Forwarding announcement from Aaron Starr
Marcy
MARA.pdf (35.1 KB)
Announcement Letter v2.2.pdf (35.1 KB)
Richard,
Thanks for your e-mail. I have been keeping LPSF appraised of the developments. However, except for two members' outrage, there has been no interest in this agreement at all.
Although I appreciate all the work LP CA has put into this challenge, I am personally not pleased with the fact that the "critical mass" counties were offered this proposal weeks ago, while the rest of us wondered what was going on, only to be pressured now into making a rushed decision.
I will be happy to sign the agreement by the due date, if the other members of the LPSF ExCom vote to do so; otherwise, I will present the matter at our next meeting on September 10.
Marcy
Marcy,
I agree with your concerns and do not support signing this proposal. Aaron Starr, M Carling, and others have, in my opinion, an ongoing agenda of trying to concentrate more money and power at the state level, at the expense of the counties. In light of things like the recent ExCom vote to more than double state dues to $50 a year without giving the larger membership a chance to weigh in, ongoing issues of secret votes being taken, staff salaries not disclosed, regional representation on the ExCom abolished, attempts to force convention delegates to pay a "floor fee," etc., I feel that the state leadership is not to be trusted on issues like this.
Not only is this "MARA" a rush job, it is being promoted with the misleading claim that major counties like San Diego and Santa Clara have ratified it. More significantly, no breakdown or justification has been provided for the dubious claims that a new member acquisition necessarily costs about $60 and that the state needs a further $.50 per member per month for membership maintenance. These numbers are at the heart of the proposal, and need to be substantiated, not simply asserted as if they were self-evident facts.
If we do not participate in the LPC's mailing, I personally volunteer to call our members and let them know about the $25 renewal and extension offer. If we take more responsibility for retaining our own members in San Francisco, it will help us develop closer relations with those members, keep them better informed of our activities (and more likely to participate), and raise more money.
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Richard,
Thanks for your e-mail. I have been keeping LPSF appraised of the developments. However, except for two members' outrage, there has been no interest in this agreement at all.
Although I appreciate all the work LP CA has put into this challenge, I am personally not pleased with the fact that the "critical mass" counties were offered this proposal weeks ago, while the rest of us wondered what was going on, only to be pressured now into making a rushed decision.
I will be happy to sign the agreement by the due date, if the other members of the LPSF ExCom vote to do so; otherwise, I will present the matter at our next meeting on September 10.
Marcy
From: Richard Newell
To: Amarcy D. Berry
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: [lpsf-activists] Fw: [LPC County Officers] Membership Acquisition and Renewal AgreementMarcy,
I would highly recommend you sign this agreement on behalf of LPSF, so you can be included in the imminent renewal mailing. There is a ballot going on right now, still undecided (that I expect will pass), which makes a special rate of $25 for ALL members renewing or extending their memberships in Sept., including existing members. If you do not become part of this program LPSF members will miss this mailing, and likely many will never know of the special Sept. rate.
This agreement is also good in the long run. Consider the current number of LPSF members: approx. 1/12 of these will be falling off the (dues paying) rolls each month. Is LPSF prepared to renew or replace this number each month? What has the LPSF track record been for getting new members? I think that the counties will need all the help they can get from the state. Some types of campaigns, like direct mail, are much more efficiently carried out by the state rather than by all the counties acting alone.
Again, I hope you will sign the agreement.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 408-882-4785.
Rich
From: Marcy Berry
To: lpsf Activist List
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:01 AM
Subject: [lpsf-activists] Fw: [LPC County Officers] Membership Acquisition and Renewal AgreementForwarding announcement from Aaron Starr
Marcy
From: Aaron Starr
To: countyofficers@ca.lp.org
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:14 PM
Subject: [LPC County Officers] Membership Acquisition and Renewal AgreementDearCountyOfficer,
As you probably already know, the Libertarian National Committee is ending the Unified Membership Plan as of the end of September. That means the national party will no longer engage in membership acquisition (which they haven't done seriously since 2000) nor will they engage in membership retention (which they have been doing well to date).
Since our LPC bylaws require that 60% of dues collected be passed to the county party, the LPC cannot afford to cover 100% of the costs of membership acquisition and renewal on 40% of the revenue. Therefore we have a voluntary program of working together with the county parties to acquire new members and renew lapsing members.
The gist of the program is that the state and county parties split the costs 50/50, the dues are split 60/40, the state party does most of the work, and the state party bears all of the risk if a mailing flops. The full text of the agreement is attached.
Of course, this program is voluntary. You are free to develop your own renewal and acquisition program independent of the state party. However, county parties so choosing are still required by the bylaws to share up to 40% of the dues with the LPC, even while bearing 100% of the costs.
The Contra Costa,Los Angeles,Orange,San Diego,Santa Clara, andVenturacounty parties have already agreed. That is already the critical mass needed to proceed.
Direct mail experts tell me that we are at particular risk right now because most of our members have always written their dues checks to the national party. It’s not going to be easy to convince them to start giving to us. I believe that if we’re diligent, many of those folks will start giving to us, but we must also be prepared for the likelihood that a large number will never convert intoCaliforniaparty donors. If we do nothing, we will be a tiny fraction of our current size in less than a year.
We have a membership renewal letter almost ready to go (draft attached) that is time-critical. If you would like your county’s members to be included in this mailing, which is scheduled for early next week, please have the county chair sign the attached agreement and fax it to both the LPC office at 818-782-8488 and my home at 805-583-3337 bynoonSunday, September 4th.
If you choose to join the program at a later time, we'll include your county in future mailings.
Toward liberty,
Aaron Starr
Chairman
Libertarian Party ofCalifornia
(805) 583-3308 Home
(805) 404-8693Mobile
_______________________________________________
Countyofficers mailing list
Countyofficers@ca.lp.org
http://ca.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/countyofficers_ca.lp.org
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