I was just looking at the latest magazine online and saw our hard working Treasurer (Thankyou Sue) has painted a bleak financial future for the Club if things are not turned around fast. I know Sue well and trust her expert Accounting skills, and integrity 110%, so if Sue says watch out, storm brewing, you better batten the hatches.

I then decided to read the minutes from the last two Board meetings that are available for members, and was interested to see we are back to having two employees, both Mary full time, and a permanent part time helper. It's not that long ago that the Board had the unenviable task of firing our second employee, because we could no longer afford her, so I assume the BOD is confident we will not be going down that sad path anytime soon.    

Sadly, I also saw the resignation letters from two new Directors, Doug Hagen and Ed Coughlin, 2 guys whose skills would have been a huge asset to the Club at Board level, obviously they quickly lacked confidence in the direction ACMOC was being taken, so I look forward to reading about the skills our 3 new Directors bring to the Board. 

Our Club was close to going bankrupt 4 years ago, because our Board lacked the skills needed to steer a good course forward, and apply appropriate financial checks and balances, and I am worried we are headed down a similar path if Sue is politely ringing the alarm bells now. 

The international economy is about to take a major bath, and toys like old Cats, and memberships of Clubs like ACMOC, are luxury items and the first things to be sidelined as people try and tighten their belts to survive financially. The past few years has seen a steady decline in financial members in the USA, and this trend will gain pace as our mature members, folks in their 70's, 80's and 90's, sadly pass away, or run out of spare cash to pay for this hobby.

It is only the growth of new financial members here in Australia over the past 5 years, that has helped slow the decline in the membership numbers, but our growth here in Oz will slow, and the Club will continue losing ground.   I've said this here previously, and I'll say it again, the vast majority of our financial members ARE NOT associated with a local ACMOC Chapter, or with this Bulletin Board, so how do we reach out to them, to discover how best to keep them involved? I mean, what can you tell me about our financial members, other than their name and address.

For example we assume that everyone uses smart phones these days to do everything, such as read this thread, but is that the reality, because I'd estimate 90% of the ACMOC members I know, wouldn't have a clue how to access this Bulletin Board with their cell phone, or how to use the scan function to fill in a questionnaire, they still rely on the Club magazine arriving in their mailbox every quarter to stay in contact.

I read today in the BOD minutes how the hundreds of members who leave the Club each year in the USA have historically not been contacted, which seems odd to me, because if your business is losing 15% of its "customers" every year, which ACMOC has been, why hasn't the question been asked of them, WHY DID YOU QUIT? 

The Club is trying to find ways to get younger folks to join, and that is very important, but surely spending a bit more energy on retaining members, the 15% who quit every year, should be given more importance right now, along with developing new reproduction parts that benefit the majority, like oil pressure and water temperature gauges that would sell in the hundreds, instead of parts for the minority, like the manifolds recently made for the Cat 60, that have cost us a lot of time and money, and sold only a handful.

Why not mail out a proper questionnaire with the magazine, a questionnaire that asks the right questions of our members, about them, and their machines if they have any, and more importantly, what can the Club do to enhance their membership experience, to keep them involved. A online version could be available for those who prefer.  

In closing, I know we rely on the generosity of many wonderful volunteers to help run the Club, and once again I thank them all for their hard work, I do my bit here in Australia behind the scenes as best I can, some people love committees and meetings and minutes, I'm not one of them sadly.

I sincerely hope our BOD has the skill set going forward, needed to turn the ship around, this new Bulletin Board has been a big improvement in my opinion, but it is not the right place to be deciding the Clubs future because so few financial members use it, fewer than 5% I'd suggest.
Respectfully as always
Mike

Hi, Folks.
Amen to all of the above. As many of you already know, I don't own any machinery, old or new, and don't feel the need to do so. I maintain my ACMOC membership and come to the BB to help people where I can with their machines and to continue to expand my own knowledge base. I live in hopes that this club and this BB will outlast me.

Just my 0.02.

Well said Mike M., thank you for the well written thoughts and opinions shared by many also. I am sure everyone would love the group flourish, I wait for the "plan of attack".
Maybe as a team effort, the club can succeed. JM

Thank you, Mike.
Unfortunately, I was not brought on to the Board to help with finances. I was contacted to help with membership, volunteered to hold Zoom meetings with US chapters and gave a report on findings. As a result, the Board reinstated the Joint and Junior memberships. Other concerns are being evaluated for implementation. My concern and suggestions brought about my invitation to be on the Board.
I am currently helping our newest chapter, Chapter 31. I plan on continuing my membership in Chapter 1.
In regard to manufacturing reproduction parts, we have to live within our financial means. It's a rock and a hard spot situation.
Retention seems to be a US problem. A retention committee would be the best solution, but volunteers are needed.
I will take your suggestion on the questionnaire to the Board.
I don't have all the answers, but I am willing to help.
Loma

You did not mention what effect the nearly 10% increase in dues/ subscriptions next month will have on membership - continuing with the long standing policy - "charge more, give less".

