For those that missed the post a few days ago the BOD is sponsoring a "Challenge"
that is open to all life members.

We have currently raised over $750 from 13 donors to date and have commitments from 5 more
that I know of which will bring the total to 18 and over $1000.

The challenge is that we ask our fellow friends and Life Members for a one time donation of $50
(Some have donated more), in order to help the club thru our current financial situation.

Hopefully I can answer most of the previous posts in the several answers below.

1) Why are we looking for donations? - As many people know from reading my terribly boring
financial reports in the magazine or online, the club is not currently in a good financial state.
Revenues are down in nearly all categories while costs remain high and in come cases are
even increasing. For the period ending 12/31/08 the club showed a decrease in funds of $30,000.

While not as bad as that may look because of the items discussed in the treasurers report, this is
a definite trend downwards and something that needs to be fixed immediately if we want to remain
financially stable as an organization.

This was obviously the main topic of conversation at the last BOD meeting and we spend 2 days
discussing options and scrutinizing every single cost and potential revenue stream to come
up with a path forward.

The findings and decisions made by the BOD should be available on the club board within the next few days.
Some of these savings are already known (Like volunteers, committee chairs and BOD paying for pre-registration)
and other like this "Life Member Challenge" are on the list.

2) Will we list the names of donors? - There are 2 sides of this question and they are both being discussed by
the BOD. Some feel strongly that donors names should not be listed while others feel it is perfectly alright.
I can see points from each position and that is being taken into account.

3) Why Only Life Members and not the entire membership? - Well this all started with a suggestion from a club
member. Numerous ideas were submitted for fund raising efforts and the BOD liked this one and decided to
move forward with it. There are several underlying reasons for this decision for first of which is that is was a good
place to start. It is entirely possible that we will have another challenge in the future that encourages regular and
even associate members to donate.
One of the comments made to the BOD from life member was that felt he has gotten much more out of his Life
Membership than what he put in so he felt it was a great idea to donate a little extra to help the club.

4) What if I choose not to donate? - Not a problem at all. We realize that MANY of our members are not in a
financial position to donate. Lets face it, the economy sucks right now and more people than ever are being laid
off or are in fear of losing their jobs.
The BOD also understands that there are people that don’t agree with us asking for donations and that is completely
fine with us as well. If we can get 50% of the Life members to donate I think this effort will be a tremendous success.
If someone chooses not to participate for any reason, that person is not thought of any less than if they did donate.

Donations is a personal decision and while I would love as many people to participate as possible, that is entirely
up to each individual and absolutely no pressure in intended whatsoever.

5) Where can I send my donation? - Donations can be mailed to:

Life Member Challenge
PO Box 691085
Houston TX. 77269-1085

They can also be made by Paypal to ccgtcc@live.com (Please mention Life Member Challenge in your header)

6) What if a non Life Member wished to donate? - All members are allowed to donate anything they like. While this "Challenge" is specifically directed towards Life Members, donations from all sources are definitely appreciated. All donations help the club and the club benefits us all.

7) Where will my donated funds go? - Unless specifically requested otherwise, all donated funds will go into the General Fund. Several donors have sent in 2 checks with one going to the Life Member Fund and the other to the General Fund. The intent is that if we can use these funds for general operating expenses, we will no longer have to use Life Member funds to help fund the yearly costs.
If you would like your donation to go to 100% to the Life Fund, simply ask when your donation is made.

I sincerely hopes that helps answer many of the questions that I know people have and look forward to many more Life Members joining me and the rest of the BOD in our Life Member Challenge.

Thanks,
Doug "Cigarman" Smith
Treasurer
LM-3209-147