Membership Fees—More Changes and an Explanation

From the Rainbow Kehilah Newsletter - May 2002

INTRODUCTION

As many of you may already know from our last Newsletter, the membership fees have changed.

During our last meeting, the Committee reasoned that some further explanation to the fee changes might be appropriate, while we also announce one further change which we felt was important to our members.

WHY THE NEW FEES?

In deciding on the new membership fees, we have shifted the emphasis for membership on a whole membership fee rather than splitting it between the membership and the newsletter. From an administrative and philosophical point of view, this means that membership fees support all of the Kehilah’s activities, whatever they may be.

Before abolishing the email discount, we concluded that we might have been placing too much emphasis on only one aspect of membership—the cost of posting a newsletter—and that the change would be more in keeping with all the benefits of being a member. We’ve also always said that the price of anything to do with the Kehilah, should never be prohibitive for anyone. We can always be contacted about that, and some compromise made.

WHY PAY MORE IF I’M GETTING EMAIL?

The abolishment of the former eMail discount and the reduction in all fees, means a $5 difference for everyone—whether up or down. It may seem unfair to no longer be offered that discount, after all, you may reason that it doesn’t really cost us to send email, right? But effectively, the most people-hours and resources go into putting the newsletter together, not the cost of postage or paper ( and both post and email versions are different from a layout aspect). The paper and postage is truly minimal in comparison! And we think our efforts to bring you a quality publication (with the resources we have), whether by post or by email, represents the real value of the service.

Along with that, the newsletter contributes to your membership benefits, but is not the essence of it. Your membership is much more!

ADDITIONAL CHANGE—Post or eMail?

We had decided previously that everyone would be mailed a printed newsletter. The additional change we made at our last Committee meeting was to adopt a proposal that sought to put the choice of how to receive the newsletter, back into the hands of the members. Do you want a posted newsletter? Do you want it eMailed? Do you want both? Why both? Maybe you’re out of town and can sometimes access it better via email? Maybe sometimes you prefer one method over the other? Your choice. Same price, but you again have the choice of how to receive it, considering that the newsletter itself represents the value of the service, not how it's delivered. Please let us know if you need delivery changes.

WILL YOU READ IT?

So many times we’ve rung people only to hear them say that they’d forgotten to read the newsletter and didn’t know about our next event. Had we not called, they wouldn’t have come.

In some ways, we feel that we put a lot of effort into planning and organizing events for the community, and also into making timely event announcements, which are then overlooked by some. Whilst we understand that you’re often too busy, we would encourage you to at least open your mail and see what’s coming up. This is definitely a positive way to support the Kehilah. Please, please read your newsletters!!

NON-MEMBERS

Non members can still give us their email address, but they will not be receiving a newsletter, only an \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , our postal address and all the committee phone numbers so that you are ensured a voice when you have something to say, plus a choice of communication method. We always discuss what members bring to the committee and decide on appropriate action, with a majority vote. So you definitely do have a voice. Remember, we on the committee are all volunteers, but we are still working for you—the community.

CONCLUSION

We hope that this serves to explain our fee changes, the abolishment of the eMail discount and the philosophy behind it. We also hope you understand better the workings of the committee and how you can contribute.