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[SCA] ok, now what?
SCA Inc. charges a $3 tax per event for people who attend but are not members of the corporation. I find this offensive because SCA Inc. does not bear the cost of putting on events; the local groups do. (So it's not like the higher admission fee you pay a museum if you don't belong.) There are some small benefits that the corporation provides to the hosting group, such as access to insurance, but the last time I ran the numbers this amounted to about $2/person/year. So, the tax is somewhere between price gouging (if you believe they have the right to assess a fee) and thuggery (if you don't).
I don't go to a lot of events these days; my local group doesn't hold very many and I don't travel for them. And I don't really want to be on the membership rolls of this corporation, so thus far I have been paying the fee. The presence of the fee does influence my decision to attend an event; if I'm waffling that can push me. (There is an "out" that is available to local groups, so charging the fee represents a decision on the part of the hosting group. A surprising number of local-group officers feel it is their moral obligation to charge this fee. To each his own. [Edit: I am speaking generally here, not about one group.]) It's not the $3; it's the principle.
The corporation announced today that this fee will be rising to $5 per event.
My goal is to minimize the money the corporation gets from me while enjoying marginal participation in events. (This is not identical to maximizing money in my pocket because of the Pennsic non-member tax. Some of that money -- I've sent email asking how much -- goes to Pennsic, not to the corporation. I am willing to pay a higher price to Pennsic.) An associate membership costs $20, so now I have to figure out how many fee-charging events I am likely to go to in a year. Working against this analysis is the temptation to just say "screw it" except for Pennsic and free local events. I've been drifting away from the SCA (Pennsic is different; that's family vacation), and I wonder how much I care any more.
No decisions, just thoughts.
I don't go to a lot of events these days; my local group doesn't hold very many and I don't travel for them. And I don't really want to be on the membership rolls of this corporation, so thus far I have been paying the fee. The presence of the fee does influence my decision to attend an event; if I'm waffling that can push me. (There is an "out" that is available to local groups, so charging the fee represents a decision on the part of the hosting group. A surprising number of local-group officers feel it is their moral obligation to charge this fee. To each his own. [Edit: I am speaking generally here, not about one group.]) It's not the $3; it's the principle.
The corporation announced today that this fee will be rising to $5 per event.
My goal is to minimize the money the corporation gets from me while enjoying marginal participation in events. (This is not identical to maximizing money in my pocket because of the Pennsic non-member tax. Some of that money -- I've sent email asking how much -- goes to Pennsic, not to the corporation. I am willing to pay a higher price to Pennsic.) An associate membership costs $20, so now I have to figure out how many fee-charging events I am likely to go to in a year. Working against this analysis is the temptation to just say "screw it" except for Pennsic and free local events. I've been drifting away from the SCA (Pennsic is different; that's family vacation), and I wonder how much I care any more.
No decisions, just thoughts.
no subject
What does the trend line look like? I haven't been tracking it, but last year we had 12th night, a Japanese event, and Agincourt -- was there more? This year we have 12th night, a Japanese event, and Crown. And war practice from our canton every year, of course.
I suppose there have been a few other things that were listed as events that have a different feel to me. A Friday-night gathering at a restaurant may be called a canton 12th night but to me doesn't feel like an event. Same as a fighting-only gathering running from roughly noon to 6 with no feast (the spear tourneys we had a few years ago). The Pennsic reception fits in here. They're great gatherings, but I don't think of them in the same way as all-day multi-function cross-cutting events.
It makes sense for an exchequer to count the Pennsic receptions, of course, but I am talking here about stand-alone events. A Pennsic reception is different; I'm already at the event (or if I'm not, going to the reception isn't possible).
"Moral obligation": we have had a failure to communicate. I was speaking across the board; if I had meant my own group I would have said so. On re-reading I can see how you got there and I apologize. As you point out, our barony does much better in this regard than surrounding groups. I have heard officers of other groups in AEthelmearc assert that it is wrong to hold free events and let those "freeloaders" come. One of those groups is within easy driving range (so I notice their events more) and to my knowledge has never held a free event, so it's probably not just one officer shooting his mouth off.
Our barony, in contrast, has held a lot of free events, and I count this as a credit to the group. It took some doing to overcome the resistance a few years ago, but I think we have.
(A tiny suggestion: we have had free events where there was no donations jar. We should always have a donations jar; it's weird to be in the position of trying to make a donation and being unable to. :-) )