Member Retirement

Major Lord · January 19, 2012, 03:23:38 PM

Maybe we could let people "buy out" their retirement time. I have 12 years in his Majesty King Obama's 22nd Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol Service, so how about I just pay my dues in advance for the next 8 Years and let me "retire early"? I still get my magazine and can be buried in my uniform without fear that a 39-1 Nazi will dig me up and tear my "flare" and "Bling" off. ( Although I am not sure I want to show up in Valhalla with a non-combatant uniform on....they might send me to Chicago or something worse)

Major Lord

Eclipse · January 19, 2012, 03:39:46 PM

^ Tax law makes this difficult, because the money has to be applied to future years' membership, not current operations.

We had the same issue in the AMA, people who knew they were going to stay in for the long hall could just buy-out their remaining time
to get to Charter Life status and not have to worry about writing a check every year. 2 or so years ago we had to stop this, right around the
same time that NHQ stopped the multi-year renewals.

I don't know if it's an administrative issue internally, or a an actual tax restriction.

There would also be the issue of refunds for those who get kicked.

FW · January 19, 2012, 04:58:15 PM

^ It's not an issue for the IRS as a donation in any one year is deductible to the extent of the regulations; not internal accounting procedures. CAP nixed multi-year renewals because its new membership software made it almost impossible to deal with. Many organizations have multi year memberships; like the AFA, HOG, AUSA, etc.

Eclipse · January 19, 2012, 05:25:41 PM

Quote from: FW on January 19, 2012, 04:58:15 PMCAP nixed multi-year renewals because its new membership software made it almost impossible to deal with.

OK, seriously?

Classic old computers and machines

FW · January 19, 2012, 05:31:01 PM

Now, that's funny... :clap:

And to answer the question; yes.

peter rabbit · January 19, 2012, 06:40:31 PM

Quote from: FW on January 19, 2012, 04:58:15 PM
^ It's not an issue for the IRS as a donation in any one year is deductible to the extent of the regulations; not internal accounting procedures. CAP nixed multi-year renewals because its new membership software made it almost impossible to deal with. Many organizations have multi year memberships; like the AFA, HOG, AUSA, etc.

Wow - even our little software firm had the ability to post the future years as a deposit and automatically pay a recurring amount from that deposit when billed. And that feature was added years ago to a package that cost less than $5,000.

FW · January 19, 2012, 07:07:19 PM

CAP/FM could have made it happen however, only about 60 members nationwide were taking advantage of the multiyear membership option. The National Board decided it was not worth the time for the staff at HQ to make the changes to the software for so few and, removed the option.

However, there is nothing which prohibits a future NB from approving multiyear, life or, sustaining memberships. All it takes is a vote. BTW; it is still the NB's responsiblity to make these calls.

MSG Mac · January 19, 2012, 07:27:20 PM

Quote from: FW on January 19, 2012, 07:07:19 PM
CAP/FM could have made it happen however, only about 60 members nationwide were taking advantage of the multiyear membership option. The National Board decided it was not worth the time for the staff at HQ to make the changes to the software for so few and, removed the option.

However, there is nothing which prohibits a future NB from approving multiyear, life or, sustaining memberships. All it takes is a vote. BTW; it is still the NB's responsiblity to make these calls.

In 1991 the NEC actually passed a paid life membership for $1, 000, and announced it in the CAP News. since then National HQ and the NEC have been denying ever having done it. One person told me it was dropped because they couldn't remove a member for cause if he was a "Life member". I would think that having a special account for Life membership with dues paid out of the interest accrued would be an easy thing to do. Especially since deceased members initial payment would remain in the pool and still be accruing interest without any payouts.

SARDOC · January 19, 2012, 07:43:49 PM

Quote from: Eclipse on January 19, 2012, 03:39:46 PM
^ Tax law makes this difficult, because the money has to be applied to future years' membership, not current operations.

We had the same issue in the AMA, people who knew they were going to stay in for the long hall could just buy-out their remaining time
to get to Charter Life status and not have to worry about writing a check every year. 2 or so years ago we had to stop this, right around the
same time that NHQ stopped the multi-year renewals.

I don't know if it's an administrative issue internally, or a an actual tax restriction.

There would also be the issue of refunds for those who get kicked.

I'm not sure, there are large Tax exempt organizations that allow multi year memberships, the one that jumps in my mind is the Veterans of Foreign Wars...When I joined I just paid the Lifetime membership price and done. No Checks every year.

a2capt · January 19, 2012, 08:02:25 PM

60? Really? I used it twice, for the three year option each time. It made getting a base sticker a whole lot easier instead of issuing one with a 1 year or less remainder.

It also allowed me to show my faith in the program as a whole.

The web page is still setup for a drop down- though it only has '1' as an option. I certainly did think about an inline edit to make it read '2' and try it just to mess with them one last time ;-)

RogueLeader · January 19, 2012, 08:03:30 PM

I always used it for two.

Eclipse · January 19, 2012, 08:31:53 PM

Quote from: a2capt on January 19, 2012, 08:02:25 PM
60? Really? I used it twice, for the three year option each time. It made getting a base sticker a whole lot easier instead of issuing one with a 1 year or less remainder.

Ditto, although knowing the way some members squeeze nickels, I'm not all that surprised.

SarDragon · January 20, 2012, 01:28:42 AM

I used the multi-year thing twice. (Which reminds me, I need to see when I'm eligible to renew this year.) I liked it.

I belong to another 501(c)3 organization, and we've had life memberships for at least 25 years. They are computed according to actuarial tables, in ten year groups, and are recalculated when the annual dues change. I bought in when I turned 54, as did My Sweetie at the same age.

jimmydeanno · January 20, 2012, 09:15:30 PM

I'm still waiting for my multi-year membership to expire, I did that option twice, for three-years each time. My idea was to avoid future membership fee increases. My thoughts are that is one of the reasons that CAP chose to do away with it, considering that it's the only membership organization that I belong to that costs me more than $20/year for membership (We need more money! Raise dues!).