college club/team funding pt. 2

[emagdnim]

Alright, for starters I was voted captain of a very young fencing club at a large state school and we charged $50 per semester. That did a pretty good job of getting our club off the ground; besides from one or two exceptions from especially crowded practices we've gotten everyone geared up sufficiently.

This year I've been voted president and captain of my little group. Immediately I ran into this dilemma: $100 a year is a bit pricey for those that simply want to try out the sport and tell people they've learned how to fence. But on the other hand $100 is not nearly enough to get us scoring boxes, bring in coaches on a regular basis, or travel to competitions for the more serious members of the club that truly love to fence and want to compete as a team.

I came up with a solution that I want to know if you guys and gals think would possibly work. I could have a sort of standard fencing dues package for those that simply want to learn some dry foil and a more expensive deluxe package for those that really love to fence. That way those that don't use the extra resources don't have to pay for them and those that do want those resources would have them available.

Does this sound do able?

thank you for your time mighty all knowing ones

[noodle]

give new fencers a trial period, for like a few weeks tops before they're required to pay dues. make them pay dues in full, regardless of what they want to do. imo, collegiate club dues go to the maintenance and upkeep of the very basic fencing equipment that ANYONE, whether cometitive or not, will require. in addition, the approximately $15 a month that $50/semester comes out to be is a rediculous bargain when compared to any non-collegiate fencing club. if there's problems still with them coughing up the money, compare the dues to any other major club in your university. i bet that you're on the cheaper side of the non-academic-related ones.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I agree. As I've talked about at length in the other thread (you really didn't have to start a new thread for this, btw), we do charge enough money to be able to do things. We're just somewhat sensible as to how we expect it.

We don't tell new fencers until a month in unless they ask. We also do specify that people should feel comfortable paying per semester, since we have a significant number of people who go abroad for only one semester, and a bunch of people who feel more comfortable making a one semester committment.

We usually don't let people fence in the first big tournament of the year without either having paid the semester's dues, or having had a conversation with the treasurer about when that would happen.