First off while the magazine is a very large expense we do not lose money on any member yet. Therefore please go out and recruit as many new members as you can. The worst that can happen is they mention us to someone else who becomes a member. I think the magazine currently costs about 70% of your annual dues. Plus all the other costs of running the club add up. The club has been fighting to run at breakeven for the last few years. This year we got a reduction in the convention room cost with our move to the new location but other convention costs are going up. We will know more about where we stand by the end of the year. The Board of Directors has even discussed the need to finally raise membership fees (it has been what - 10-15 years since the last increase?) but has not taken any action yet. The board realizes the need to keep as many members as possible and will not raise fees unless absolutely necessary. To give you an idea of what as been done to reduce costs recently we have renegotiated our printing costs for the magazine and convention program, cut costs for the volunteer banquet and even reduced some of the free drinks during the convention. How can you help the club? Buy raffle tickets, donate items or consign items to the club auction (100% of donated item money goes to the club), attend the club auction and buy lots of chips, consider getting a table at the convention, etc. The things the club does not make any money on are the banquet and the club sponsored tournaments. But without them the convention would not be as much fun. No matter what just enjoy tis years event!