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Old 03-21-2014, 09:45 AM
Jerry Irvine's Avatar
Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
Freeform rocketry advocate.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Claremont, CA "The intellectual capitol of the world."-WSJ
Posts: 3,780
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I posted a suggestion of an "altruistic membership" which is a euphamism for a donation, which was challenged by a rabbit using what I felt was a failure of logic, implying more money for less service expense would somehow make the association less solvent. The opposite is the case obviously.

The concern of some folks not being able to afford the membership is very real. I have met dozens of old school model rocketeers in CA who are on fixed income, typically social security, and have very tight budgets. But plenty of time on their hands for modeling.

I think the experience I had at my own very large sport launches which had between 1000 and 4000 pretty regularly in attendance from all levels of life, is instructive. I had a voluntary range fee of $5. Most people simply paid $5. Some folks militantly refused to pay on the principal it was only voluntary. Fine. Others legitimately felt they could not budget that $5 or were a kid. That's why I had it.

But something very interesting happened. Some folks noticed the people not paying and said, "I'll toss in extra to cover them." That reminded me of church offerings where the amount was associated with their own financial comfort or altruism.

That model could be applied to NAR where donors provide a pool of funds that others can apply for like a scholorship. It seems silly that our beloved low number members who may be quite motivated to be a member, cannot because of the cost and there is no alternative. I am not suggesting some sort of taxpayer funded boondoggle either. Voluntary charity in this country was the welfare and medical system before the government got involved contrary to the Constitution.

The other thing I have suggested for NAR is the endowment fund be managed more like the one at Pomona College, or Harvey Mudd College, where the funds are invested in hedge funds and the proceeds are used to build permanent infrastructure. They actively seek to be in the loop on estate planning as well by their alumni and supporters.

Jerry
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