No surprise: ARRL to raise dues BY DAN KB6NU

I wrote back in May about the ARRL’s plan to raise dues. Well, three days ago, members received an email from president Rick Roderick, K5UR, informing us that the board has voted to increase the dues and by how much. Here are some excerpts from that message:

• “I’m writing to let you know that they made the tough, but necessary, decision to increase the regular membership dues rate to $59 a year starting January 1, 2024 (see 2024 Dues Rates). Additionally, we have chosen to separate the printed, mailed magazine from regular membership.” This last sentence is the kicker. Starting in January, there is going to be an additional $25 charge if you want print versions of QST or On the Air magazines. And, this charge will apply, even if you are a current member.
• “We know from the survey results that most of you will find the new rate reasonable, or even ask why we didn’t set it higher.” The new rate may be reasonable, but seriously, how many are going to ask for an even higher dues increase? Get real, Rick.
• In justifying the dues increase, K5UR writes,“There is no other organization that is working harder to advance a vision that allows any citizen to explore, develop, and practice radio communications and radio technology [his bold, not mine].” I think that you could make a casethat ARDC is working just as hard as the ARRL, and not only that, has the potential to be an even better advocate for amateur radio.

As I wrote earlier, I have no problem with a dues increase, but I’d feel a lot better about it, if I thought that the ARRL had a strategy for increasing membership. Yesterday, KY4ID, started a Reddit post on the dues increase. It included this graph from the 2022 ARRL Annual Report:

Keep in mind that this drop in membership is still a holdover from the last dues increase. I can only imagine how much membership will drop after this new dues increase kicks in.

Anyone got any new ideas?

As I’ve said, I’m not that concerned about the dues increase personally, but what really worries me is that there doesn’t really seem to be any original thinking at the ARRL about how to actually increase membership. I know this isn’t an easy problem to solve, but having a strong membership is the key to all of the ARRL activities. The ARRL would have a lot more influence if they could boast of having 200,000 or 300,000 members.

There are smart people on the ARRL board and on staff. They need to make this their top priority.

The Reddit post had a few interesting ideas on how to increase membership. ItsBail, one of the subreddit moderators wrote, “I feel the ARRL needs to stop putting all their eggs in the boomer basket. They need to spread out into other STEM related hobbies and plant seeds. Put their social media accounts to good use (National Parks twitter is a good example of using social media to their advantage). Update their very much antiquated website and VEC dept. Stop focusing on the so called ‘haters’ for making suggestions or dismissing them as just complainers.”

Stargazer12am had another interesting take. They wrote, “Personally, I’d like to see people opt out of the mailing portion and invest the difference into their local club. Even if not a member of local clubs, the sponsorship approach (if done on a grand scale) would generate more interest and involvement in the art of amateur radio. ARRL membership would probably wouldn’t take as much of a hit in the long run if we do our part to help locally stir interest and promote a community of hams.”

I retired recently, and one of my retirement projects is going to research association membership issues and see if I can’t contribute some new ideas on how to combat membership decline. As I’ve mentioned before, I am also a member of the local Rotary Club, and Rotary Clubs have also seen similar membership declines. There must be something that we can do.