Stuart Wrote; > I would prefer the GFA put the funding they currently direct into sponsoring > our international teams, most of whom could afford to pay their own way, > > towards sponsoring the Juniors - these guys and gals are the future of our > sport. > I am dead against funding international teams out of GFA revenue. > BUT funding from profits of competitions would work for me. Bravo! I for one could not agree more. I actually am not totally against some funding of International teams. I remember, from a fairly long time ago, the comp entry fee was paid by the GFA as funding for the team members, and that semed a fair arrangement. At least some of that going to the juniors is an excellent idea. While I am on the subject, kudos to Andrew Horton of Ballaklava club, who last year sponsored the tow costs for all the Joey glide pilots, a very generous gesture. Simon H and Internode are great contibutors too! Tthe idea of funding from comp profits is good, however I suspect the host club currently makes the main profit at a comp, and in the process club members do a fair bit of work supporting the running of the comp with an expectation of a profit to their club. They maight be less willing to do so if the profits went elsewhere. If the approx 100 pilots who fly yearly at the Nationals paid $350 ea that would cover it too. Perhaps an increase in sporting license fee, which would mainly come from those involved in comps would be another option? To toss an idea or two around, one way to raise some funding would be to have a raffle/lottery, with the prize being free travel to the comp with the team for example, in the hope of making the idea attractive to GFA members. Sale of T-Shirts or something similar would be another example, I would buy one for a start! If we have roughly 2,200 members, $20 per ticket, with one sale each would raise the required funds for the current team funding, and pay for prizes and expenses. Of course not everyone would buy, but some may buy multiples- If the prizes are attractive enough! I try not to think about the AEF situation, the only positive about that I remember was that those of us on the SAGA list were consulted on it by our rep before the change- a very positive step. Most posters were not in favour of the change unsurpisingly. It should be remembered that the increase was 100% ($10-$20) for adults and with the elimination of the junior rate a effective 200% ($5-$20) increase occoured-from my memory at least! Another thought I had was a new discounted GFA membership category for seniors, in particular those who recieve the Centrelink aged pension and have retired from flying for reasons of health , but wish to stay involved in airworthiness with pehaps an occasional 2 seater ride. This would help keep the irreplaceable knowledge of our older members in the system, particularly as our membership ages, and clubs look to volunteer maintenance to keep costs down. For the first time I can remember, as of this year, as far as I know, all club gliders in SA will be maintained (Form 2) by volunteers. The last SA club employing a professional glider engineer ceased to do so recently. Harry makes some excellent points regarding AEF's being the source of a large portion of new members-how else are most people going to get involved? Harry also said in part: (With a strong dose of irony I suspect) "You might as well keep quiet. Your fees are compulsory and you as an individual have absolutely no say in the election of the GFA board or its executive" I laughed out loud at that- ironic maybe, but he is absolutely right.! Barry said; "Don't get me wrong, I think that GFA staff and board members are helpful and doing a job which many of us could not do (or would not do). And a lot of it at their cost." I agree wholeheartedly, my issues of concern relate only to the nature "system", not the volunteer people who currently administer it, who I am sure put in considerable time, effort and money into helping administer our sport. Geez, that ended up a bit longer than I thought! Regards Dave Lawley _________________________________________________________________
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