Squadron Dues

[CommanderTelford]

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I am reaching out because it seems that members of our Squadron (seniors), tend to have some concerns with Squadron Dues.

Our Squadron has charged $5/per cadet per month for years (well before I came along). Last year, under the former Commander, Seniors were added to this. One of our seniors was not happy about this, when invoices for 2017 went out. However, after the finance officer and myself sat down with him, things were fine.

However, recently some of our seniors have mentioned that another $60.00/year on top of the dues for national are simply crazy. I can understand their concerns. However, the squadron does have a van, we do have squadron expenses, and the squadron is about to take on a $1,500 bill due to the Model Rocketry program. Squadron dues help keep events and other things, cheaper. Squadron Dues, help aid in purchasing supplies (insignia, rockets, ribbons, ribbon holders, cap tapes, etc, color guard equipment, and more!).

I searched the forum and found several of these topics and I skimmed through them.

I found some squadrons that charge way more than $60/year (even found one that charged $100!)  Let me explain how it is broken down.

Cadet and Seniors are both charged $5/per month.
They can either pay it monthly ($5), quarterly ($15) or yearly ($60).

Every member is given a receipt for their tax records.

The money is then deposited in to our Wing Banker Account (I shut down communication with our PBC when I became the Commander- PBCs are bad news, IMHO)

The Funds in Wing Banker are then used to run the squadron and participate in activities.

I am reaching out to see if others think this is unfair? Please advise.

Very Respectfully,

[CommanderTelford]

I should probably add, that some of the seniors have two family members in the squadron.

so their yearly breakdown is this:

Cadet National Fee- $40.00
Senior Fee- $65.00
Annual SQ Dues- $60-cadet
Annual SQ Dues- $60-senior

Total: $225.00/year in Dues.... and thus where the concerns and issues come in to place.

[Paul Creed III]

Do you do any fundraising?

[CommanderTelford]

Do you do any fundraising?

Yes, last year we sold first aid kits and a few other things. We are working on coming up with Fundraising this year- the finance committee.

[foo]

In my unit annual dues are $100 for cadets and $200 for seniors. I like the squadron, especially for my cadet, but I honestly do not perceive much added value for those costs. I think one or two fundraisers per year would be a reasonable alternative.

[Paul Creed III]

Do you do any fundraising?

Yes, last year we sold first aid kits and a few other things. We are working on coming up with Fundraising this year- the finance committee.

To answer your original question, the squadron dues do seem to be a bit high but would logically need to be if there is limited fundraising.

[CommanderTelford]

Do you do any fundraising?

Yes, last year we sold first aid kits and a few other things. We are working on coming up with Fundraising this year- the finance committee.

To answer your original question, the squadron dues do seem to be a bit high but would logically need to be if there is limited fundraising.

Lt. Colonel Creed! How nice to see you here on the forums!

I am at a loss of what to do. I have several fundraising Ideas, going up the chain to Colonel Shaffer by the end of the weekend. I know that the first aid kits were a huge success (brought about $500 in a month's time). I started off with roughly $300 in wing banker when I took Command in August. We are now up to over $1600- so I mean we are slowly rising. I think this may be the last year of Squadron Dues, once we build a solid foundation for Fundraising. I am also considering reaching out to other squadrons, and see if they would be interested in hosting a "Soccer" or "Baseball" game and selling tickets to the community for like $3.00/ticket or something. That's another Idea I have considered. Theres a lot of ideas actually- something that can bring funds in to the squadron, outside of the Squadron Dues.

Any thoughts or advice, Lt. Colonel Creed?

[kwe1009]

Why are you buying rockets?  There is a free STEM kit for that and many other things.  Also, start looking for grants.  Wal-Mart is a good source.  Just fill out the application online and to help your odds, go meet with the store manager.  They have a say in who gets approved so forming a relation ship with the local management can go a long way.

[Paul Creed III]

Do you do any fundraising?

Yes, last year we sold first aid kits and a few other things. We are working on coming up with Fundraising this year- the finance committee.

To answer your original question, the squadron dues do seem to be a bit high but would logically need to be if there is limited fundraising.

Lt. Colonel Creed! How nice to see you here on the forums!

I am at a loss of what to do. I have several fundraising Ideas, going up the chain to Colonel Shaffer by the end of the weekend. I know that the first aid kits were a huge success (brought about $500 in a month's time). I started off with roughly $300 in wing banker when I took Command in August. We are now up to over $1600- so I mean we are slowly rising. I think this may be the last year of Squadron Dues, once we build a solid foundation for Fundraising. I am also considering reaching out to other squadrons, and see if they would be interested in hosting a "Soccer" or "Baseball" game and selling tickets to the community for like $3.00/ticket or something. That's another Idea I have considered. Theres a lot of ideas actually- something that can bring funds in to the squadron, outside of the Squadron Dues.

Any thoughts or advice, Lt. Colonel Creed?

Have you checked out this thread: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=22010.0

There are several fundraising ideas there that may be helpful.

[Eclipse]

However, recently some of our seniors have mentioned that another $60.00/year on top of the dues for national are simply crazy. I can understand their concerns. However, the
squadron does have a van,

The only expense you should be paying for the van is actual fuel costs - no other expenses are the responsibility of
the unit, maintenance and consumables are supposed to be paid by wing, and fuel should just be
divided by the people using the vehicle.

we do have squadron expenses, and the squadron is about to take on a $1,500 bill due to the Model Rocketry program.

