Southern Nye County (NV) ARES is an ARES organization which is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt club which charges its members no dues. For the past several years we have supported ourselves quite well with donations from the community. However, with the bad economy, our donations have dried up completely, and our bank account balance is getting very low. Some members have suggested that we charge members dues. However, the ARRL states that we cannot charge for ARES membership. We are trying to come up with an alternative organization which allows us to charge dues but still comply with the no-dues rule of the ARRL. One thought was to have dual membership: (1) non-dues ARES member only, with no vote in club affairs; and (2) full club membership. Does anyone have any other suggestions? How have you handled this problem?
If the no dues thing is a League requirement, maybe they would make a nice donation. TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
I guess I don't understand what you need money for. I was an assistant EC for years and we had no need for donations. Maybe you are doing more than that which is the intent and purpose of ARES. Our county eventually decided that the ARRL's rules were impeding our em-comm effort and like many, broke away from the ARRL and became a separate, county oriented entity. The new name is 'Muskegon County Emergency Communications Service' and has only our county to answer to. I saw absolutely no detriment to the group when they cut loose from the ARRL, so I am not even sure what the benefit was. If you look at the ARRL's rules, 'anyone with a license' can be in ARES. We had to kick out a couple people for some rather serious errors in their ways and found out it was contrary to the ARRL's rules to do so. There were other parts of the fine print that didn't fly here as well. For instance the ARRL says that anything related to ARES, including local records, are property of the ARRL. I think splitting from the ARRL was a good move. At least that's how it worked out here, anyway.
We need money for radio equipment and liability insurance. We put up and maintain a number of repeaters.
Thus a need for ARRL membership if you wanted to take advantage of the ARRL group insurance. But there are other insurance companies that can insure you.
