Meeting fees

[JosA2]

Is there written regs on charging a monthly charge ($5 per meeting you attend)? TIA


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[Eclipse]

No, in fact something characterized as such would be verboten.

Units can solicit voluntary donations from members for operating expenses, the
keyword being voluntary (apparently "dues", per se, are not deductible, YMMV).

Units can also include membership dues in annual joining and renewal fees, but those
have to go through NHQ.

Your Wing FM can provide more detail on the above.

[JosA2]

No, in fact something characterized as such would be verboten.

Units can solicit voluntary donations from members for operating expenses, the
keyword being voluntary (apparently "dues", per se, are not deductible, YMMV).

Units can also include membership dues in annual joining and renewal fees, but those
have to go through NHQ.

Your Wing FM can provide more detail on the above.

Thanks, as always, Eclipse


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[ßτε]

Local units may charge dues as long as it approved by the wing commander. Local dues are NOT included in dues paid to NHQ at joining or renewal. They are collected locally and nothing says they cannot be collected weekly.


Ref: CAPR 39-2 paragraphs 2.3 and 3.2.3

[Eclipse]

^^^ This is correct, and clearly showing my age.  I checked 173-1 but didn't think to check 39-2.

There was a time when you could actually add unit dues to the renewal fee at the national level,
which meant people couldn't "forget" to pay you as often happened (as if the utilities would
forget to bill CAP).

It was a hassle to distribute the funds as well, considering this was in the days before WBP,
and every unit literally had their own checkbook and accounts.

So yes, with approval of the Wing CC, which would likely require these funds be included
in the budget, a unit can require dues.

$5 a month might be arguably reasonable, but still seems like a lot, $5 a week is excessive.
And not that you asked, but it shouldn't be based on # of meetings attended - if a unit has operating
costs it should be based on that - the lights are on whether a given member is there or not.

[TheSkyHornet]

At this point, before you even look at how to go about accomplishing this, you might want to conduct a risk analysis on the benefits and adverse consequences your unit would have from this.

When you talk about adding fees to things, you best be sure to understand what the intent of those fees are ("to raise money" is not an acceptable answer...for what specifically?) and the impact on retention.

$5/month = $60/year on top of my existing membership costs, plus the other costs I endure being a member of the unit (uniforms, activities, etc.). I might think about this, but I'd rather just pay maybe 6-months apart, not every month.

$5/week = $260/year. That's not happening for me. I'm transferring.