Dear Patrick and Eastern Canada Chapter Committee Members,
I appreciate your genuine concerns for the well-being and future growth of the Association, and recognize your questions are valid. I will try my best to address them below.
First of all, the membership due structure was one of the several operations issues that was discussed by the Executive Committee over the past year in more than one occasion, which culminated in a resolution duly adopted by the Committee in a regular meeting on July 21, 2002 after careful deliberation and due consideration of the opposing views presented by the Executive Committee members. Please rest assured that the deliberation was undertaken with the utmost of care and diligence, and the bases for the conclusion were the same as that which underlie your questions - the overall long-term interest of the Association and its members.
At the 2002 Reunion, I announced the decision of the Executive Committee vis--a-vis the membership due structure change. Regrettably, I neglect to take a formal poll of the members at that time. However, based on the immediate and positive response to my announcement at the meeting from the members by way of on-site payment of the US$25 membership due to the Treasurer, I mistakenly interpreted that as the proxy to the change. After the meeting, the Vice President and I authorized the Secretary to the Executive Committee to post the decision on the website. In retrospect, that was my mistake and mine alone. And I do take full responsibility for committing the procedural error, for which I offer my sincere apology to all members and regional Committees.
For the interim period between now and the next General Members Meeting in 2003, the membership due structure shall remain as I announced in the 2002 Reunion. I welcome any suggestions regarding the membership due structure from all regional Committees for consideration and determination in the 2003 meeting.
Bases for Conclusion -
Contrary to the misconception that the change of membership due structure is akin to the killing of a chicken for its eggs, the main impetus for abolishing the annual due (and elevating all members to a permanent member status) is to promote unity and equality among members, and to emphasize the permanency of the Association. The two-tier membership structure - permanent vs. general (or annual) - was carefully constructed by our founding Executive Committee members at the inception of the Association. Undoubtedly, the election of such structure had many merits, one of which was a financial enticement to stimulate enrollment in the early years of the Association.
However, after five consecutive years of growth, the Association and its membership have become mature and established. The value of the two-tier membership structure clearly needs to be re-examined. Unlike other alumni associations whose alma maters provide uninterrupted source of new members; ours does not exist anymore albeit Tai Tung shall always live in our hearts. This alone is a very compelling reason for us to embrace all alumni and, as our teacher Mr. Jing Wun Liang very wisely reminded us early on, to welcome them to "re-join the Tai Tung family". Once an alumnus has made a commitment to join the Association, he/she is a member for life. We should not look to whether he/she pays the annual due for the year. Furthermore, a two-tier membership structure, as our teacher Mr. Simon Wong also astutely observed and cautioned us, could create an impression, or misconception, that there are two different classes of alumni.
On a more practical term, the restructuring of membership due will not threaten the future of the Association, at least not financially. Believe me, we are not out to kill the chicken for the eggs.
Here is the economics of it:
According to the latest count, there are 759 alumni listed on the Alumni Directory. Among them, 218 are Permanent Members, 247 are General (or Annual) Members and the rest are non-members. Of the 247 General Members, 135 reside in Canada, 108 in the US and 4 in other countries. A simple calculation will show us that the maximum net proceeds from the 247 General Members, after taken into account the currency exchange differences, bank charges for processing foreign checks, and postage for mailing out receipts, is approximately US$1,330. I would hardly consider $1,330 worthy of killing the chicken; would you? Beside, $1,330 is not even enough to cover the recent mailing of the Alumni Directory and the Tai Tung Journal. So, where is source of the future funding for the Association coming from? As you well know from having hosted the 2002 Reunion and Patrick being the former Vice President of the Association, the major source of funding comes from alumni contributions and the residuals from the annual reunions proceeds. So you see, the payment of membership due when one joins the Association is now more of a symbolic gesture of commitment, although not an unimportant one, as opposed to a financial vehicle to sustain the Association's operations.
"Keep going to collect membership fee is another way to keep contact or communicate our members." Quite frankly, I would not consider collection notice, however friendly it may be, a viable way to keep contact with members. The way to stay in touch with the alumni (notice I did not say just members) is to serve them, and to promote the interaction among alumni on a local/regional basis. If we succeed in doing that, they will gladly contribute. Don't worry.
The main mission of the Association is to serve the alumni, to promote camaraderie and mutual help among alumni, and to share our friendship with one another.... That is the Constitution of the Association. The specification of the membership dues is more of an economic necessity in order to ensure financial support at the inception of the Association. When viewed with the spirit of the mission of the Association, the initial specification of the membership dues is meant to be just the starting point. As with other operating issues or administrative affairs of the Association, the adjustment of membership due or the structure thereof is well within the authority of the Executive Committee.
I hope I have addressed all your concerns and clarified all the confusions. Let's move on and work together for the common interest of the Association and the alumni. I want to take this opportunity to thank Patrick for being a selfless leader of the Canada East Chapter, and the members of the Canada East Chapter for being vigilant and dedicated to the interest the alumni.
北美校友會會長 李振文