I was cleaning up various parts of the website, and that included the MembershipFeePolicy page. I added a couple comments, and then Ted posted some good points. Since I know even fewer people pay attention to that part of the website than this list, and wiki's are cumbersome for discussion anyway, I figured I'd bring the discussion here.
For the story so far, see: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/MembershipFeePolicy My take: I think part of the issue with this perennial discussion is semantics. We have never define "member". I'm going to continue that tradition here by side-stepping the definition and talking about what I think "we"[1] actually mean. When we say "GNHLUG shall have no membership fees", I think the general intent is that we want it to be as easy as possible for people to be able to be involved with and part of the GNHLUG community. One of the purposes of GNHLUG is, I think, to share knowledge, experience, assistance, and enthusiasm for Linux/FOSS. More people can benefit from that if we don't charge for admission. That doesn't mean we cannot charge for a given activity/project/service/whatever, should it be appropriate. Some examples: When we have dinner at Martha's, people still have to pay for their dinner. When we had the BBQ at Bruce's, everyone had to bring some food. If we want to have a catered party, we could charge a $5 cover. And so on. A benefit to this approach is that contributions go directly to the intended purpose, so contributors are happier and accounting is easier. More generally, "free admission" does not mean voluntary donations cannot be accepted. It is reasonable that the people who make the donations have the most influence over how they are used. I think that's one of the real benefits of having a formal organization (i.e., Board of Directors): We can collect general funds and put them towards things in a way that's more open than "We all trust Bob to handle the money well". It is also possible to combine the above: Have a special activity with a cover charge, where the cover actually exceeds the cost of the event. The proceeds go into the general fund. In practice, this is identical to charging the lower cover and a voluntary cash donation, but it has a psychological advantage in that many people are more willing to donate if there is a more direct and immediate benefit. That's why PBS sells videos. (As an aside: Contributions are not limited to money. "Bring food" is just as much of an admission fee as "$5 cover". Likewise, "You can sell your stuff at our hamfest table if you also volunteer to evangelize." Heck, even "You can ask questions on -discuss, if you also are willing to read the discussion." If you count the time people give, GNHLUG is rich indeed.) Comments? Commendations? Condemnations? -- Ben [1] "We" may actually just be"I" here, but I think I'm not the only one who thinks this way about this issue. _______________________________________________ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
