It's December, so that means the Holidays and the conclusion of another shooting year at the club. You will all find reminders in your email inbox that club memberships are coming due for 2011.
At this time you may ask yourself "how does the club executive determine what the membership fees will be?"
During my tenure as President, the operating philosophy has been that membership fees have to be sufficient to cover the three basic costs of keeping the club open: Taxes, hydro and insurance. For our club, these usually add up to about $3200 annually, with insurance being the the largest of the three line items (property/general commercial liability/directors liability). It is also important to note that $30 of the membership fee is for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, which provides each member with 3 million in public liability insurance. So, in order to meet our goal of covering our fixed costs using membership fees, we need to have an annual membership of about 45 individuals. This is always an aggressive target to achieve, but over the past few years, we have been able to keep our membership fees static despite rising operating costs. We have done this by actively promoting the club via the special shoots and events we host throughout the year that usually net us a few new members. This is an ongoing process, as each year there are members that drop off and need to be replaced.
The biggest single benefit of membership, other than those provided by OFAH, are reduced shooting fees. If a member was to purchase one 30 round shooting card, the savings is $90 over non-members rates, almost the full price of the membership including OFAH!
So for the coming year, pending the approval of the Executive and Directors, we hope to maintain our current fee structure. This depends largely on the anticipated membership. What I can assure you is that we will do our very best to provide the best value for your recreation dollar possible.
Golden Triangle is a non-profit club run by and for its members. We have meetings monthly, and I would encourage you to attend and get involved. In closing, we hope to see everyone back as a member in 2011 and look forward to shooting with you all in the coming year.
Gord
