[Moderate Discussion]

Porco Rosso

[Moderate Discussion]

Kaze Tachinu

[Moderate Discussion]

Castle in the Sky

[Moderate Discussion]

Every core aspect of club comes free

Just to expand on that last point, here's how I understand the financial breakdown of this year's club expenses.

 

Money raised:

     Dues: $170

     Art sale: $230

     Total: $400

Expenses necessary for the primary functioning of club:

     Facilities: $0

     Maintaining equipment: $0

     Downloading shows: $0

     Advertising: $0

     Reserving rooms for parties: $0

     Food for parties: $0

     Games/shows for specialty nights: $0

     Total: $0

Expenses related to accessory (unnecessary) use:

     Prizes for parties/specialty nights: $30-$40 (estimate)

     Pinata: $30 (anticipated)

     Gas for Anime St. Louis: $230

     Total: $290-$300

 

Please correct any of my numbers that are wrong; however, I stand by my categorizations of what is or is not necessary. The primary concern of Anime Club is to build community by providing interesting people a place to gather and to show anime which we all enjoy. While hosting parties and specialty nights fits this mission, prizes for contests are not necessary to enjoy those events. I enjoy the pinata, but club could function happily without it. As for the gas, I understand that this was the first year going to convention and some things still need to be worked out. I simply am trying to illustrate that we do not need a continuous source of income because the best things about club are free.

[Moderate Discussion]

I think we are coming down to a false dilemma. Either we get rid of dues and depend entirely on an “art sale” or we keep dues and supplement anything needed with an art sale. Or we could, you know, eliminate art sale, keep on doing a bake sale, lower dues, or a whole plethora of options. Saying that this is an debate on dues/no dues is kind of misleading.

A debate between dues/no dues is exactly what this is. The art sale isn't the point. Any type of fundraiser could suffice, as long as we have an actual need for the money we raise.

The point is whether or not we need club dues as part of the necessary functioning of club activities, such as weekly meetings and parties. Since facilities are provided free of charge by the university and because expenses related to the actual episodes we show are basically nonexistent, there seems to be no stable purpose for club dues other than "we might need the money later." But if we need money later, we can fundraise later, rather than collecting income that currently has no intended purpose.

Also, I agree with Dan that this is a relatively simple issue that takes little time to digest for those who care to do so. It's also a rather low-stakes vote — we're not putting people's safety or livelihoods at stake here. A week is plenty of time to think the issue over and examine the fairly exaustive discussion in this thread. We should resolve this issue now so that we don't have to come back to it later.

[Moderate Discussion]

Black Lion!

[Moderate Discussion]

I would like to refocus the discussion on a topic brought up earlier that I believe has not received adequate attention.

All decisions we make as an organization should be focused on a consideration of who is affected by those decisions. Currently, paid club members are entirely responsible for deciding the two stable elements of the Anime Club Experience: ongoing shows and elected officers. However, all club members, paid or not, are greatly affected by these decisions.

A valid point was made that membership dues distinguish those with a commitment to club from casual attendees, and thus ensure the people making decisions are the ones who will be living with them. The problem is that there are unpaid members who attend club every week, or at least more frequently than many paid members. Yet these dedicated club members are excluded from contributing to the most important decisions made by the club.

I submit that the most important qualities of a club member are a high club attendance rate and a commitment to making Anime Club delightful for all members. Any system of decision making that does not have this principle at its core should not be part of our policy.

Logically, it follows that we should do away with a payment-based system of decision making because it defies the above Principle of Attendance and Delightfulness. Because the power of decision making is the only incentive for paid membership and because other means, discussed above, exist to adequately meet our primary financial needs, I conclude that there is no reason for paid membership to exist and it would be best for Anime Club to discontinue the policy.

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