Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
As for a refund, can the AMA afford NOT to do that. Of course there are different perspectives to any situation, yours just lacks vision.
The intent of the event was to build and maintain good relations with the new neighborhood to our west. As neighborhoods spring up close to flying fields there is always a danger of loosing that site. As expressed earlier this club generates $11,050 in membership dues plus charter fees and several sanctioned event fees each year. The $900 AMA contribution helps safeguard the field that generates revenue in the 12K range for the AMA. Some would call that “ pretty smart “.
Lessening the "danger of loosing" (sic) your field is important due to encroachment (commonly used term when discussing in relation to airports). And that $900 spend vs. $11k in dues makes sense through the soda straw of that single data point. But single data points don't define a trend. And AMA's total revenue and membership revenue trends are unmistakably downward despite isolated examples like yours. Bottom line, is that it's $450 per new member if viewed as an acquisition cost. As for how many members it save? Unknown. How much it lessened the impact and/or desire of neighbors to shut down the field? Also unknown. Probably can't hurt, but that's not a guarantee either. Only time will tell.
But once again, big picture, the AMA's trends are not good, and a hundred events like yours probably aren't going to change that. They haven't in the years prior to this, and thus likely won't in the future either.