On Jun 23, 2015 9:53 PM, "Atom Powers" <[email protected]> wrote: > > I wonder if "membership" is the real problem here. I imagine > membership would grow if it was free and the fact that it isn't tells > me that there is something more important than membership. Why is > "growing membership" important? What is the real goal that having more > members would accomplish?
Membership numbers are a quantifiable way to measure the success of the organization across many different areas. It's not intended to be the sole measuring stick but I'm a bit surprised to see you don't understand the value of it. Membership is to LOPSA what the GDP is to our national economy and it's not because of the money that comes with increased membership (though that certainly doesn't hurt). The GDP isn't intended to explain all aspects of our economy but it is an important barometer on the current state of things and to show trends. > > Finances? - We are in a pretty good state right now. More paying > members would make that better but even more money is just a means to > some end. > > Community? - We can build community without building members if we > become more inclusive. We could focus on telling people about the free > services we offer, like our mailing list aka "support group", and make > more services free. Having a small, active, and contributing > membership base might be better than having a large and lazy one. > > Sponsorships? - This sounds like the "more money" goal. > > Awareness? - see Community. > > Something else? I imagine that if the board decided not to pursue an > idea to drive membership it was because something else was more > important than having more members. What was it? > > I don't have a plan for growing membership because I think there are > other goals that are more important and I would prefer to spend time > on those. The fact that no real plan has been implemented strongly > suggests that either the board doesn't know what to do or there is > something more important than membership. I'm afraid you're showing yourself to be a bit naive here. I doubt there has been a single board meeting since LOPSA was founded that this wasn't at least mentioned. > > On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 6:14 PM, Evan Pettrey <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > What I'd like to see is a plan for how we grow membership. > > > > For as long as I can remember we have been saying that's what we're going to > > do. Every person to campaign has promised to do that, myself included. And > > as far as I know we still have not hit 1,000 paying members even though > > we've been hovering around 800 for years. > > > > I've seen a single board member that I think had a vision and a plan to get > > us there who I recommended for president at the end of my term along with > > another director whose term was also coming to a close. > > > > Instead the board voted to maintain the status quo and the lack of action > > drove the guy who could have taken us to the next level to resign so he > > could focus his efforts on other things where his leadership would be more > > effective. > > > > What I want to see is somebody who has a clear and actionable plan that we > > can execute with the budget afforded to us by our paying members. If you can > > show me that, you've won my vote. If you can successfully execute that plan, > > you've won my respect. > > > > The budget is clean. The opportunity is there. The time is now (or never). > > Let's make it happen. > > > > I hope none of the candidates running think this is a personal attack > > because it isn't. I know two of you and know you are both great board > > members. However, I want to see somebody go in there and make a > > difference...whether that be an incumbent or somebody new. > > > -- > Perfection is just a word I use occasionally with mustard. > --Atom Powers--
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