View from HQ
Joyce Hager Executive Director
Only the membership can make changes!
The weather for this time of year has been unusually warm. This has allowed activity to continue on the site for much longer than normal, but it is coming to an end.
I hope those who had the opportunity to visit Muncie enjoyed the new administration building because we love it. There are improvements being made to the museum building and plans to relocate the Merchandising Department to a more suitable place.
Affinity Program: Occasionally I receive complaints about AMA selling membership information to an outside vendor. Let me assure you that we do not sell our membership list to anyone.
We do, however, explore opportunities where we can partner with an organization in order to produce non-dues revenue. One such program is the First USA Bank Affinity Visa® Program.
During the last three years this program has produced $150,000 in revenue. This is a significant amount of income. The program was provided a list of our members’ names and addresses only. The list may only be used for this particular promotion.
We have conducted other such partnerships where the company that is promoting the product(s) (such as Model Airplane News) doesn’t even receive the file of our members’ names. The list is delivered to a third party that does the mailing then is returned to AMA Headquarters.
An organization’s membership list is one of its main assets. It would be very easy to sell AMA’s list for quite a sum of money, but your elected officials have refused to let this happen.
Why do we participate in such affinity programs? We do it to provide our members with a special deal not offered anywhere else. It creates non-dues revenue so that we can keep membership fees from being raised.
If you receive an unsolicited mailing and you do not want to be included, contact me and your name will be removed.
Elections: As I was writing this column, the deadline for elections had just passed. The results were known within a week and the results were placed on our Web site, www.modelaircraft.org.
I hope everyone took the time to read the campaign statements and vote. These people represent you! They make the policy and procedures we follow. Only the membership can make changes!
Membership: Despite all the problems going on in the world, modelers are still pulling together. I recently attended two World Championships—one in Muncie, Indiana and the other in Lost Hills, California.
At each of these events, not a day passed without some type of prayer or moment of silence for the victims of the recent terrorist tragedies. Modelers are truly a great bunch of people.
I had thought that we would have some problems with mail delivery, but I am glad to report that membership renewal is running roughly 90% of what it was last year.
This is our busy season and it may not be easy to get through by telephone. I do hire seasonal help, and we have provided alternative ways to renew your membership: via mail, through the Web site, by fax, and by telephone.
Remember that membership expires December 31. Don’t let your magazine and insurance lapse!
The annual Open Membership Meeting will be held at the AMA Convention in Pasadena CA, which will be January 18-20, 2002.
If you have any questions, plan to attend; many of the AMA officers will be in attendance.
Club-charter renewal is approaching. Make sure that AMA receives your officer changes in a timely fashion. The club-charter-renewal package is scheduled to be mailed in January.
Please visit the AMA Web site. We have made some changes and will continue to do so.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season! Best wishes from all of the AMA employees.
Happy flying,
Joyce Hager Executive Director [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
