<CORSA Chapters> Membership, dues and such

[aeroned at aol.com]

I'll start out saying that I support the notion that all CORSA chapter members should be required to be members of CORSA. There are many reasons I feel this way. CORSA provides the local chapter with insurance for their activities. Granted, there may not be many, if any, claims on this insurance over the years, but it is still there. Let's say a non-CORSA member were to file a claim against this insurance because of something that happened at a local activity, is that fair? What if a chapter had just a handful of CORSA members, should they still be considered a CORSA chapter?

Now that I've said that, I'll also tell you that my local chapter does not require CORSA membership. This goes to the fact that "it's always been that way." I figure that Corvair owners are just too independent. I don't limit my interaction with the non CORSA members, that is just too silly. I use every opportunity to point out interesting articles in the Communique or how much fun CORSA events are in an effort to get others interested in joining. It has worked for some, but not all, but I'm still trying.

The other chapter that I'm involved in is the Performance Corvair Group. This chapter does require CORSA membership. That is because there are no dues and the only way we can do that is to be exempt from the non 100% CORSA membership fee. While I'm on that subject, I think that fee should be based on the percentage of chapter membership in CORSA, not a flat fee and definitely not $20. That's just not enough to cover what CORSA does provide to non members. I know there are chapters that have come up with many ways to get around paying the $20. There's just no good way to get around the ways to cheat and that's just unfortunate.

Finally, there are other clubs that require membership in both national and local clubs and they have plenty of members. Our chapter covers most of the state of Kansas. We have members that faithfully send in their dues every year and I have yet to see them at any club event in the 8 years I've been a member. I'm not as sure that CORSA will be around in 10 or 15 years if the financial number don't turn around. I also doubt that CORSA would survive with annual dues?above $50 or so. Something is going to have to change. Just because "it's always been that way" doesn't mean it's still the best way.

Sorry for rambling so much,
Ned