GyroRon
Former Gyro know it all
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2003
- Messages
- 16,888
- Location
- Fort Mill South Carolina
- Aircraft
- Vans RV4 / Dominator 582 Ultrawhite
- Total Flight Time
- ALOT
I believe the PRA is down to 1300 members roughly. I have also been told it costs the PRA 42$ per member to send out the magazine. This leaves 8 dollars change for the PRA, even less if you paid with a credit card or Paypal.
I sat in on a board meeting and there was what seemed like 15 minutes of discussion over flyers to be handed out at fly-ins and how to cut costs, that saving 50$ on flyers was that critical to the PRA budget that it needed to suck up 15 minutes of valueable BOD meeting time.
The way I see it, the PRA is on the very edge, it has been a slowly sinking ship and depending on what happens in the next year or so, the PRA could rebound and become successful again, or it will fail and we will be without a parent organization.
There are some great things in the pipeline, mostly web based. Things we were promised 2+ years ago, but it looks like we finally have good people to make it happen, such as John ( All In )
We also have a great Board of Directors in office, and they are well aware of the dire need to turn this around.
I do not think any of the current BOD have the " Good Ole Boy " syndrome either, and I believe they are willing to do whatever it takes, even something radical to save the PRA.
But the one thing that I can't shake from my visit to Mentone and being able to sit in on a life member meeting and a Board meeting, and talking privately to a few board members, is this...... I don't think the PRA can be in the magazine publishing business anymore.
I personally like the magazine, but don't feel it is worth 50 bucks. Nor is it worth 42 bucks. I don't like the fact that out of my 50$ dues, nearly all of it goes to paying for a magazine that even though I like, I could certainly do without and not miss a minutes sleep over.
I have been thinking about all the people I know that are no longer members, or never have joined, and thinking of why is that. I believe it comes down to they don't see the value in sending in 50$ for a very thin and not even monthly magazine, not especially when you can get all the same info for free in 5 minutes right here on the internet.
But I do appreciate what the PRA stands for and what it could be doing with my money if it wasn't spending it all on publishing a magazine.
I wonder why some of you guys are or are not a PRA member ?
I also wonder, those that are not current PRA members, would you be a member if you could pay 20-30$ a year in dues and not recieve a magazine.... ?
I would like to see the PRA go strickly web based and get rid of the paper magazine. I would like to keep Rick Gilley on as a online editor of a web based " Rotorcraft Magazine " and make it along with back issues of the Paper magazine viewable in a members only section. And I would like to see the Dues cut in half, to 25$ a year.
Cutting out the postage and printing costs of the paper magazine, the cost to per member for Rick and Jennifer ( Paid PRA staff ) and the web space should be low enough to allow us to pay our 25$ dues and pay for expenses and have far more than 5-8 dollars left over to be used for other PRA projects.
I also believe the membership would easily double, almost instantly with a 25$ dues price.
What do you guys think?
I sat in on a board meeting and there was what seemed like 15 minutes of discussion over flyers to be handed out at fly-ins and how to cut costs, that saving 50$ on flyers was that critical to the PRA budget that it needed to suck up 15 minutes of valueable BOD meeting time.
The way I see it, the PRA is on the very edge, it has been a slowly sinking ship and depending on what happens in the next year or so, the PRA could rebound and become successful again, or it will fail and we will be without a parent organization.
There are some great things in the pipeline, mostly web based. Things we were promised 2+ years ago, but it looks like we finally have good people to make it happen, such as John ( All In )
We also have a great Board of Directors in office, and they are well aware of the dire need to turn this around.
I do not think any of the current BOD have the " Good Ole Boy " syndrome either, and I believe they are willing to do whatever it takes, even something radical to save the PRA.
But the one thing that I can't shake from my visit to Mentone and being able to sit in on a life member meeting and a Board meeting, and talking privately to a few board members, is this...... I don't think the PRA can be in the magazine publishing business anymore.
I personally like the magazine, but don't feel it is worth 50 bucks. Nor is it worth 42 bucks. I don't like the fact that out of my 50$ dues, nearly all of it goes to paying for a magazine that even though I like, I could certainly do without and not miss a minutes sleep over.
I have been thinking about all the people I know that are no longer members, or never have joined, and thinking of why is that. I believe it comes down to they don't see the value in sending in 50$ for a very thin and not even monthly magazine, not especially when you can get all the same info for free in 5 minutes right here on the internet.
But I do appreciate what the PRA stands for and what it could be doing with my money if it wasn't spending it all on publishing a magazine.
I wonder why some of you guys are or are not a PRA member ?
I also wonder, those that are not current PRA members, would you be a member if you could pay 20-30$ a year in dues and not recieve a magazine.... ?
I would like to see the PRA go strickly web based and get rid of the paper magazine. I would like to keep Rick Gilley on as a online editor of a web based " Rotorcraft Magazine " and make it along with back issues of the Paper magazine viewable in a members only section. And I would like to see the Dues cut in half, to 25$ a year.
Cutting out the postage and printing costs of the paper magazine, the cost to per member for Rick and Jennifer ( Paid PRA staff ) and the web space should be low enough to allow us to pay our 25$ dues and pay for expenses and have far more than 5-8 dollars left over to be used for other PRA projects.
I also believe the membership would easily double, almost instantly with a 25$ dues price.
What do you guys think?