Greetings,
I hope this finds you all in good health and spirits.
On behalf of the Board of Directors I want to thank each of you for your continued support. The Board of Directors met recently on June 1, 2016 and issues addressed included the following;
The major discussions and actions taken are presented below for your awareness and input.
This email summary and future summaries of Board meetings are being provided to all voting members of the Federation in order to enhance communication from your Board and to encourage voting member participation. This is your Moo Duk Kwan. Please take an active roll in presenting your perspectives, proposing innovative ideas and submitting creative solutions for improving your Federation.
The Finance Committee has been assessing membership trends and has confirmed a persisting decline in overall membership over the past several years. School viability and student members form the critical foundation of the future of the Moo Duk Kwan. Recommendations are being discussed to invest in areas that have the potential to help reverse this trend and stimulate school growth and overall membership growth.
We are convening a work-group to evaluate the current investment recommendations and to generate ideas and innovative approaches to reinventing our support of schools, our training of instructors to prepare them for school ownership, our marketing of Soo Bahk Do to the public, employing technology to promote the public visibility and success of each school and to identify and share business best practices that promote the longevity and success of schools. Work-group members are as follows:
Sa Bom Nim Craig Hays - TAC, Board Director, Region 6
Sa Bom Nim Cash Cooper - TAC Chair, Region 6
Sa Bom Nim Susan Fittanto - Board Vice-Chair, Studio Owner, Region 8
Ms. Andrea Casselton - Board Treasurer, Region 7
Sa Bom Nim Rodrigo Cruz - Regional Examiner, Studio Owner, Region 4
Sa Bom Nim Steve Lemner - Studio Owner, PVT Chair Region 5
Sa Bom Nim Phil Duncan - Executive Administrator, Region 6
A first-ever Federation Membership Drive, Discovering Soo Bahk Do®! is scheduled for this fall.
Any student who registers as a 1st time Federation member during the membership drive will receive a one year Green Belt subscription to the Soo Bahk Do Do Institute [$116.28 VALUE] for the nominal fee of $1.
Combined with the existing FREE DVD ($61.95 Value) program, school owners now have incentives valued at $116.28 + $61.95 = $178.23 to offer 1st time new students who promptly register as Federation members within 30 days of beginning training.
School owners are encouraged to consider how you can best use this high value offer to help drive new member registration during the fall membership drive; perhaps by publishing these offers in your fall promotional literature, ads, website, etc.
This is a great value for new students and is designed to serve as an incentive that school owners can use to encourage new students to register promptly as Federation members during the fall membership drive.
Dan members, you can contribute to the success of the fall membership drive and support your school owner by helping them assure that parents of new students and new students are aware of this special offer available to them during the Discovering Soo Bahk Do®! fall membership drive.
More information will be published as we tool-up for our Membership Drive. Your support will be greatly appreciated.
Board Treasurer, Ms. Andrea Casselton R7, presented an in-depth analysis of Federation membership trends and a detailed financial picture of the Federation for the past several years and a projection into the future based on current trends.
A declining base of members and the typical escalation in the cost of doing business have resulted in a negative balance in our budget. The Treasurer and Finance Committee have reviewed current operating costs in detail and evaluated where prudent savings were possible and factored those into the proposals presented below. National events that were historically fairly consistent funding generators like the Moment with the Masters, Ko Dan Ja Shim Sa, and the National Festival currently present additional financial challenges because of increased production costs that are outside the Federation's control and an overall diminished quantity of participants. These converging circumstances are challenging our financial stability and this is an area that Board Directors have a fiduciary responsibility to address in relatively short order.
For months, the Finance committee has been exploring options and has presented the Board with proposals that are slated for a vote at the Board's June 30th meeting in Anaheim, California. One or more may be adopted and your input prior to that meeting can help inform the Board's decision.
1. Proposal #1: Annual Membership Dues for new members remain at $85 (no increase). Renewing Gups: $95. Dans and Ko Dan Ja: $105. Household Rate $177.
2. Proposal #2 incorporates proposal #1 rates and also provides lower Pay-As-You-Go Monthly Dues: New Gups $9, Renewing Gups $10, Dan and KDJ $11, Household $17 and Discounted dues when paid in full for a year New Gups $85 (no increase) Renewing Gups $95, Dans and Ko Dan Ja $105, Housegold $177.
3. Proposal #3 Replaces “Household” membership with a 10% discount on each member within a Household. No increase to Gup membership fees. Dan and Ko Dan Ja membership dues increase by $30 annually.
The Board is notifying voting members of this information to provide you with an opportunity to comment and let your thoughts be heard by your Board Directors as we prepare to take fiduciarily responsible actions to sustain our organization.
We invite you to submit your comments to the full Board by emailing this special group email address:
While the proposed dues adjustments will be adequate to cover ordinary operating expenses for the immediate future, they do not provide the additional financial capacity needed to retire the remaining balance of costs owed for the recent, historic legal victory that preserved member rights to be the only ones legally authorized to use the Moo Duk Kwan name.
Look for some exciting new opportunities for generous donors to contribute in the next round of fundraising required to retire these outstanding costs.
The next Board meeting is Thursday, June 30, 2016.
Please respond before then to let your thoughts be heard on these important proposals.
Respectfully in the Moo Duk Kwan,
Ron Strong
Chairman, Board of Directors
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United States Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan Federation®
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(888) SOO-BAHK headquarters@soobahkdo.com
Copyright 1976-2016