Joe
Did you look at the cost breakdown I abstracted in post 4 of this thread.
About 900 Junior and Leader members represent 20% of the NAR membership (all those under 21) pay $25 for their annual membership, raising ~$22K. This is not as restrictive as your limited membership because those under 18 can launch up to F impulse motors by themselves, and those from 14-18 can be L1 participants under the mentor ship of a senior NAR HP member. It doesn't cost any more for insurance purposes to launch larger verses smaller motors.
The approximate 3600 Senior NAR members pay $62 per year for their membership raising about $213K. (The numbers are rounded, the actual dues revenues are ~$235K.)
The net cost of publishing Sport Rocketry is $105K, or about 45% of the NAR dues. The annual cost of insurance is $45K or 19% of the NAR dues, and the cost of the NAR office expenses is $45K or 19% of the NAR dues.
NAR insurance is a group plan and is this low because NAR only allows it's members to launch certified motors so the risks are minimal. Furthermore motor certifications costs are paid for by the motor manufacturers so it doesn't cost the membership anythin for motor certifications.
The minimum bare bones NAR budget amounts to $195K, before you consider the other publication costs, the website maintenance costs, the costs associated with NARAM, NSL and NARCON (the events typically pay for them selves so the costs are minimal.), and competitions, scholarship grants, TARC, and other educational and outreach services.
The National Association of Rocketry is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit educational organization for consumers that advances the hobby of sport rocketry through organized events, local clubs, technical certification, research and development, and government and corporate partnerships to ensure that rocketry continues to be safe, educational, and fun.
https://www.nar.org/pdf/Organizational Statement of the NAR.pdf
NAR has exactly 1 paid employee, Mrs. Marie Stumpe, who runs the office, does all the correspondence, etc., and gets paid 20 hours a week for 50 weeks a year of office work. Everyone else in NAR. the Officers, Trustees, and Committee members, and section leasership are unpaid volunteers! And the committees themselves are primarily self sustaining and/or rely on donations from their members to pay for many of their expenses.
A $45 dollar normal membership would result in a $17 short fall per membership dues. That's ~$17,000 for the ~1,000 adult members down-rating from a senior membership how are not high power certified.
From how I see it, about 90% of NAR dues goes directly back to the membership in the form of services so please tell us what services you would like NAR to eliminate so we can lower the dues? By eliminate all competitions, or eliminate all outreach and scholarship programs, or by reduce the number of Sport Rocketry issues from 6 to 5. Something would have to go for everyone because there is no fat in the budget.
A loss of revenue from reduced membership dues or a reduction in members means service cuts. Period. That's why NAR is actively trying to increase membership this year by increasing retention and bringing in new members.
Each year NAR gains and looses ~1200 members, ~900 senior members and ~300 Junior and Leader members. The average Junior or Leader membership lasts 2 years and the average Senior membership lasts 5 years. If folks kept their NAR membership for just 1 year longer, the organization would grow to 5000 over the next 5 years. This larger membership due to increased member retention would mean the NAR dues revenue would increase to ~$260K, or increase by $5K per year over the next 5 years. In reality that's probably the long term inflation rate.
Increasing the number of new NAR memberships from 1200 a year to 1500 would also be great news. While it's doable, IMO it's much harder to accomplish given the competition of free time with video games, the web, and the R/C hobbies, not to mention the boom in outdoor and competitive sports for youth and young adults. 10's of thousands of scouts, 4-H'ers and other young adults dabble in rocketry each year, but probably only 1% or 2% actually join organized rocketry. Why? Probably because they look at rocketry as a one-time done that, check off the box, move on to the next item on the list kind of event. That's hard to change unless the NAR membership proactively increases outreach activities, and convinces youth to stay in the hobby for a few more years.
I sure it's not what you want to hear, but I believe it's based on the cokl hard financial facts of a hobby organization fighting for survival.
If anyone has a better fact-based business model for NAR, please let Trip know about it.
Bob
