in the individual membership ($15). I also agree that our strength is going to be in the associations. If we are made up of a bunch of individual members it's going to be a long tough ride. Imagine the US government with 'members' spread throughout the country but the States aren't on board - the gov't would be pretty powerless. Secondly, we can't help each individual member and they will get tired of us. We CAN directly and clearly help associations. We have to get a dozen or so associations this year so they can see some of the direct benefits of NAMSA. We will need to give these guys a lot of love and attention to keep them so that more will join.
Membership: $10 and $15
Magazine: We're just stuck. In order for Catsailor to survive, Mary and Rick have plainly shown that they can't do it by taking any additional losses. NAMSA can't give away memberships because we've got to have some money to do something with. For now, I think our best option for Catsailor to help us get our word out. Boring? yes...best use of the resource? no. I just don't see any other way.
Jake
Well, I first have a few questions. If we look at this from an accounting standpoint. Then how many members do we gain from combining Catsailor and Namsa membership/subscription on an introductory basis? IE I guess I am asking how many people subscribe to CS and then how many to we "think" will join Namsa via the combined offer?
Secondly, 84 cents a month to join an association is beyond cheap! Thats the breakdown of $10 a year introductory membership.
Second question -- How much does Namsa need to budget to accomplish its goals/mission statement for the next calendar year?
I have always felt that membership fees just keep the lights on and sponsorship, grants, gifts do the meat of the work in a non-profit organization.
What Namsa needs is a clear statement/purpose that it can deliver to corporate america for some "feel good" funding from those sources.
Steve
Well, way back I had commented on this "marrying" of CS and NAMSA and that I thought it could be good for both. Guess that thread was now lost in the "hiccup"??
Anyway it was similar to Mary's w/ ALL NAMSA members being CS subscribers (and CS subscribers offered the option of joining NAMSA cheaply).
Perhaps this is still an "option" if we just raise the NAMSA "dues" to cover both and then Mary adds the "NAMSA membership option" to the subscription form??
Kirt
I agree with this approach, and would favor this solution. Caleb Tarleton
Kirt,
The delima is that that would put the NAMSA Chapter member dues at $25 per person (from $10). We are having a difficult enough time getting people to swallow the $10. I'm still torn - I would pay it as you probably would - but would everyone else choke at the $25?
Jake and Kirt, I look at this differently. As an avid reader of Catamaran Sailor, I can support NAMSA for just $10.00 more or a total of $25.00. For my NAHCA dues of $20.00, I also receive NAHCA News. My US Sailing dues thru The Multihull Golden Anchor program is $40.00, and includes the Sailing World Magazine. Sure this all adds up but how interested are we in Sailing, and how much do we spend on the sport? Did not mention the Hobie Fleet 95 dues for another $25.00, that is our local directly supported group. The Cat Tales, local news letter, keeps us in touch, plus the Div. 4 website. NAMSA, like the other groups needs a strong established voice that adds value. Cat Sailor fills that requirement.
Caleb Tarleton
I still favor May's proposal, and voted with my checkbook by sending in my $25.00 on March 17 for the Cat Sailor renewal and NAMSA membership. I believe this is the best way to quickly grow the membership. This is especially true in areas with a strong NAHCA program, that also want to support NAMSA. Caleb Tarleton
My observations thus far, mileage may vary.
I'm thinking that as much as we can afford it, right now we should provide services. I'm not having very good luck at getting associations to join, although I've had more positive response from individuals.
These individuals want services more than anything else. DIY advice, rigging advice, speed tips, suchlike.
Associations keep asking me, what can we do that isn't done already? Portsmouth is in place, there is freeware for scoring, there is a regatta structure in place, we have insurance thru USSailing.
But we can offer services there as well. I don't know if anyone noticed, but the more popular races offered not just racing, but social things, food/drink, etc. We can offer tips on how to feed a regatta, how to get sponsors (MSA here in TX has a great receipt form for their sponsors to hand in to the IRS), stuff like that.
Mark Schneider (CRAC) also had some interesting things to say regarding insurance. It's going to be real hard to beat what USSailing has got. If Schneider is correct, even NAHCA is getting their regatta insurance thru their membership in USSailing. Insurance is something well worth focusing on, and would be a killer selling point to the associations.
We gonna have to start showing something to people, give 'em more than a philosophy. If nothing else, something tangible eg the magazine.
Sea ya
tami
For starters we are on the internet and have our own URL which is http://www.multihullsailing.org and is being hosted by catsailor's site.
It is still in crude format now, but we can open it up a page for each committee and have committee chairs write a short piece each month. Then we can take that info and have a monthly news page, and archived pages.
At this point, the stuff would have to be sent to me in .rtf or .txt format (easier to copy and paste without MS or WP markup stuff in it)
Rick
Rick,
I'm sure there are quite a few of us that are web literate. I realize that we would need some guidelines and restrictions - but is it possible that we can all be responsible for certain areas of the NAMSA website? Perhaps one person should be responsible for actually posting the information so it all looks contiguous while others contribute the info.
Jake
As proof of my assertion I offer a glance at the general forum right here in River City, where I just posted some suggestions on building a mast support. I see these same type questions again and again, and I honestly feel like a central place for reference would be a worthy and easy-to-achieve effort.
I'll be glad to help with the webstuff. I can format my howtos as a page if you like. Where do I send 'em?
thanks,
tami
At this point it would be just a matter of sending me the info and I would use Dreamweaver to keep it up to date.
Problem with having numerous people in control is that there would be lack of control. And the same password would be for the entire site of catsailor.com.
If you want to have it already set up as web-ready, you will need to get the template and then use that for every page.
Rick
What's the ftp address? My dialup is quite slow so I'd just as soon ftp to you.
I had sent some text files and some pics a while ago... or am I remembering something else?
sea ya
tami
I have to agree with Tami on this issue.. People asking about NAMSA are looking for an organization that acts more as an information clearninghouse than anything else. Seminars, educational websites, etc. Sponsorship of individual regattas can be handled by the fleets themselves (and sanctioned by NAMSA), possibly through information and education resources provided by NAMSA (and maybe deals on RC equipment). Should NAMSA establish a qualification series or point system for individuals interested in racing?
As far as the insurance goes, I have to agree. Some checking with individual brokers indicates that US Sailing (despite their requirement for competitors to waive all rights to sue anyone for damages even remotely connected with racing) does have a cheap package (possibly due to the waiver).
Other insurance (life/health, boat, etc.) might become more competitive as the membership grows within NAMSA and we can establish some figres that the agents will be willing to work with.
With respect to membership cards, you can buy ID card stock at any office supply mart, and a cheap lamination machine will take care of the rest. The card could include the NAMSA logo, the individual's anniversary date (in case you specify annual renewals on that date), some ID number (could be fancy like [state][anniversary year][division][number] - FL02041234), and even a picture if you want (of boat or owner). A color printer and Microsoft Word (mail-merge file) is pretty much all that is needed for the basic ID card setup. If you wanted to add a bar code or something, the equipment (and cost) would be more.
Just some coleslaw to chew on ....
Jay