If possible, you folks should considering doing what the SCCA does, they offer "day memberships". With that, you still keep your insurance regulations and you will not destroy your walk-ups. Right now, I can almost promise that 99% of your walk-ups will disappear and any of the folks that do it casually will probably disappear also if they have to get a full membership. With a day membership, you charge a little extra, have the folks sign some documentation and everyone is happy.
That may be something discussed at an upcoming BMW CCA Driving Events Conference.Originally Posted by flohtingPoint
We do need some leeway and agree on the "day membership" idea.
2008 BMW E92 335i Atlantic Blue - Dinan 2nd Stage, Sprint Booster, BMW Performance Exhaust
1996 BMW E36 M3 Cosmos Black - Ground Control Struts, Eibach Springs, Koni shocks, Treehouse Racing Control Arm brackets, Turner Racing Sway Bars, Sparco Strut Bar, Turner Rear Control arms, Toyo RA1s 255/40/17, - Engine Stock
Once again, you'd think our national organization would think about these things BEFORE putting them as policy. And then, once policy, communicate it to all members appropriately. The subpar planning and disorganization not only shows poorly on our national organization, but sometimes (as in this issue) trickles down to local chapters.
Since I've been receiving some nasty emails on this subject, I'm going to put this all in underline:
The members only decision was NOT a local NCC Autocross decision, rather a mandate from our NATIONAL organization. And yes, I agree with everyone's concerns that this goes against the "welcome others" nature of autocross. I'm very sorry that our national organization made this decision as it has significant, unwarranted financial and participation impacts.
Last edited by mcoupemindy; 01-19-2012 at 05:18 PM.
That's pretty weak that you're getting attacked for such that is out of your control.
I'm not sure who does the books on such and if the autocross division of the BMWCCA is funded by a home office or something, but I'm sure things will change when the fiscal impact becomes evident (which will take about two events). When I ran with the club in 2010, it looked about half the field was "X" class, that's bound to get shaken up by this. Whoever is above the autocross division is definitely going to see the impact of this decision unless some work around is found.
Considering that after the free event that we are offering the actual cost of the membership is only $18 I wouldn't think that it's that big of a deal. The benefits of the membership alone are worth more than that. Especially if you own a BMW or MINI.
James,
In all reality, our national organization really is too greedy. They can care less about the success of individual chapters or programs as long as they are meeting their targets. As soon as I heard about this poor decision, I let my opinion known.
Let's look at the financial aspects from top to bottom, and how poor the return on membership really is to our individual program.
For these calculations, let's assume that the NCCBMWCCA has 5000 members. It may be a bit lower than that, but a few years ago it was 5200 members. I'll also make some estimates as I don't have the current numbers.
BMWCCA membership, per year, is now $48.00. So where does that money go to?
$48.00 x 5000 = $240,000
Wow, that's a great number. But wait, the local club only gets a small fraction of that. Approximately $13.00 per member year.
$13.00 x 5000 = $65,000
So, our national organization swipes $175,000 right off the top. What they do with it is really not public. Sure, some goes to CC processing, etc. but that should be a small minority of the funds. It's our money (the BMWCCA members) so I think they should CLEARLY publish where the money is going.
So, back to the point, our club gets $65,000 per year, so you'd think autocross would get a good portion of it? Absolutely not. Our BoD has only granted us with a $3,600 subsidy for next year. Yep, that's right, only 5.5% will be returned to what was the largest chapter program two years ago. (And, if you have the opportunity, ask one of our BoD members how much of a loss they permitted our drivers' school program to have last year - it will make you vomit.)
In the past, we've made these shortcomings up by offering non-members to attend our events at a higher price-tag. That extra $10 fee for non-members over about 300 non-member autocross days gave us an extra $3,000 per year to refresh equipment and host quality events.
Let's start a policy of transparency. One where we can trust our leadership, at both our local and national levels, to make fiscally responsible decisions enabling our club to continue to prosper into the future.
Unless we have a stellar year (fingers crossed), or our local BoD decides to pump more money into our program, the members only decision may force this to be our last autocross season. I'm still hesitant to say that it was the correct decision, given the budgetary metrics, to run a program for 2012. Only time will tell.
