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Alumni Dues
Very interesting stuff Gentlemen. The National Office pointed out that past alumni association dues had accrued over the years and the money wasn't being used. This point justified reducing the dues to an annual $5.00 contribution. That contribution would give the alum a 1 year subscription to the fraternity's national magazine publication. This was one argument that stirred the pot with some alums. Some alums felt that the residual gains could be used to benefit the fraternity for other use in the brotherhood while others said it could be used to promote alumni associations. The caveat is that the other monetary use the additional gains could be used for are already being facilitated by current offices at NHQ. In my opinion there's no such thing as having too much money. Worst case it could be invested into an endowment, scholarship fund, or be put into a Security. I know there's some red tape with the ladder for non-profit organizations. Grrrr.
Currently, our local alumni association is debating whether to keep the past due amount in place and put the extra funds into the association's account. An argument is also in the works that says that we could possibly increase membership in the local association by sticking to the $5.00 magazine contribution alone like NHQ is suggesting. Historically the local association has never had an issue collecting money from any active alumni members. In the past the association would send a percentage to NHQ and put the rest in the local account to be used for our own projects, goals, and donations. One good point about cutting down the local dues to the 5 dollar amount is that it will allow brothers that can't ordinarily attend the monthly meeting to feel included in the membership and have a vote on business when they can attend. They will also be in good standing as an alumni association member. Those brothers can still help out the organization by facilitating projects via the web, conference calling, etc. Both points are valid in my opinion. Our alumni association is a regional organization for brothers living in the Dallas/Ft Worth Area. We have a few active members that pay dues but only show up once a year. These guys live in surrounding states like Oklahoma.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Our next meeting is this Sunday. I will let you all know what we decided to do.
Fraternal Regards,
Boodleboy322
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