"rethinking" the PRA

I agree that ANY solution will have to be staged. Unfortunately, some of the bits that are needed first are the bits (such as online membership registration and credit card authorizations) are the ones that are the most work and require the most regular maintenance. They are also the bits with the greatest risk if botched.

...and as I type this I come fully to the realization that what should be first is purely my opinion....thus leading to the problem of getting a concensus on both the elements of the site and the order and priority. A job for popcorn and a comfortable chair if ever I heard one.

I am very pleased that my opinions in this discussion are purely hypothetical.
I thank you for helping solve many of my problems over the phone = Thank you!
 
No, you aren't wrong, 'inspire' or 'tempt', would have been better to use here.

Oh, I can see it alright and I believe the present PRA BOD has the qualities of good leadership and it is being demonstrated here. But, past BODs sorta left a sour taste that it seems most can't get rid of and thus the 'trust' factor has to be reconstructed. It will take some project success to demonstrate the BOD can 'gitter' done before that happens.

It would help, though, if individual PRA members and chapters didn't wait for BOD action and took on locally what they can. It is not only the BOD that needs to be trusted it is the members also. And to date there has been only a small minority that have taken on responsibility to help the PRA grow and prosper.
Please by all means, feel free do use your passion to promote the sport without us... I do that too!

My priories changed again... so without more help it will delay some projects a bit. However I hope to get rid of all this secrecy as once elected how can I ask if you want me to vote on any project until it done?

This just doesn't make since to me and I'm not restricted on any other charity BOD's I'm on. The commercial BOD I get paid for yes, we do restrict many marketing plans and trade secrets but I can tell you more about that company projects than I can about PRA, what is up with that?

If I could tell you about the projects maybe some of you might just wish to help us? At least I could ask you if you wanted me to vote for it?
 
Please by all means, feel free do use your passion to promote the sport without us... I do that too!

My priories changed again... so without more help it will delay some projects a bit. However I hope to get rid of all this secrecy as once elected how can I ask if you want me to vote on any project until it done?

This just doesn't make since to me and I'm not restricted on any other charity BOD's I'm on. The commercial BOD I get paid for yes, we do restrict many marketing plans and trade secrets but I can tell you more about that company projects than I can about PRA, what is up with that?

If I could tell you about the projects maybe some of you might just wish to help us?

You are absolutely right John. Secrecy by the elected leaders will destroy the trust that is absolutely required for others to willingly follow and support. This might be at the heart of PRA's current problems getting sufficient volunteers.
 
The problem with a free, generic PRA website is that much more than a web presence and member services are needed. PRA needs to become integrated with the web, including all the neat automated tricks such as reminders for renewals, accounting and the like. There are packages that do this kind of thing, but they're not free, because their creators know they often more than pay for themselves in increased revenue and reduced overhead.
 
Wow, Tom, you started a thread that is approaching 12K viewers! Who said there wasn't any interest in the PRA?

The fact that the thread has been hijacked so many times (I haven't counted the times I did that!) doesn't detract from the fact that a dialog was established. I, for one, am glad to see it! Hopefully there will be many more dialogs. Solutions to problems can't be solved with out dialog.
 
>The problem with a free, generic PRA website is that much more than a web presence and member services are needed. PRA needs to become integrated with the web, including all the neat automated tricks such as reminders for renewals, accounting and the like. There are packages that do this kind of thing, but they're not free...

We live in different worlds.

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/e-commerce/membership-a-subscriptions/7591

Please take a look and then read down the stuff in the left hand column for others from calendars to content manager dashboards. The cost of extensions to these sorts of CMS systems to a non-profit (501(c)(3) or otherwise) that is operating in good faith is nothing- you decide if you want to send money and how much in the same way Todd funds this conference. The only cost is the effort to put the Lego(tm) blocks together.

Don't feel obliged to apply an Ayn Rand'ian "selfishness makes the world go around" set of values if you are working on a non-profit; selling something doesn't intrinsically improve it's quality or value.
 
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>The problem with a free, generic PRA website is that much more than a web presence and member services are needed. PRA needs to become integrated with the web, including all the neat automated tricks such as reminders for renewals, accounting and the like. There are packages that do this kind of thing, but they're not free...

We live in different worlds.

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/e-commerce/membership-a-subscriptions/7591

Please take a look and then read down the stuff in the left hand column for others from calendars to content manager dashboards. The cost of extensions to these sorts of CMS systems to a non-profit (501(c)(3) or otherwise) that is operating in good faith is nothing- you decide if you want to send money and how much in the same way Todd funds this conference. The only cost is the effort to put the Lego(tm) blocks together.

Don't feel obliged to apply an Ayn Rand'ian "selfishness makes the world go around" set of values if you are working on a non-profit; selling something doesn't intrinsically improve it's quality or value.
Thank you Larry.
Joomla was Jon's suggestion too so I've already downloaded it and learning it now.
 
OK my friends.

I got the financial statements from Robert last night and I had all the minuets since 6/2014 when I was elected to the BOD so all the documents that I have are now online.

All members can log-in 1st! Then copy paste this link to go directly to the page:
http://www.pra.org/default.aspx?p=2012BBoardMeeting

I'm still waiting for the source documents and financial statements for PRA Mentone Airport. The day I get them they too will be posted!
 
Hey good news Jane emailed me last night we have had 50 members join since mid September! We are growing again!!!!
 
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