View From HQ - 2010/11
Renew your membership, sign up for e-mail, and don’t forget to vote!
It is that time of the year again: renewal season. Along with that come winter and the holidays for many of us. Some of you may have already received your renewal notice and ballot. It is important that you renew now — don’t wait.
AMA provides several ways you can renew your membership:
- By telephone: call (800) 435-9262. Please have your credit card and AMA number available when placing the call.
- Online: renew at www.modelaircraft.org. When renewing online, be sure your address and the spelling of your name are correct. To change your address you must be logged into the AMA website, then go into your profile section and make the change. Name changes must be made over the phone and it takes at least 24 hours for the membership renewal to be processed.
- By mail: fill out and return your renewal notice by mail.
If you have not received your renewal notice, don’t wait. Call AMA and we can renew your membership over the telephone.
Don’t forget to vote. The offices of AMA president and vice presidents in districts I, V, IX, and X are up for election this year. All ballots must be sent to the auditor’s address. If they are not mailed there, they will not be counted. Votes must be postmarked no later than November 12, 2010.
If your e-mail address has changed, please contact me with your name, AMA number, and the new e-mail address. We do not sell addresses. We use e-mail to relay important information to our members.
AMA is the world’s best organization for supporting aeromodelers. There are more than 130 volunteers out in the field working for you, in addition to 50 employees who give great customer service.
We have many programs in the works and are helping you by not letting the government regulate flying. We are updating our website to offer you the most current information and to make it easier to use. Our latest programs will benefit the current membership as well as attract new members. We need your support!
I am going to share my column with Chris Brooks, who is in charge of our public relations and fund-raising efforts. Chris has worked for the Academy for more than a year. He has some great ideas and is involved in developing target-specific newsletters for various groups of people.
For the past several months we have been sending our first e-newsletter, AMA Today, to the membership. As its editor, I hope you find this monthly offering beneficial. Communicating directly to you and receiving feedback is a critical tactic for enhancing awareness of all that AMA offers and what its members are doing in the field. I think it complements the fine job done by our flagship magazine, Model Aviation.
Part of our communications strategy is to know what you are thinking individually. To that end I include a monthly “Quick Poll” in AMA Today. I hope you participate each time because this opinion data is definitely read and analyzed by AMA leadership. Your voice counts mightily!
For that reason, we very much need your e-mail address on file. We only have the e-mail addresses of 60% of our members. Please, when you fill out your membership renewal form, include your e-mail address. It’s critical for a membership organization as large and diverse as ours.
Whether it is new programs, special offers, timely announcements, important news in our dealings with the FAA on your behalf, or whatever the topic of the moment, getting connected to you quickly via the Internet is a major concern at AMA Headquarters.
Consider this: if we were to use first-class U.S. Postal Service mail to communicate with you, it would cost more than $70,000 each time. Definitely not a good use of the dollars you have entrusted us to use wisely. Thanks for helping us help you.
On another note, I have been asked to lead AMA’s first formal attempt at fundraising—helping to secure non-dues-related income. I will be communicating about what we offer through our museum, community outreach, scholarships, flying site assistance, and other mission-related programs that need your extra support.
I’ll not only be asking you to help support these programs, I’ll be asking all of our stakeholders — manufacturers, distributors, aviation organizations, foundations, corporations, and other groups — to do the same. We are a very worthy investment in helping to advance the hobby and sport and as a key tool to help young people learn about science and technology through aviation.
In the coming months I’ll be asking you to join me in this cause through donations, wills, trusts, in-kind gifts, and other means of supporting the Academy. Please send me your comments at [email protected]. I’m always here for you and model aviation.
—Chris Brooks, Public Relations and Development Director
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