This organization has a long history of asking its members/ subscribers for opinions and then totally ignoring or doing the opposite of what the majority responses are - this goes for everything from changing the name of the group to re-incorporation.

Don't waste what little money is left for surveys or questionnaires when you do not have a plan when the answers are not what you want to hear.

Managing inventory is always a tough call. To little of one and too much of something else. What is hot one day is a drag the next.
It would be helpful to know what categories are movable inventory and what is dead and not moving. The so called obsolete inventory means we do not have very much that can be converted to cash to buy more good inventory. It plays havoc with cost of sales. It causes less angst if the obsolete is bled off over a period of years rather than all at once. .The inventory write off will not be the same effect as a private company that is leveraging the inventory for working capital.

What I'm interested to know, is how long the Club has before the Bank balance is down to zero, based on current spending, because the bulk of the cash we see in the balance sheet from Sue is preserved forward paid memberships, and they can't be touched, leaving about $40,000 of "real" cash, for paying 2 salaries, various insurances, phone, internet, mail, rent on a office and a storage facility, plus a whole host of other run of the mill outgoings.

Unless I'm mistaken, the bulk of our "assets" we see in the balance sheet are toys no one wants, made years ago that we can't sell, and that have already been heavily discounted well below our cost price, so unless we see a major injection of cash within 6 months, like $50,000 minimum from a Sugar Mommy, or Sugar Daddy, we will be basically broke by December 31st, or have I completely misread the numbers?

I see in the minutes some good ideas about getting Cat Dealers to sponsor a magazine run, and I hope that comes to fruition, but my gut feeling is that will only delay the inevitable by 6-12 months, because to run the Club as it is now run, we need a extra $50,000 to $75,000 income a year, to give us some confidence going forward, or am I whistling Dixie again?

So, with just over 2,000 financial members on the books, we really need each and every one of them, to stump up a extra $25 - $30 a year, to allow the Club to continue in its current form, to buy us breathing space till new income earning projects can get going.

I'm certainly not suggesting we do that, because I know several Aussie Cat guys who have quit ACMOC the past few years because membership fees were no longer affordable, remember our bucks down here are only worth about 65% of a greenback, so it costs us a lot more to be members already, but I'm sure there are many ACMOC members who could easily afford that extra $25 or $30 a year, because in reality it's less than a dime a day.

Anyway, I'm just shooting the breeze here, because there are interesting, and challenging times ahead for the Club, times we have seen before, and we will need really good folks at Board level, and Committee level, to sort this issue out, I just hope they remember to communicate with us in a timely fashion, because I was really surprised to discover 2 new Directors had suddenly resigned from the Board, which is unprecedented in our 30 year history, and just as suddenly, 3 new Directors were appointed without any real consultation with members, again unprecedented.

Is this the new normal at ACMOC?
Respectfully
Mike

Thankyou to Loma and Tony for stepping up to help, Loma I'm sure your skills will be of huge value to the Club, hopefully re-energizing the quiet Chapters, and Tony, I've been admiring all your behind the scenes work over there in England, getting Cat documents scanned and uploaded to the Tech Library, it has been a huge task that will pay dividends for years.

I think a challenge for any Club or company is having a Board with the right skills, but not too many members, particularly when times are tough, because decisions need to be made in a timely fashion, ie quickly, and if 8 or 9 or 10 Directors all want to talk for 5 or 6 minutes about a single agenda item at a meeting held monthly, there's potentially 60 minutes gone, just on one agenda item, and when meetings are done on conference call, I'm sure it is easy to spend several hours sitting on the phone.
All the best
Mike

as Mike has mentioned our dollar doesnt go as far as the greenback. another cost for members here is insurance if they wish to display their machinery in working order rather than static public liability cover is a must. nearly all events are no insurance, no display.
now I and many others get my insurance by being a member of a machinery club that happens to be affiliated with a national association so that cost me another 40 bucks a year nearly but it gets me 30 million liability cover and some personal accident cover any where in Australia. I only have to notify the secretary I'm going to the event. so its very cost effective and as yet in nearly 40yrs we haven't had a claim. but that is due in part to our vigorous safety rules and a fairly strict follow the rules or dont come back attitude.

and yes that is a another point when members leave why arent they asked why?
most companies do satisfaction surveys.

and yes prehaps one way of getting rid of the models is to consign them with cat dealers.
also what about a suppliers directory all businesses could advertise for a fee