LIFE MEMBERSHIPS, GOOD OR BAD?

By Charles E. Vasoll

Throughout my service upon the APTA Board of Directors, I actively promoted the idea of adding Life Members. The Board permitted me to offer members a gift, such as a Cross pen with the APTA logo or a paddle cover embroidered with the words, "Life Member" to encourage members to sign up with a long-term relationship. A few Board members thought that I was "giving the store away" by not getting annual dues from these members. Much as I tried, I could not convince them that the APTA would benefit, in the long run, from this type of membership.

Hope Kerr was the Treasurer during most of this period and this was probably the only point on which we did not see eye to eye. She did, however, make one very important accounting decision in regard to this matter. She established a fund into which all of the Life Member dues payments were set aside. When this form of membership was initially offered, the dues payments were not handled separately. The payments simply went into the year’s operating fund when received. It was not a major accounting error because there were not many Life Memberships and the dues were very low. Over the years it has worked out to be between seven and ten years of annual dues paid for a Life Membership.

I grant you that interest rates, particularly in recent years, probably have not been sufficient to pay an amount equal to the annual dues. Don’t forget, however, the Life Membership monies are the property of the APTA in perpetuity. By that I mean, when a Life Member is no longer able to play our sport and, therefore, would not be paying annual dues, the Life Membership dues money already paid continues to provide financial support to the Association.

I just learned that there are only 22 Life Members participating in the Leagues registered with the APTA. Although I did nothing to encourage their choice of membership, ten of the 22 are in the Long Island Platform Tennis Association. It strikes me that the APTA should have many, many more.

I understand that a $400.00 commitment is not always easy to come by but, frankly, platform tennis is generally played in country clubs where most members are accustomed to seeing this size (and larger) invoice on a regular basis.

In the long run, both the member and the Association benefit, as I see it. The member can usually determine if he or she will be participating in the game for at least ten more years which means a "free ride" (no annual dues) thereafter. The Association is rewarded with a "trust" of funds that lives on forever. The Association also saves on the costs of pursuing the member for each year’s dues. While the Life Membership is still offered by the APTA, it is sort of the "black sheep" of the dues world. No body seems to want to talk about it or promote it.

I hope that after reviewing these thoughts you will give consideration to purchasing a Life Membership. It’s a good buy for you and the APTA can say goodbye to invoicing you every year.

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