[AlpacaTalk] AOBA issues
Hi everyone.
As you all know very well, I speak up about things when I see a
problem. "Complaining" is a first step in solving a problem (not the
only way, but speaking up and spreading the word id vital). Sometimes,
the airing of complaints and un-ease makes others upset and angry.
Conversely, being stifled and shouted down makes people upset and
angry.
After my initial airing of concerns recently, I did actually put on my
thinking cap to come up with ideas to improve AOBA. I had the great
idea (copied almost directly from another livestock org's fee
structure) of changing the dues structure to make membership more
accessible to more breeders. And I forwarded this idea to the AOBA
BOD. I was blown off by two board members, and this morning received a
phone call from David Barboza.
In a nutshell, I don't see this idea or anything like ti being
implemented any time soon. AOBA BOD sees our membership dues as a
significant income stream. I let Mr. Barboza know that many smaller
breeders are not comfortable with that. In fact, we resent it. I let
him know that most of us do not see any benefits of our membership,
with the exception of opportunities to spend more money. He mentioned
that attendance at the mid-winter conference is free! Woo! We
appreciate that, I said, but for most of us, it's just not possible for
us to take advantage of the opportunity to attend. We just don't have
the money for airfare, hotel, to pay help to take care of our animals
while we're gone, take time off work... We spoke for an hour, I think,
and he just doesn't get that most of us don't have the money. We CAN'T
take advantage of these "opportunities.
like more money we're expected to spend, and it's money that isn't
there.
So my request to everyone is to try to think of ways to make AOBA work
for all of us, not just those who can afford 10 full page ads in each
issue of AM (at over $1000 per page!). AOBA really is OUR organization,
it's up to us to make it better and these opportunities more
accessible. I suggested that these ads should also be on a sliding
scale fee tier. Right now, I still couldn't afford an ad, but if it
were more affordable, maybe next year...
So that is my thought of the day. Let's all try to come up with some
good ideas, and send them to the board.
Here are their email addresses:
hhf@hobbyhorsefarm.
jess@acresoflove.
fivestaralpacas@
alpacaconsult@
mail@ranchonc.
info@incafashions.
Regarding my sliding scale membership fees, he did say that most
breeders are in the 1-25 head group. Ok, so maybe the fee tier could go
like this:
1-25 head - $50
26-50 head - $100
51-100 head - $500
100-250 head - $1000
250-500 head - $2500
500-1000 head - $5000
1000+ - $10,000
I think a progressive structure for all "services" and "opportunities"
should be implemented to make them really feasible for those of who are
marginalized at this time.
I'm sure there are other ways we can make AOBA work for us, and there
have got to be other ways for AOBA to raise funds, rather than from the
membership's pockets.
Heather
Heather Zeleny
White Lotus Alpacas
Creswell, OR
541.895.0964
Holistic Farm and Elite Fleece
http://www.whitelot
http://tech.
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posted by Chaddo at 1:18 PM
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