tractor club issues

Sparktrician · Mar 1, 2013

I am the president of a tractor club. I will leave out which one / where for now.....I don't think it is important for now. Looking to raise money, one idea has been to sell lifetime membeships to the club. We would limit this to 10 memberships @ $150.00 each. We operate by Roberts rules of order. Question is has anyone else done this, and how did it work out for your club. Thanks.

David G · Mar 1, 2013

Clubs are like families, always hard to keep people feeling it is fair.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 1, 2013

You could have a chili supper night, or friede catfish night. All labor and food prepared by club members and their families, with the proceeds going to the tractor club. This is what the voluntar fire dept does. Tom

casecollectorsc · Mar 1, 2013

Might be surprising, but I'm finding churches can be that way also.

Sparktrician · Mar 1, 2013

Plans are being made for a chicken dinner this spring. Looking at the lifetime membership idea as another quick way to get cash.

REDPOCADOT · Mar 1, 2013

i am 2 tractor clubs and i am a Rotarian we do a lot of cooking to me the volunteers are always the same ones doing all the work not that i mind because i like what i do but do not like to here others complain about the clubs not having enough money we have a bbq to raise money it works if you have the people and equipment to work with

da.bees · Mar 1, 2013

Before I bought a lifetime membership,I would ask how long the club has been continuesly active and with how many members. Point being,what the odds are of me holding a lifetime membership to a club of 1 in 6 or 8 years down the road. Secound question,why club was needing "quick cash"? Could it have anything to do with officers being poor money managers? With peace at mind on those and a few lesser issues,I think having a few lifetime members could be good for the club but not my first choice for fund raising.

Old Bob · Mar 1, 2013

One of our members in our tractor club has this outlook on our club: 90% of the work is done by 10% of the members. I totally agree with him.

Sparktrician · Mar 1, 2013

This club has been around since the early eighties. Last year
was the 30th show. This has nothing to do with current
officers / directors. This issue has been coming for a long
time. This is my first year as president. I ha e served as a
director for two years prior. The statement of 10% do 90% of
the work is spot on. We had a past president that wanted it
that way though.....that is where the problems started.

ss55 · Mar 1, 2013

Raffles and auctions of donated items can raise a lot of cash. Attend a Ducks Unlimited or Pheasants Forever winter fund raiser to see what I mean, it is amazing. They price raffle tickets between 2 to 5 percent of the price of the item and often take in several times the new selling price of the donated item.

I would not sell lifetime memberships too cheaply, it hurt your club's future revenues. Price a lifetime membership so that it will be at least the same cost as paying annually for the next 10 years. If you allow that memberships will increase in price several times over the next ten years you could realistically price a lifetime membership at 15 times the current membership costs. Many gun club price their lifetime memberships at 20 times an annual membership and over 1/3 of their members are lifetime members.

Reading between the lines, if your current memberships only cost $10 or $15 per year I would increase that to somewhere between $25 and $50 per year or more, then offer lifetime memberships. Worst case, the suggestion of higher membership costs should more discussion for alternate fund raisers.

David G · Mar 1, 2013

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 1, 2013

Selling lifetime memberships is a good way to get some money in the kitty of a club just starting out. But if yours is 30 years old I would not go that route. If you are not secure by now it's because your members are not paying enough dues to sustain the club. You either need to charge more or cut expenses. Does your club have a budget? You need to be taking in as much as you spend or it won't work.

Ted in NE-OH · Mar 1, 2013

The club that I am a member of charges $500 for lifetime membership.

armand tatro · Mar 1, 2013

A couple of extra ideas would be to sell caps and t-shirts with club logos and opituonal club members pictures of their tractors or equipment on them. We also sell calanders with pictures of club members equipment on them. Set up a flea market and sell stall space? Armand

huntingreen2day · Mar 1, 2013

Currently serving as the 5th year as club president of a 12 year old club. Me personally I would never buy a lifetime membership unless there is a huge savings. We make money on our show, pay $25 annual dues and in some cases pass the hat if we are needing money for a small project.

Sparktrician · Mar 1, 2013

We are making a budget this year. I had tried for the last two years as a director to get one together, but couldnt get support to do it / finalize it / follow it. Now that I am president, we WILL be completing one. We are not dead flat broke.....but rather low on cash......looking for another source of quick cash. This can be made to work.......just got to make it happen. The club has not really "tried" to progress for a long time. Years ago it was thriving and had great cash reserves. To many years of coasting on the coatails of days go.e by have brought us to where we are now.

Dalet · Mar 1, 2013

If you are the president, the next ten get lifetime memberships. Don't die in office.
That will make people strive to help out.

WV2CYL · Mar 1, 2013

I have been a member of various organizations and clubs and have found, as you stated,10% of members do 90% 0f the work.
I have also found that 10% of the members spend 90% of the money, but never the same 10%. It generally means 20% of the group are active.

bobs old iron · Mar 1, 2013

one club i'm in, has it that after a certain year of age, you become a free life time member,,the club don't have early lifetime membership dues/program, so if a person doesn't want to stay, would want some type of refund..it easier just to pay yearly dues, so no one complains about any one person/place/thing about the club..so it doesn't matter if you were a officer or not, no one says favoritism,,,being an officer just show that you enjoy the club that much more,with members, [wanting to help with more activies, shows, etc], that the lazy and complaining ones don't do..

Spook · Mar 1, 2013

What's more, if look at the guys in my lodge, you see the same guys working at the legion, or the elks, and on sunday, the same guys are helping at church.

showcrop · Mar 1, 2013

(quoted from post at 15:51:43 03/01/13) Might be surprising, but I'm finding churches can be that way also.

Why would you say that it is surprising? Everyone knows that there are plenty of people that look for an opportunity to knock a church as if they know some deep dark secret or something.

armand tatro · Mar 1, 2013

Speaking of drawings we also have a 50/50 drawing at our monthly meetings with the club keeping half and the winner getting half. Most times the winner donates his half back to the club. Armand

johndeerefan · Mar 4, 2013

Our club has a couple of fundraising events that go very well. We sell raffle tickets throughout the year on a pedal tractor that matches our feature tractor that year. We also raffle off a gun (very good $$ in this). This year we have a Farmall H pedal tractor and a Ruger 9mm pistol.

I agree with 10% do the work, not to mention only 10% show up at the monthly meetings. Others complain when we don't have a banquet or something, but then when we do it is the same ole members that attend. I never understood why anyone would join a club, but not be somewhat active in it, but then they sit around and complain because we don't have other events at the show. It takes active members to run a show. 3-5 members can only do so much.

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