At a quick glance, it appears your selection is more in tune with what happens when some 501 (c) (3) unit is basically in the publishing business.

It is already satisfied that the magazine "Model Aviation" comes under the description of an "Unrelated Business". This is NOT new. It only means that advertising profits are taxable. So what? If MA makes an annual profit of -- just say -- $200,000.00 and pays tax of $80,000, then the pocket has $120,000 in it. Is that not better than the current million $$ deficit that YOU pay for?
AMA has in its hands a potential income producer yet it ignores that and gets into the video business. AMA has no concern that there now exists a vehicle to go outside the box and pursue memberships that have no clue of the existence of AMA. History has displayed that AMA uses the magazine for ONE thing and one thing only and that is to maintain employment opportunities for selected "friends of the family."

Now here comes an admittance: For the past few months I have been busy building 5 new airplanes including a .40 trainer that I use to instruct newbies, some not yet able to buy their own. I have NOT done much research yet I HAVE IN MY POSSESSION THE ENTIRE IRC COMPLETE THROUGH ALL UPDATES OF 2004. Since I have not studied as much as I should have, any thing I say may well not be the last word, but in an overview, the original pre-1984 501 (c) (3)requirements have been totally revised by tax reform of '84 '86, and the 2001 changes which have almost completely changed the requirements for tax exempt status. The major things now seem to be race-related and the leaning to overpaid executives.

At one time I was pretty well up on taxes, especially corporate. However in '96 my life became much more simple and I have slacked off considerably. I was one of the first to use IRA moneys for real estate investments. It was difficult some years ago because IRA trustees did not understand such. Of course, now, real estate in the IRA portfolio it is a common thing.

Enough rambling, however in my not-so-humble opinion, any AMA Chief Financial Officer (EVP) that allows such potential as an income producing non-related business as Model Aviation to continue to drain the treasury rather than enrich such treasury, is far amiss reference a corporate officer's primary fiduciary duty of protecting the corporate assets. As long as the taxes are properly computed and paid, and no certain group, such as "Directors", gains immensely from moneys that would otherwise be taxable profits, the parent organization should have little fear of losing its exempt status.

Of course the in-crowd would much prefer if you were not aware of such.