Your unit has ~$1800 a year in operating expenses? If so, then it's fair, but as others have said that seems like a lot.

BITD when we had a building with heating and other real expenses we were only charging about $35 a year,
characterized as a voluntary donation, not "dues", per se, as "dues" aren't generally tax deductible.

Squadron dues help keep events and other things, cheaper.

Actually, things cost what they cost, you're just having people pay in advance, and in some cases members are subsidizing each
other.  If people are raising concerns about dues, just have them pay for activities as they occur.

Squadron Dues, help aid in purchasing supplies (insignia, rockets, ribbons, ribbon holders, cap tapes, etc, color guard equipment, and more!).

I guess the question would be what you're buying that the members aren't responsible for?

Grade and uniform items are the member's responsibility - there are tens of thousands of dollars of
inventory sitting in boxes and shelves all over the country, never to be used.  Again, if the members are
balking, have them place their own orders at VG (and this is another area you've got members subsidizing each other.)

Color guard stuff is better handled as a 1-time and getting local donors or doing a specific fundraiser
is probably more appropriate.

[SARDOC]

Just make sure that you are in compliance with the regs and that any squadron dues you charge are authorized by the wing commander in writing.  Some squadrons in the past have just been making it up as they go along

[etodd]

For our Seniors I believe its $50 per year and $75 for pilots. Cadets are $45 or so(?)

[Blanding]

For our Seniors I believe its $50 per year and $75 for pilots. Cadets are $45 or so(?)

Why do the pilots pay an extra $25?

[TheSkyHornet]

We do NHQ dues plus $15 as an initial entry fee for new cadets, to cover the costs during initial training, not even meeting what we spend during that training time.

We have discussed monthly/annual unit dues, but there's that concern of "driving" members away. It's not cheap to be a CAP member.

[kwe1009]

We do NHQ dues plus $15 as an initial entry fee for new cadets, to cover the costs during initial training, not even meeting what we spend during that training time.

We have discussed monthly/annual unit dues, but there's that concern of "driving" members away. It's not cheap to be a CAP member.

Just curious on what training costs are involved with initial training?

[Майор Хаткевич]

Printing papers, supplies?

[kwe1009]

Everyone has different budgetary needs based on multiple circumstances.  The goal should be to make the program as affordable as possible for everyone, especially cadets.  Some units do well enough fund raising that they do not charge dues and even provide all members with uniforms.  Others charge quite a bit of money for various reasons.

The key to reducing or eliminating dues is obviously finding someone else to pay.  For those that are near military bases (any service), they should work to create relationships with that base that can become profitable.  An example is a squadron near me meets on an AF base and they worked with the thrift shop to get donated ABUs.  They also created a great relationship with the Airman Leadership School and they regularly hold uniform donation drives for that squadron.  The unit pays it forward and also shares their good fortune with other CAP squadrons.

If you are not near a base you are probably close to a veterans organization such as the VFW or American Legion.  Many of these are dropping their support of BSA and have extra money to donate to youth organizations.  Meet with the post commanders and offer to come to a meeting and have your cadets post colors.  Most older veterans love to see young people showing respect for the Flag and this can turn into a source of donations.

My squadron charges a one-time fee of $40 to SM and cadets.  This gets them a squadron hat and t-shirt as well as all ranks, ribbons, badges, and ribbon racks for the entire time that they are a squadron member.  We recycle the rank and ribbon racks so the on going cost is not that high.   We also sell ABU/BDU to new cadets.  They can trade them in as they grow out of them at no charge.  If the cadet leaves CAP we will by back the uniform as long as it is still serviceable.  We are pretty lucky with getting grants from businesses, especially Wal-Mart.  We do not have expenses for our meeting space so our only expenses are uniforms, activities, and gas for our van.  All told we operate on around $2,000 annually and have around 30 active cadets and 10 active SM.  We have a couple of fund raisers throughout the year as well which usually net us more than we spend annually so our account actually grows each year.

The bottom line is that we need to look for money in other places before we start asking our membership to pay more.  Be creative and look for ways to have those outside of CAP pay for the program.

[TheSkyHornet]

Just curious on what training costs are involved with initial training?

Printing papers, supplies?

This.

We provide canteens to each cadet, meals twice during the 8-week process during the weekend classes we hold, and a class t-shirt.
Our handouts/training packets are all printed by our members as a donation. We have additional contributions to the program from our staff.

We also work a fundraiser each summer that brings in around $1500, plus another fundraiser in the fall that brought us $2500 last year. Unfortunately, which fundraisers, neither the opportunity nor the payout is guaranteed. So I always stress that we need to be prepared to not see that money in our budget planning should we start to dig deep into next year's planning cycle when looking at our costs.

Overall, the dues we take in really do not offset the costs very much, except for maybe cover the cost of food for those two events (a few pizzas = $30; a cookout = about $70).  So a class of 8 cadets, which our current cycle is about to graduate, only brings in $120. That's $120 we still don't have to pay. It might not cover the entire cost we face, but it's a dent at least, without over burdening our new members/prospective members.

[deepblue1947]

We are a senior squadron and our dues are $120.00 per year.  Out of that we pay hangar rent and utilities.  Occasionally we do hold fund raising events.

MG

[BHartman007]

We don't charge any dues, but then we also have virtually zero expenses. Building is free, electric and water are free, covered plane parking is free. When we have to pay for gas everyone just chips in.