If you are a BMWCCA member, please take the opportunity to reach out to one of our BoD members and our regional BMWCCA representative to let them know that the members only decision will significantly harm our program and our autocross community.
Last edited by mcoupemindy; 01-20-2012 at 07:12 AM.
Although a membership is $48 we are offering a free event thru June 30th. That's a $30 discount which makes your total membership cost for the year only $18! With all of the benifits that come along with membership that's a hell of a deal. My membership saved me $100 first time I had to go to the dealer. So please keep in mind that we have done all we can to make it a good deal and to retain our loyal attendees!
For the lazy, can you explain how to do this?
I have (or maybe had) a BMWCCA membership to get a discount on parts at RRT, so maybe they will care what I think. I just enjoy autocrossing other stuff more
$18 is noise over the course of an autocross season and I don't want to take it out on the local club purely because the national office is being stupid.
Thanks
John
1999 ///M3 | 2006 Evo MR #7 STU
http://www.bmwcca.org/nationaloffice -> Board of Directors
National Capital Chapter is in the South Atlantic region.
Although your membership has lapsed more than a year ago.
Last edited by 1996 328ti; 01-25-2012 at 09:07 PM.
Response... makes sense to me.
John,
This requirement is in response to a more aggressive review of not-for-profit social clubs such as we are. In order to maintain our not-for-profit status as we are currently incorporated, not more than 15% of income can come from non-member sources. One chapter is currently in the midst of an audit by the IRS now and their non-member income is in the 25% range. If a chapter loses its status as a not-for-profit, they can no longer be a chapter of the BMW CCA. Obviously, we are trying to prevent this. Temporary memberships are not viewed favorably by the IRS. Think about this! For less than the price of a tank of gas, you can insure your access to all of the benefits of BMW CCA membership, including a subscription to the Roundel as well as access to those rolling wheels events that you are interested in.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions.
Paul Dunlevy BMW CCA SA RVP
1999 ///M3 | 2006 Evo MR #7 STU
As a finance professional who knows the specific tax codes in question, I call BS on that response. If there are tax implications, it's because the organization was not properly established in the first place thinking through all the scenarios.
And if you don't believe me, most not-for-profits actually run with the aim of generating a small profit and holding it as retained earnings. The actual revenue stream is rarely in question in these scenarios. I think there's more to this that they are not saying ...
SMH
I don't mind paying what is essentially $18 to become a member, but I am a little confused about some things. If I become a member, that means I get one event for free. If I sign up for the season pass I also get one event for free. If I do both, do I somehow get two events for free? I was also the X3 champion last year and haven't heard anything about winners getting discounts for 2012, are there any?
---------------2009 XS 2nd place, 2010 X3 3rd place, 2011 X3 Champion---------------
--------------------5-speed, Full DE-K Swap, 205 whp 199 wtq SAE----------------------
-----------------Enkei RPM2-235/45/17 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 & A/S+-----------------
We, unfortunately, can't extend the trophy winner discount this year.
Please see your PMs. Thanks!
Last edited by mcoupemindy; 02-08-2012 at 03:02 PM.
They should get rid of Roundel and knock $10 a year off the membership. If people want a glossy mag, let them buy subscriptions to it. It's a pretty boring magazine anyhow and any info in it can be found on the web or in other magazines, really. My 4-year old daughter loves reading Grassroots Motorsports, but thinks the Roundel (and the similar glossy tha Subaru sends me) are boring, haha...
Then again, she just wants to find the Miatas in GRM....
Dealer discount is nice, but there are a dozen places online where you can get OEM parts for less than the CCA discount at the local dealers (who jack the prices like crazy). I spent all winter building an e30 and bought almost nothing from the dealer, since the prices with the CCA discount still weren't competitive, generally. And they never seem to have parts for old BMWs in stock anyhow.
Perhaps they should just offer a "BMWCCA Motorsports Membership" for half the price of a regular membership - because most of those X class drivers have no need for the "extras" that come with CCA membership. And as noted above, alot of events were like 50% non-BMWs. I got several buddies to come to NCC events last year as walk-ups - they definitely won't come if membership is needed, regardless of a free event or not, since many of them just came to 1 or 2 events anyhow.
Last edited by irish44j; 03-15-2012 at 10:18 PM.
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