National Director Update – Sep/Oct 2023

National Director’s Report - Gillette WY,  August 23-26, 2023

 

The new National Officers elected to serve for the next two years are:

·           President:  Gary Milner  F409834

·           SR Vice President:  Paul G Mitchell  F165576

·           Secretary:  Pamela A Richard  F455687

·           Treasurer:  Barbara Smith  F329936

The Convention Committee reported that the 108th International convention will be held Tucson AZ, March 20-23, 2024, and that the 109th is recommended to be held in Redmond Oregon the Summer of 2025.

There were only 800 Family Coaches in attendance at the Gillette convention. That was 100 less than last year’s summer convention. By comparison, the writer has attended conventions with over 5000 Family Coaches in attendance. During those years, FMCA membership exceeded 100,000, and this year it is right at 70,000. Without the recent change to allow towable RVs, that membership would now be about 63000.

 

At this point, it is appropriate to review the Long-Range Planning Committee’s report. It is too lengthy to go into detail, but the key points are:

 

Changing demographics require FMCA to change their policies and thinking. The average age of our existing membership is 71 years. They are by and large a more affluent group. They have leisure time and money to travel longer distances. The future target group should be ages 55 to 65. Their interests are different from our existing membership. They use their RV’s in support of hobbies rather than long distance to events such as our rallies and conventions. There is much room to grow FMCA as FMCA membership comprises only .69% [point-69%] of existing RV owners, the vast majority of which are towables. To survive and grow, FMCA must attract this demographic. 

 

There were 7 bylaws discussed. The first 6 were housekeeping in nature. The 7th added a new class of membership, called Pathfinder. These are people interested and shopping for an RV. Such a membership could last a maximum of 5 years. Dues and benefits will be the same as the Associate membership, except their magazine will be digital only. Their sequenced membership numbers will begin with a P instead of F.

 

The Government Affairs report was too long to review here, but anyone who desires a copy can contact the writer at aandedfisher@gmail.com and a copy will be forwarded to you via email. The DEF sensor problem was discussed briefly in that report.

 

The Treasurer’s report was not too rosy. Income was down from the following:

·           Membership dues, magazine income, Tech Connect+.

·           Conventions had loses due to reduced attendance. 

The issue of Tech Connect that raised its ugly head last year is not fully resolved, so that is an unknown in this year’s budget. The issue was that Tech Connect was so successful, and it was carried in the nonprofit side of the ledger, that FMCA was in danger of losing their nonprofit status with the IRS. This issue must be resolved, and the association is studying the least expensive way to resolve it. The end result must be that Tech Connect must be transferred to the profit side of the ledger. Anyone wishing a copy of the final financial report can email me for a copy. 

 

Hope we have better news next year, and that the Long-Range Planning Committee can guide to the growth we had in past years.

 

 

Ed Fisher, National Director

FMCA Dogwood Chapter