7a. Motions on Membership Renewals (Paul Leblanc / Lyle Craver)

[Lyle Craver]

Article 323: Backdating Membership: CFC renewals, if paid within four months after expiration of the previous membership, will be backdated to provide continuous membership.

In addition to Article 323, new members or returning members after an absence of more than four months do not receive a full year membership - their membership start is backdated to the first of the month in which they purchase their membership. This is the policy of the business office and is not part of the Handbook.

In our experience, these policies cause a lot of friction and ill will towards the CFC. They are also difficult to defend as after all, a one year membership should include at least one year's worth of membership, not as little as 11 months (or 8 months for returning members). Most people, when asked, view the 4 month backdating period as excessive. I am not aware of any other organizations which follow similar policies. The USCF, for example, forward dates new memberships (and I think also for returning members) to the first of the next month.

If memory serves, the policy articulated by Article 323 originated back when there was a quarterly print magazine and there were some issues with membership timing around that - hence the four month rule. That particular concern is no longer relevant.

The Handbook is also silent and ambiguous on just when a membership expires; e.g. 12:01am or 11:59pm on the day of expiry. This ambiguity should be removed.

In view of this, the following 3 motions are proposed:

Motion 1: Membership renewals, if paid within one calendar month of expiry, are deemed to be continuing membership and their new membership expiry will be 1 calendar year from the old expiry date.
Motion 2: Membership purchases for new members and for returning members who are not considered continuous memberships have an expiry date of 1 calendar year from the 1st of the next month.
Motion 3: The membership expiry is at 11:59pm of the day listed as the expiry date.

Further remarks:
- A "No" vote on Motion 3 should probably be read as instructing the business office to make a policy of expiry being 12:01am of the day of expiry.
- A policy of dating memberships from the exact day of purchase was considered but it is unclear to the author if there are possible software restrictions in the business office that mandate the first of the month as a membership date. Also, it seems likely that arguments about exactly which date a membership was purchased would arise which would cause unnecessary difficulties for the business office.