Re: membership

[DWiris@aol.com]

Hi Susan,
 
I'm glad you explained the affiliate fee. This thread is the first time I  
heard of it. My local club has been paying the higher fee because we are 
small  and could not get 50% AIS members.
 
Dorothy Willott, Show Chair
North East Ohio Iris Society
 
 
In a message dated 7/17/2012 10:10:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
irisgal@hotmail.com writes:

Hi  Sue,
Here are the correct facts of the affiliation fee  change.
The affiliation fee changeover was made at the 2011 Spring  convention board
meeting.  There were a couple of reasons why the  change was made.  When the
affiliation fee was first started, it was  supposed to be an encouragement 
for
clubs to have members join AIS.   Instead, over the years it ended up being 
a
penalty for clubs not having at  least 50% AIS membership, or at least 10 
AIS
members.  Mostly it hurt  the small clubs in small towns who couldn't 
attract
new members and clubs  that whose budgets are very small and really didn't 
have
the financial  means to afford the $50 fee.
It also became a nightmare for the club  president and the regional RVP to
figure out the formulation on who had to  pay, and who didn't pay.  Yes 
there
was a few clubs that even fudged  the numbers so they didn't have to pay.
The changeover of all  affiliates paying a flat fee of $25 is a fair and
equitable way.  This  small yearly fee goes toward several things and 
doesn't
even begin to cover  the cost of the benefits that the affiliates enjoy.
Things like the  insurance coverage (for all affiliate events), the cost of 
the
paperwork,  postage, and medals for the iris shows are some of the benefits.
As of two  years ago, the cost of each medal that is awarded was $15 each, 
so
each  show that an affiliate has cost the AIS at least $30, just for the  
medals
alone.  Many of the larger affiliates have upwards of 4-5 shows  each year, 
so
the costs add up.
I hope that this  information helps.
Susan Boyce
Affiliations Chair


