Marcy,
I'd be willing to help draft a letter to our members too, if you think
written communication would be more appropriate than phone calls. If we
opt in now, and the LPC's letter goes out, it will be more confusing to
members if we later opt out to explain to them that what they read in
that letter is no longer operative. Besides, I'm not sure what you mean
by opting out if "things did not go our way." The requirements stated
by the LPC to take part in the arrangement seem straightforward enough
-- the question in my mind is whether that arrangement is reasonable or
fair to the counties, as well as the aforementioned concerns with how
it was sprung on us and how it's being promoted.
If we don't opt in, I'm not suggesting we just sit back and hope that
the void will somehow be filled. We should develop our own local
procedures for soliciting new members and communicating with and
retaining our current members. Since that's something we really should
be doing anyway, why not take this opportunity to do it rather than
just jumping on the first one-sided "take it or leave it" offer being
pushed by the party leadership?
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Starchild,
All of what you state is true and should be of concern to all of us.
However, I would prefer to opt in, see what transpires, and opt out
if things did not go our way.You offered to call our membership and relate to them what Aaron
Starr's letter is meant to do, but I would prefer another approach to
calling, even if you did have the time to call over 100 people and
all their telephone numbers. Things are too unsettled to handle
verbally.I agree with you that we should do more outreach and member
retention; but since I am not a believer in sudden behavioral
changes, I am assuming that the level of LPSF activity will remain
the same.It appears to me that for right now, neither the LP nor the LPC
are budging. Like it or not, it seems to me, the LPSF can choose to
opt into the current LPC plan, or not opt in with hopes that the void
will somehow be filled.Marcy
--- In lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com, Starchild <sfdreamer@e...>
wrote: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 yearwithout
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 stateleadership
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 justificationhas
been provided for the dubious claims that a new member acquisition
necessarily costs about $60 and that the state needs a further $.50per
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 ourown
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 Agreement
Marcy,
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 willpass),
which makes a special rate of $25 for ALL members renewing or
extending their memberships in Sept., including existingmembers. 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 thehelp
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@c...
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) norwill
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 thebylaws
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 alreadythe
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 forearly
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
_______________________________________________
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