[MR] re: Value of membership (long post)

[E. Georges]

My 2 farthings:

1) We seem to be turning the non-member surcharge issue into yet another
discussion of "who is the BOD and what the heck gives them the right to tell
us what to do?"  Well, you like this game called the SCA, don't you?  You
like going to events.  You like fighting or sewing or cooking or whatever it
is you do.  You like Pennsic.  You like the fact that the SCA is as big and
popular as it is.  You like the awards, the titles, the heraldry.  You like
the fact that you can play at whatever level of authenticity you play at.
If you didn't, you'd probably be a Marklander or confining your "costume
party" activities to the local Renn Faire.  (This is not a slam on Markland
or Renn Faires.  My point is that each group plays its own game.  Each one
is different, and the people that play the game they choose do so because
they like it, plain and simple.)

Let's posit a world without the BOD, without a national corporation.  Let's
take a look at how our game might change:

-- Assuming that each SCA Kingdom chose to stay in its present form, and to
play with the other SCA Kingdoms, each would have to maintain an
organizational structure that established it as a 501 (c) (3) corporation.
That would entail each kingdom to have its own BOD. (Corporations under law
MUST have a Board of some kind.  It's the law.)  It would have to have a
separate corporate identity, and someone would have to be designated to
receive all notices on behalf of the corporation.  That same person would
have to be responsible for maintaining all corporate filings with the states
in which we operated, and with the federal government.  That person would
have to have an office, and the address for that office would have to be on
file with all the states we operated in.  If the Kingdom were sued, that
person would be the one to take service of the legal papers.  That person
would have to hire and manage legal counsel, accountants, etc.

--  Each time you went to a different kingdom, you would have to worry about
authorizing in that kingdom (much in the way Angelssey and Markland and
other groups have to authorize in the SCA before they fight at our events).
No, Atlantia could not simply say that if you are authorized in Ansteorra or
wherever you are authorized here -- our insurance company would not cover
that.  And yes, we would need insurance, even if it were swiss-cheese
insurance.  Try renting a campground to host events like ours without it.
You won't get far, I assure you.  Oh, and in case you think insurance is
cheap, remember that the larger the group the cheaper the policy.  It's how
actuarial tables work.  A policy for Atlantia alone would be more expensive
than the one Militpas has, not less.

--  You are now a group with one Kingdom and therefore one King (or Queen).
Atlantian Law would now be the final word on everything.  We for the most
part are royalists in Atlantia (I count myself one), but I think most of us
like the idea that a King's power over Atlantian Law is curttailed by
Corpora. And because each Kingdom would now have different Corpora, your
awards would not necessarily be recognized in other kingdoms.  True, the
Kingdoms are permitted to make awards of their own already, but what of the
peerages?  Every kingdom would have to agree to accept every other kingdom's
peerages for you to be really and truly recognized nationwide.  How long do
you think it would be before one kingdom decided that it simply didn't want
to think of you as a peer unless one of their kings gave you your peerage?
How long after that would all the others follow suit?  Yes, we like to
believe we are above that, but it is easier to develop an "us" and "them"
mentality when the other kingdoms are wholly separate entities legally.

So, without a national corporation, here is what you would have:

 -- a local corporation, with a BOD, who would have to take on all the
responsibilities of the national BOD.  My guess is that people would still
be grousing about the BOD in the same way we do now.  We might even grouse
about it worse becasue we would know the people better and our personal
feelings about them might get in the way of an objective view of their
decisions.

-- we would still need insurance, office space, staff and the other things,
and we'd have less resources available to maintain them.

-- It would be harder for our members to "live the dream" the way they do
now.  If my job transfered me to Phoenix I might not be able to use my arms,
might not be recognized as a member of the nobility.  For me this poses
little inconvenience, but I would hate to see an accomplished and
well-recognized individual from our Kingdom have to "strart over" in this
game merely because they got transferred.  If I wanted to fight at Pennsic,
I would have to make sure I was fully authorized to fight in AEthelmarc
first.  My Atlantian authorization wouldn't track.  Are these insurmountable
obstacles?  No.  But why impose them when we gain nothing from it?

Bottom line:  You may not like Militpas and the SCA BOD, but getting rid of
them creates more problems than it solves.  There is perhaps something to be
said for reforming the way the BOD is selected or the procedures for BOD
resolutions, but getting rid of the BOD or the national office is not a
realistic option.

2) Is it fair to impose a surcharge to attend events on non-members?
Organizations hosting events that are open to the public do this every day.
Companies impose price differentials on goods and services every day based
on memberships in "frequent buyers clubs."  Museums and zoos give ticket
price breaks to members (even though both members and non-members are seeing
the same exhibit).  I have never seen a customer or attendee yet say they
won't pay because as a non-member they must pay more.  People accept the
notion that "membership has its privileges" and that among these may be a
reduction in the fees you have to pay.  Usually if a non-member refuses to
pay an entry fee, it is because the entry fee itself (with or without the
"surcharge" or "discount") is too high.  It says a lot about the SCA that so
many of its members are so concerned about being financially accessible to
everyone.  But I don't think that a $3 price differential is all that much.
Events are a weekend (or at least a day) filled with activities and
entertainments, usually for less than $7 per person, per day. (Most events
on the Atlantian calendar were less than $16, and the more expensive events
were multi-day camping events). Seven dollars is about the cost of 2 to 5
beers in a bar (depending on how cheap you like your beer), and is less than
the price of a movie ticket in most areas. I defy you to find better bang
for your entertainment buck.  Even at $10, the price is still pretty cheap.
Considering the outlay in food, fabric, rattan, armor, etc., that most folks
make in gearing up for an event, the actual site fee pales in comparison.
If we want to make sure we are financially accessible to students and other
financially challenged individuals, there are numerous other ways to address
that issue. Generosity, as was suggested by one gentle, is a great idea.

I believe we need to do everything we can to keep event prices down, but
this is an issue that is wholly unrelated to the "non-member
whatchawannacallit."  Event prices are set based on feasts, site fees,
equipment rentals.  All of those costs go up if there are more people.
Because we do permit attendance to non-members, more people come.  And the
site fee covers the cost of their attendance at events.  But the only money
that supports our corporate identity currently comes from our membership
fees.  Like it or not, our corporate identity allows this game to be played
with a level of sophistication that would be impossible otherwise.  THere
are thus people playing our game who are not monetarily supporting the
unseen infrastructure of that game, namely, the corporate identity. Playing
the game is its own reward, and choosing membership is my way of saying I
believe in this dream and want to support its perpetuation on the national
level.  If you are not playing regularly, you are only coming to one or two
events a year.  You're also probably not getting much more out of the game
than a good time for a day, and the existence of a $3 member discount won't
likely affect your level of participation.  If you are playing this game in
a committed fashion (attending events regularly, autocratting, fighting,
whatever) and you are not a member, then you are reaping the benefits of the
sophistication of the game while allowing people like me to shoulder the
financial burden of our corporate identity for you.  Is that fair?

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder.

Sorry this was so long.

In Service,

Lady Luce Antony Venus