Tuesday 10 February 2009

IMCA website is now self funding

I am please to report that the web banner advertising on the IMCA website www.moth-sailing.org now pays for the hosting of the site. This means the site is no longer a drain on IMCA funds which is great because the IMCA does not really have any funds.

Thanks to the companies who have taken part in this scheme for their support of the IMCA. If there are other Moth related companies out there that would like to advertise then please contact me for details of the scheme.

It is a shame that not more Moth sailors support the IMCA by joining the class association...

5 comments:

Joe Bousquet said...

Good news about the self funding. What might we do to encourage increased membership? Perhaps a listing of membership numbers by country might prompt others to join?

Simon Payne said...

Well done Doug! You've done so much for the class. Thank you
Si

Doug Culnane said...

Thanks guys.

Joe that is an interesting question. Each official IMCA country is responsible organising their membership. This decentralization is part of the IMCA constitution and also a good idea in my opinion. Each country is responsible for reporting their membership numbers to the international secretary and paying the per member fee.

Some countries do a great job of managing their membership and others are more relaxed. I have tried to provide a central facility for this management but it is up to the committee of each country to use it, or use their own system. None do and it is only direct members that have to use it. There are no confirmed direct members at the moment (I am not even a member but joined this week, I promise.)

To sail in an IMCA event you need to be a member of the association. This is relaxed but if you come second and you want to win then if the winner is not a paid up member you are within your right to claim your prize. We are not the kind of class that behaves like this but at the same time there are new IMCA countries that are putting together events that will need cash and they look to the IMCA for help.

I do not want to be the bad guy and police this but at the same time if someone organises an event and that involves costs then there is a danger it will have to come out of their wallet, and they better hope they get this cash back.

I do not know how you can police this and give a positive benefit of membership so that each country is able to manage its finances without personal volunteer cash.

The expectations of what the class provide are increasing but without membership support I am not sure how these expectations will be meet.

So in answer to your question: I do not know.

Emo said...

Kudos to your webmastering skillz Doug. Anything that allows the assocation to both get more people interested, and yet cost the association nothing can only be a good thing.

I've decided to shuffle my old blog (hepialidae.blogspot.com) free from this mortal coil, but there's a new one to replace it (notanothermothblog.blogspot.com). Can you pls switch those details on the site for me?

Cheers
Jon

Felix Schulte said...

That is awesome. I think any cash is a good thing. We should try to get as much as possible to put it back into our class.
Anyway, great Job Doug!!!