> Date:  Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:52:47 -0400
> From:  robertpries@embarqmail.com
> To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
>  Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] membership
>
> Sue; I am back from  digging and will try to answer your second question
about
> the  Affiliation fee.
>
>
>
> First I want to note that  directors and committee chairs do not get their
> travel or hotel paid  for by AIS. Because it is somewhat of a financial
burden,
> when I  was timed out on the board as a director I presumed I could miss a
>  meeting now and then. I believe the motion to change the affiliates fee  
was
at
> a fall board meeting. Previously affiliates had to have over  half of 
their
> members as AIS members. Many clubs simply require you  join AIS to be a
member
> while others are reluctant to do this and  had the problem of ascertaining
> whether they met the 50% requirement.  Each year this could be a real 
horror
> for each RVP to verify the  membership in all their regions clubs. It 
could
> also be a challenge  for the local club presidents to report. The AIS
> membership lookup  tried to help with this but still many RVPs and Local
club
>  presidents complained it seemed like busy work. It is often hard to  get
people
> to take these positions and so it was considered that  maybe we should do
this
> another  way.
>
>
>
> In case you have not noticed there has  been a real effort on AISs part to
make
> membership in AIS  worthwhile. We would like to think that people want to
> become members  and not that they are coerced into doing so. Many clubs
played
> all  sorts of games of paying for local club memberships for people  they
knew
> were AIS members. I believe the board just reached the  point that they 
felt
> why encourage this dishonesty and why make  officers go through all this
work.
> A simple lower fee for everyone  seemed fair. The benefits in insurance
> coverage, alone for each  affiliate is much. much, more than this.
>
>
>
> Maybe  we can never win the hearts and minds of some people but the goal  
is
to
> create an organization that people want to be a part of and  see the value
in
> doing so. B If those people who are not members  could help us make a 
better
> organization than please step  forward.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message  -----
>
> Hi Sue,
> Yes I have been following the various  threads on Iris Lovers and am aware
of
> the concerns and have  answered some of them individually. I'll try to
answer
> those that  you bring up here by adding my answers in blue.
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> >From: Sue
> >Sent: Jul 16,  2012 10:56 PM
> >To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
> >Subject:  [AISdiscuss] membership
> >
> >Good Day, I'm Sue Ann Barnes,  RVP for Region 7.
> >
> >I've been reading AIS discuss posts  for over a year now, but have never
> >posted. But by "listening" in  I've learned a lot. And have become aware
> >of an issue that may  need some attention.
> >
> >Today on the Face Book group  "Iris Lovers" there was a question about
> >having to be an e-member  to have access to the iris register. So that if
> >you also want to  have a hard copy of the bulletin, you are talking about
> >regular  and e-membership. Some voiced the opinion that they might go
> >just  with the e-membership.
>
>
> People have every right to  choose just the emembership if that's what 
they
> want. It gives them  both Iris Register, Irises, our magazine in pdf 
format
and
> Basic  Iris Culture in pdf format. We want people to choose what's best 
for
>  their lifestyle.
>
> >Years ago, my husband and his mother got  me a life membership, so that
> >having to do an e-membership does  mean I am back to having to remember
> >to re-up, when I have not  done so for more than twenty years.
> >The reasons for these needed  changes are understandable in light of our
> >increasingly paperless  world, but they are not well explained on the
> >web-site and it is  hard for people to accept that you need two
> >memberships to AIS to  get what you want.
>
>
> As of today AIS has 4,537 members,  of those 336 are ememberships. The 
vast
> majority (92.6%) haven't shown  any interest in having access to Iris
Register.
> In the 8 months  since its start I've only had 2 complaints from those 
4,537
> people.  One was a life member who didn't think he should have to pay for
>  access to Iris Register and one who thought he could only have one or  
the
> other (paper vs print)
>
>
> B Some members are  not yet aware
> >of the increase in the cost of the e-membership over  the cost of just
> >the register that they paid earlier. And when the  register first became
> >available we could pay for more than one  year. We can't do that now.
> >Some AIS members may have to keep  track of two different renewal dates
> >and of course pay two  fees.
>
> We sent an email to all Iris Register members explaining  the change and 
the
> difference in price last August, 4 months before it  was implemented. 
There
was
> no hue and cry from any of the 240 Iris  Register members at that time, in
fact
> there wasn't even a single  response pro or con.
> You can take out multiple years by changing the  quantity of ememberships
you
> buy and as for keeping track of when  your expirations are, I send out
> reminders on ememberships about 2  weeks before they are due to the email 
I
> have on record. The standard  membership renewals are mailed to the 
address
of
> record 4 to 6  weeks before they are due.
>
> >I wanted the board to be aware  of the rumblings from the ranks. You
> >might check out the Iris  Lovers comments and get a feel for what you
> >might do on the web or  in print to clarify the changes. Many AIS members
> >are not  travelers. They do not go the Regional, let alone, National
>  >meetings, and so may miss information on these changes.
>  >
> >There have also been some rumblings about the affiliation  fee. Last year
> >that caught many clubs off guard, and though, in  many ways it is much
> >easier for the RVP, there is now no incentive  for a local club to have
> >more than its officers AIS members and  that may also eventually slow the
> >flow of people who are qualified  to become judges. Some clubs in our
> >region had all or nearly all  of their members AIS so that the club did
> >not have an affiliation  fee. Now there is no incentive for this.
>
> Sorry, I can't speak  to this, It's something Judy Keisling in her 
capacity
as
> Judges  Chair has I'm sure thought about. She would have to speak to  it.
>
> >You may want to go to the Iris Lovers group and read  some of the
> >comments, questions and responses. It might also be  useful to provide a
> >guideline on membership to the RVPs so that we  could be ready to answer
> >questions and be a point of distribution  of information. The new
> >membership flyers have very little  information about e-memberships on
> >them, and people who have been  members for years are not likely to pick
> >one up and read it. Tom's  information is printed on it, but I don't know
> >if he has been  contacted by those confused by the changes.
>
>
>  Unfortunately the flyers were printed before the implementation  of
emembership
> and will be updated for the next printing. As I  mentioned earlier I've 
had
2
> people in the last 8 months who have  called or emailed their confusion to
me.
> One I was able to resolve,  the other not so much.
> My guidance to the RVP's is that Emembership  can be a stand alone option
for
> AIS membership complete with all  the perks including voting B and
judgeship.
> Everything except a  printed Bulletin.
> For those who want a real magazine with slick glossy  covers that they can
hold
> in their hands and refer to later, they  should choose one of the
traditional
> memberships.
> For those  who want both, buy both
>
> >
> >Sue Ann  Barnes
> >205 Westwood Ave
> >Jackson, TN 38301
>  >731-422-5253
> >731-499-1396
>  >barnes-s@charter.net
> >Success is: Being true to  yourself.
> > Loving what you do.
> > Doing what you  love.
> >
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>  >
> >The archives for AISDiscuss are at:
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> Tom Gormley
> AIS  Membership Secretary
> PO Box 177
> DeLeon Springs, FL  32130
> 386-277-2057
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