[Artemisia] Grand Council discussions

[John D Gibson]

:- Does anyone know why we do while others don't?  Do they require
membership to serve as officers, or do they only limit that :- requirement
to specific offices with a higher level of accountability like
baron/baroness, seneschal, exchequer?  I'd be very

  OK Time for my two cents, then I'll go back to lurking and thinking of
Uprising XXII.
First details as I understand them....
* Corpora requires Officers and sitting Royals to be members.
* Artemisia requires membership to be Authorized in Combat (and it is
assumed membership is maintained, especially since our list ministers
require to see a signed membership card as well as the Auth card for a list,
however to date kingdom law does not explicitly state this. The primary
reason membership cards are checked is because they prove a waiver has been
signed by the fighter.).
* There is also no written requirement for membership to receive awards that
I can find.
* Membership dues collected covers Event Site Insurance, and Society
expenses, like legal fees, accounting, certain Society officer travel
expenses, and the like.
* There is NO insurance to cover anyone who actually plays, from someone on
site looking around, to the most dangerous fighter on the battlefield.  This
is why having signed waivers is so important, something that is part of the
membership form you sign, and is included in your blue membership card, as
well as every event sign in sheet you fill out.
* As was explained to me years ago, the reason Artemisia became a Pay to
Play kingdom when it gained it's Kingdom status was to ensure the membership
numbers would remain up so we would have no problem maintaining Kingdom (and
hopefully it's component groups) Status.

  Those facts stated, it comes now to my opinion, and I'm going to ramble
since it's 1am and I'm suffering a bit of insomnia.  As others have stated,
I agree, I think paying membership dues to be part of the group is something
we should all try to do.
(No that really is the whole statement.)

  In my opinion, the whole pay for play thing is an excuse to try and get
people to pay membership for something they already do, fees that support
the organization as a whole, not the local group.  The local group, and
kingdoms of the SCA are supported by events and various fundraisers members
do.  I never have had a complaint, in fact I always thought it natural that
anyone who wanted to become an authorized fighter should be a member.  I
don't think I should force someone to be a member while I get them addicted
to fighting though.  I also feel anyone entering any competition likewise
should be a member, showing support for the whole group.  While they are
however learning that they love to be a part of the group, and how to do
.... I see no reason to force them to pay for a membership.  Officers and
those who dedicate their time to do all the things that keep the groups
running, are those who go above and beyond the call, some outright knowing
they are not only paying to support the organization they love, but in a
way, paying for the privilege of giving up blood sweat and tears, as well as
taking personal legal risk to do so.  We give thanks and award these people
in our own way, but I don't think anyone argues about that.
  So it comes to the "new" question, society wide, should it become pay to
play?  Should they do insane things to the membership structure?   Before I
give my opinion on these two I have a few questions of my own.  Why does the
society's top level need more money?  Are membership numbers down?  Do we
have overall more expenses, and if so are they Travel, Legal, or General?
Is fiddling with the membership structure the best option?
  Personally I think the membership structure is fine like it is.  If we
have a short term cash problem, like due to the recent lawsuits, there are
likely better ways to raise cash within the organization.  If it is a rise
in general expenses (and with gas prices we can all understand that),
perhaps dues need to increase slightly, and maybe the NMS needs to be
increased.  I can not see any reason to complicate the membership structure
itself.  As Tangle mentioned, currently for a non-fighting person, you need
to attend something like 12 events paying a NMS to justify membership, so
maybe increasing this society wide would be more tempting for people to get
memberships, than any other for of tinkering.
  The other thing I saw mentioned was membership perks.  A discount to a
catastrophic medical insurance plan, perhaps something arranged with say
discounted memberships to Sams-Club, or discounts at Fabric stores ... There
are lots of "free" discounts that could be arranged for members.  I am
personally not sure how they would effect our not-for-profit status, but I
think it is perhaps something to look into more seriously than restructuring
our membership fee structure, or forcing people to become members just for
the benefit to come to an event to begin with.
  When you think about others becoming members you have to answer one
question for them now a days; "What's in it for me?" Those of us who are
older have a different set of values, the "for me" is that we make the group
stronger and more stable, however I have noticed the "me generation" of
today (and thankfully most of the people I know in the SCA really don't fall
into this belief, despite their age) are a good deal more selfish when
asking that question.  So if it comes down to money and getting more people
to spend the $35 on membership, over say a new computer game, we should
think about that question and be prepared to answer it in a way that they
will find acceptable.

THL John Gilson

Now as promised I'll return to lurking and thinking about Uprising XXII,
which coincidentally now has Pre-Registration open, with the discount for
Pre-Registration being $5 off the gate price for Adults, plus the normal
drill of pre-reg numbers determining land allocation.... ;-)
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