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Thread: Motion 6.1 - Membership Renewals

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fred McKim View Post
    I think a set membership start date is only useful to organizations/sports that have a set season start and end ...... ie leagues and seasonal sports
    I'm not sure I get the relevance of your point. Yes, for more seasonal sports, it is more obvious to have a standard membership renewal date. However, that does not preclude us from considering whether it would be better for us in Canadian chess. In any case, the RA Chess Club (Ottawa's main club) has a membership season that runs September 1st to August 31st, the Eastern Ontario Chess Association (EOCA) Grand Prix schedule runs from September to the following August. Most other eastern Canadian "chess seasons" seem to run September-August or August-July, ending with the Canadian and the Quebec Opens in mid and late July.

    Anyway, not many people seem to be outwardly agreeing with me, so maybe very few of us think this is a good idea. However, I will be voting strongly against any motion to backdate membership renewals under the current individualized membership renewal date, because that will directly cause member bitterness. I believe that my proposal for a standard membership year would relatively smoothly translate to BOTH less bitterness and more membership moneys collected.
    Last edited by Aris Marghetis; 06-20-2013 at 12:38 AM. Reason: grammar

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aris Marghetis View Post
    Anyway, not many people seem to be outwardly agreeing with me, so maybe very few of us think this is a good idea.
    I first saw this approach with a professional organization - 'what the heck, I should wait till the new season starts' was my thinking, as a lack of interest to become a member :/

    With the CFC it might be different - a player must be a member if she wants to play.
    .*-1

  3. #23
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    Here is a thought: We are trying to have people maintain "Continuous" membership ... what about introducing an "Initiation fee" that would be imposed on new players and if a player's membership has lapsed for 3 months or more they are deemed "new" and so subject to the initiation fee all over again ... this fee could be something like (let's see, $40/12=$3.33 times 3 months = $9.99) so perhaps a $10 initiation fee? Then we just make a membership go for 1 year from date of payment (to the day?) and if they have lapsed for 3 months or more they will be subject to the $10 initiation fee ... we bite the bullet on a 2 month lapse, but make up for it with those that lapse for longer?
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  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick McDonald View Post
    Here is a thought: We are trying to have people maintain "Continuous" membership ... what about introducing an "Initiation fee" that would be imposed on new players and if a player's membership has lapsed for 3 months or more they are deemed "new" and so subject to the initiation fee all over again ... this fee could be something like (let's see, $40/12=$3.33 times 3 months = $9.99) so perhaps a $10 initiation fee? Then we just make a membership go for 1 year from date of payment (to the day?) and if they have lapsed for 3 months or more they will be subject to the $10 initiation fee ... we bite the bullet on a 2 month lapse, but make up for it with those that lapse for longer?
    If I may suggest, we should consider trying to simplify, this idea seems to me to be somewhat in the other direction. I also fear that some members will consider the RE-initiation fee to be punitive, which will engender bitterness. I do see the merit of your proposal, and how you arrived at it, but concerned re side effects.

  5. #25

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    In order to support the September 1st renewal, more events should be beginning at this date in the whole country. More League should begin their regular season at this date.

    This is an excellent idea that will require some preparation for its successful implementation. The members should nor perceive this change as being good for the CFC only. It should be a logical change based on the fact that most major League and Grand Prix in Canada begin on September 1st.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pierre Dénommée View Post
    In order to support the September 1st renewal, more events should be beginning at this date in the whole country. More League should begin their regular season at this date.

    This is an excellent idea that will require some preparation for its successful implementation. The members should nor perceive this change as being good for the CFC only. It should be a logical change based on the fact that most major League and Grand Prix in Canada begin on September 1st.
    Sorry, I do not see the logic behind pushing organizations to modify their schedules. They should each do what they want, and since the bulk of them seem to have chosen the post-August-Civic-Holiday timeframe to start up, that's how I came up with September 1st. Our date should reflect the "reality majority"!

  7. #27

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    I also agree with Vlad - the benefit of one-year from date of re-membership much outweighs the revenue loss - we simply have to find it elsewhere. And that should be from increased membership once we market that we no longer backdate "re-membering", and create some "good will".

    Bob A

  8. #28
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    In Toastmasters they have recently switched away from calling their first time members fee an 'Initiation Fee' as the key element of it is the New Members' Kit all new members get sent. They have an Educational Program with various awards members can qualify for both in the Communications track and the Leadership track and the new member's kit is basically the first project book in each of these two tracks. They also have what they refer to as 'renewing members' (which is just that), 'reinstating members' (previous members but with a gap between membership dates), 'transferring members' (i.e. continuous membership where one's membership is transferred between two clubs) and 'dual' memberships (where a person belongs to more than one club some of which are "advanced clubs" meaning you have to have achieved one or more awards to join). Most Toastmasters clubs offer pro-rated dues since all expire on March 31st, June 30th or Sept 30th with many clubs offering discounts for a 12 month membership.

    The point being that unlike in chess the 'New Members' Fee' actually has a tangible benefit (the first two project books) - previously we in the CFC had the magazine and first time members got a Books & Equipment catalog but what do first time CFC members get now?

    This is an important question because if you're going to have a 'new members' fee' / 'initiation fee' you DON'T want the player's first experience of the CFC being one of feeling they were having one's pocket picked!
    Last edited by Lyle Craver; 06-27-2013 at 12:59 AM.

  9. #29
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    According to motion 6.3 the backdating is for 4 months. Could we compromise on 2 months. We can allow expiring memberships access to all other services for this 2 months (which costs us nothing)except to play in rated tournaments.
    Les Bunning

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