I also asked Gerry the next logical question about the NMRA; If there are 17,500 members in the organization, who pay $47.00 per year for membership in the NMRA, what is the $822,500.00 cost to be members, paying for? The fact that there are only 4.5 people actually employed by the organization, should leave a goodly sum for operational costs.
In 2009 Gerry wrote an article entitled "Where does my dues money go? Gerry took a picture of a dollar bill broken into sections to show how the money is spent:
35 cents of every dollar went to administration costs, 34 cents went to publications, 8 cents went to Executive and Board of Director expenses, 9 cents went to the NMRA Library, 8 cents went to non-dues activitys, 4 cents went to Regional rebates and 4 cents went to other departments. Gerry said the above dollar break down may not be completely accurate, today.
In Gerry's own words, he went on to explain:
"Administration” is the amount of expenses for the administrative department, including shipping, printing, supplies, building rent and maintenance, equipment maintenance, equipment leases, computers, software, insurance, and, yes, the staff.
"Publications” is mostly the magazine. And this is where the finances get tricky, because some of the cost of producing the magazine is offset by subscription fees and advertising. But there’s payment to the editor, payment to the authors, payment to the printer, payment for mailing, etc. included in this. It also includes the books that the Kalmbach Library publishes and sells. As I understand it, we don’t make money on the books we sell to members, only the ones we sell to non-members, and then, it’s only a buck or two. (Incidentally the publisher of the NMRA Magazine is White River Publications, who also publish Model Railroad Craftsman and Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, among other publications).
"Executive and BOD” is the money needed by the officers and Board – lodging for meetings, postage, copying, office supplies, legal fees. In my case, my huge budget of $500 is for buying stock art or photos for ads or brochures if we don’t have what I need on-hand.
"Library” is an expense that used to be paying our HQ librarian and keeping the climate control of the Library running. Today it’s paying for a half-time salary of a dedicated NMRA librarian at the California State Railroad Museum. We get atonof books, slides, photos, etc. donated to us by members or deceased members’ families, and all that stuff needs to be sorted and cataloged.
"Non-dues activities” are things that cost money to produce, like NMRA Standards Gauges, the calendar, convention clinic books, DVDs. We used to make “Heritage” freight cars (decaled for “famous” model railroads like the “Gorre and Daphetid”; we don’t do those any more).
Region rebates” – every Region receives a $2 rebate per NMRA member in its borders, to help them communicate with members. Some Regions pass this money down to their Divisions, some (like the TLR) use it to send out the newsletter (“The Fusee,” which you should have received) to all members in the Region, not just subscribers.
“Other Departments” is Education, Standards and Conformance, Member Services, Fundraising, etc. which all have costs associated with what they do. For example, the Standards and Conformance Department purchases off-the-shelf models for conformance reviews (rather than accepting a “perfect” model from the manufacturer), and also has test equipment that it needs to buy or update.
Additionally some money gets invested into various funds (e.g. the “Life Member fund”) so that they’re self-sustaining. Long story short: when the NMRA put a price on Life Membership back in the 60s through 90s, they did a horrible job of figuring out what the cost was. From what I understand they didn’t use accurate actuarial tables and way underpriced a Life Membership. Every Life member, by promise of the NMRA, gets the magazine. There was a fund set aside for that, that the NMRA of the 80s borrowed from to build the HQ building and never repaid. Horrible decision. So the money from the sale of the HQ building several years ago went to replenishing the Life Member Fund, which today, is again self-sustaining. There are other funds that the NMRA has, like emergency funds, funds for special programs, etc.
I think Gerry did a great job of answering questions about the NMRA. I find it hard to believe how easily miss-information about the NMRA can be disseminated and believed by the Model Railroading Public!