"The few members of our chapter that don't belong to national don't receive any benefits from national."

Bob,you keep saying this, but clearly affiliation of the Chapter to the National is a benefit. If it weren't a benefit you wouldn't care if the Chapter was or wasn't affiliated with the International. Clearly you believe there is some benefit to the Chapter. This is in turn a benefit to the Chapter's members.

When I was in school I joined a professional fraternity. Although the International fraternity claimed to offer all kinds of benefits to members, the reality is that while I was there (and I served as an officer) I know of no member of my Chapter who used any of the "benefits" from International all the benefits which they used came from our Chapter. We paid dues to the Chapter as well as dues to the International. Why did we do this, we could have formed a local club and paid less dues, but we recognized that there was a benefit to us to be affiliated with a strong organization. The fact that some member may not recognize the value of the affiliation does not mean that they do not benefit from the affiliation.