[FARC] Revenue Ideas

Wed Feb 25 02:06:25 EST 2009

Just wanted to see if anyone was listening.  They weren't.   The fact is I can see a lesser want of participation in picking-up and hauling trash to raise club revenue.  An admirable and worthy cause no doubt but nonetheless a tad undesirable for participants.  

As for the pot luck I was thinking of the same thing you were about 15-20 bags of chips, no cups, 1 liter of diet Jolt, and 500 lbs of ice.  "We've all been there done that," is the trite cliché that is illustrative of what the club is going through right now.  I really think we're at a club, no club, crossroads.  Seriously, I really think it is coming down to that.   Perhaps a general re-think of what the club should be, or whether it should be, is in order.  A clean sheet of paper approach.

We face several problems as I see it, but there's one that seems insurmountable.  This problem is the obvious one, that raising club revenue requires lots of participation and hard work as only you know and there are no takers, it's toxic.  The job is big and requires interest, skills, energy, and the will.  When I look at club members whom obviously have all these attributes I find that these people are few and have already given their due, in some cases many many years of it.  When I analyze myself under this microscope, I feel that I don't have any of these attributes.  I don't want to lead, I don't want to direct, I just want to enjoy the fellowship of other hams and learn more about ham radio.   I know it sounds like a cop-out and it probably is but nonetheless true.  Is this necessarily a bad thing?

I think generally a lot of the membership are going to feel this way to a more or lesser degree.  We have a lot of elderly members, we have folks with family and job responsibilities, we have people whom want to follow and not lead (myself), and we have the movers and shakers like yourself and a few others over the years whom have already given enough.   You can almost hear the football coach giving a speech to the whole team but targeting the non-leaders and non-doers with, "Decide now whether you want to be a member of this team...." 

But we can't really do this in our club because everybody joined the club for different reasons and may have  different expectations.  Plus we're not an army with a hill to take.  It seems logical that the club should be able to accommodate varying levels of participation and still be able to raise some revenue,  but we just can't seem to get there, what is expected seems so much larger than most members can or are willing to give.   

>From my short-time observations as a club member, the call for volunteers for the planning work involved in revenue generating projects is like turning the lights on in a roach infested house, and yes admittedly I am one of these roaches.  But my insectivorous simile speaks volumes about the club that something is inherently wrong, the membership is trying to say something en mass but can't seem to articulate it.    

So are we at the crossroads?  Is it time for the club to disband for awhile so perhaps club elders can give it a re-think or redesign and have the club arise anew with a different agenda and smaller goals and priorities that the membership can accommodate?     

Hurtful or helpful we have to get it out in the open.  Just some food for thought, but leave the lights on.

73
KB3ONM
Kiri

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bob Moroney<mailto:windbrkr at erols.com> 
  To: Frederick, Maryland ARC<mailto:farc at mailman.qth.net> 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10:17 PM
  Subject: Re: [FARC] Revenue Ideas

  Interesting ideas, Kirk.  Except, that is, for the "pot luck dinner" one. 
  .
  Indeed, we may have seen the last of the FARC-sponsored dinners for a 
  while.  But having first-hand experience of the cooking and pot-luck 
  dinner skills of the average Ham (and techie folks in general), I can 
  easily envision a FARC pot luck ending up with (assuming participation 
  by 20 folks) 15-20 bags of chips, two small containers of Ranch dip with 
  the "Best By" date obliterated, and two packs of 300 paper plates from 
  the Dollar Store. 
  .
  You get the idea.  Suffice it to say, without the significant 
  involvement of either XYLs or professional caterers, an invitation to a 
  "Ham Pot Luck" could easily be construed as a threat worthy of a 
  restraining order.
  .
  On the tower trailer rental suggestion, I'm thinking we should convene a 
  focus group and come up with an overall brand concept.  "MHertz Rentals" 
  comes immediately to mind, with a catchy slogan of "Crank Up UR Output". 
  .
  We could charge by the day (Z), plus a charge per Watt of ERP, plus a 
  surcharge for DX. 
  .
  Oddball modes such as "Olivia" and "CW" and "SSB" would incur additional 
  hefty surcharges, of course. 
  .
  We should also probably call it a "Towre Trailre" to give the concept 
  additional appeal to the more status-conscious market segment.
  .
  73, Bob K9CMR
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Kirk Talbott wrote:
  > Raise the club dues to $30 a year.  Roughly 60 members, that ought to raise a little revenue or at the very least a ruckus.   That's our $1000 scholarship money right there.   To those of us whom have already paid for 2009 we owe an additional $20.  $30 bucks a year!  That's not even an hour's expenditure at Timonium Hamfest or a year's worth of PL-259 connectors for an active Ham.  
  >
  > Change the FARC sponsored dinners at holiday time to an everybody bring a dish dinner at the club firehall or hold the same type of deal as a picnic in the summer at one of the local parks.   Plan some type of ham radio activity for the picnic day; build an antenna, mini-field day, fox hunt, etc..  Admission fee, $X.00 per member to pay for the rental on a park picnic pavilion.  
  >
  > K3ERM repeater.  Solicit donations from the club members, other local clubs ask for donations from their members to maintain repeaters.   Whatever monies not used for repeater maintenance goes into the club treasury.
  >
  > Tower trailer is an FARC asset.  Many groups and organizations within the area and without use it for various functions, so much so nobody knows where it is half the time.  Rent it out, $XX.00 a day.  
  >
  > Nobody's going to elect me president of this club, no sir !
  >
  > 73
  > KB3ONM
  > Kirk
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