Ohio Valley Austin Healey Club
Serving Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky
The dues for 2024 for regular OVAHC / AHCA membership are $85. It has been 13 years since any dues increase. Eight Healey Marque issues will be published this year, but no printed membership directory for 2024. (Current members) AHCA will email you a renewal notice on or before Dec 1 with a link to renew on the website. You can login and easily complete the process. All of your information will be preloaded, including membership in OVAHC. The $85 membership can be completed with a credit card (preferred method) or check on the Austin-Healey Club of America website www.healeyclub.org and choose our club OVAHC. (If you are a AHCA member of another area club and want to join us as a multi-member, the fee is only $15 and can be finished online with a credit card, or by mail.)
NEW FOR 2023: We are accepting "local only" dues of $25 per year. You will not be in AHCA,
nor receive the Healey Marque, nor have access to the AHCA members only section. NOTE:
According to our bylaws, all OVAHC officers must also be in AHCA. If you sign up to be a Local
Only member, you should use the form below. If there are no changes, you may simply send a $25 check payable to OVAHC to the membership officer at the address listed below. Dues must be paid no later than January 15, 2024.
NAME ____________________________________________________________________
Last
First Spouse
First SpouseADDRESS _________________________________________________________________
CITY ____________________________ STATE ________ ZIP CODE ________+______
PHONE __________________________ CELL (S) _____________ ______________
E-MAIL (S) _____________________________ _______________________________
CAR INFO _______________________________________________________________
(New member or any changes) Year Type Serial #
Type Serial # The Ohio Valley Austin-Healey Club chapter of the Austin-Healey Club of America dues are $85 per calendar year. Reduced to $65 if joining between July 1 and September 30. Dues after that are $85 to include the next year. Members receive via mail the printed Healey Marque award-winning AHCA magazine. In addition, all members will receive via e-mail The OVAHC Newsleak with local information about the Ohio Valley Austin-Healey Club activities.
Everyone is encouraged to attend our Greater Cincinnati area meetings and join us for other activities. These include drives, tech sessions, a picnic, the Christmas lunch, and more. Our goals are to promote friendship and to preserve and enjoy the Healey cars. Ownership is not required. AHCA standard deadline for annual renewal is by January 15 of each year. Please renew online or mail a completed application with current info, make your check payable to OVAHC, and mail to the membership officer. Any comments or questions, just ask. Thank you.
Rosalee Campbell,
243 County Down Lane
Loveland, Ohio 45140
Rrmc4344@aol.com
513-774-0243 (dial 8)
Delegate/Business Manger Report: 11/13/2022
Annual Delegates meeting Sat/Sun Nov 12/13, 2022
In person Indianapolis & Zoom meeting; 37(+/-) of 50+ clubs represented; 14(+/-) were on Zoom
Roger Hamel of Quebec was elected president and Gary Feldman successfully retired after 6 years; Jeff was re-elected as VP Safety.
Attached at the bottom of this report is OVAHC 2022 Activity Report and Flow of Funds I submitted. Please look at the activity report. It is quite impressive
Headline:
Printing and distribution cost of the Marque has necessitated a $20 per year increase in dues for 2023 with a reduction of the number of issues (11 to 8). Along with the printed magazine, a digital/click version will be sent that is searchable.
The printed Membership Directory has been eliminating ($15,0000 savings) and replaced with a very easily accessible digital version (which I saw and will be sending out an instruction e-mail shortly).
We were able to reduce the cost of printing of the Marque by approximately 33% over the November rates due to a Request for Proposal that I initiated to printers of other car club magazines (6). Otherwise, the increase would have been another $10. Working in partnership with Reid, we priced out and analyzed over 11 different scenarios. Gary and the officers presented 3 (all printing the Marque only, no digital only option or 2-tiered approach).
He felt a 2-tiered membership should not be considered at this time, even though it was the most financially and equitable solution. It never got the chance to be vetted. My hope is that Roger will be less authoritarian and open. Attached is a copy of my analysis that was sent to Gary and the officers a month prior and after never receiving a response, I sent to all the delegates.
Conclave:
2022 Enclave in Poconos PA. was a huge success, more than double their estimate.
2023 May 21-25, 2023 Crystal River FL. – at the Planation on the canal that joins Crystal River where the Manatees live. You can swim, snorkel, scuba dive, boat or take their tour boats to see the Manatees. Registration is open on the AHCA Club Express web site. This was originally scheduled for 2020 before COIV-19 changed things. The Jacobs’ helped vet the site in 2018 for national. Everything is close and oozes with Southern charm. No long walks to the room. We have been ask to run the Gymkhana.
2024 Worst case would be a joint effort in Branson MO. There is a club elsewhere that is close to committing. Jeff and I are on the Conclave committee. After Thanksgiving We are planning a trip with Conclave VP Neil Anderson to a club that is on the fence. If successful, Branson would move to 2025 and we will announce a location that is more car oriented and roughly the same distance from here. The Delegates gave the board the authority to make a decision in order to save time and get thing moving.
We are going to focus on a model of collaboration vs. single club effort.
AHCA – ClubExpress – Club Management system and Web Site Host
There will be a few zoom training sessions (which will be recorded) in November for club Treasurers and Secretaries to address issues and learning curves. Bill Walton the delegate from the Carolinas will be conducting these and will be a great resource going forward for our interaction with Club Express.
Insurance:
Gymkhana and Funkhana will cost $250 per event (vs. $225) in 2023. Bill Borla and Gary (who Roger has asked to help Bill with insurance going forward) are getting a quote from the Sports and Touring Club’s provider that looks promising.
AHCA Budget: Future cost containment....
The majority of the AHCA budget is very static and relatively small, including the development of the Marque and the calendar. The largest and most volatile cost is the printing and distribution on the paper Marque. Due to the digital dominance in today world, paper printing is shrinking and driving up cost. This coupled with the COIV-19 supply chain issues has drastically increased cost during 2022, along with USPO increases. These dynamics coupled with the AHCA running their budget the last few years in a deficit too burn off a large cash reserve.
In the past, the pricing strategy was to have a large dues increase (more than what was needed), build a reserve and as inflation catches up, let it bleed it off in a 5-year period.
This worked when paper was the primary delivery medium for content. The paradigm has shifted to digital and this old strategy has now caught our older demographic with its financial pants down.
The love for paper has necessitated the above changes and unfortunately will continue. The increase is budgeted to build a small reserve of about 1 to 2 months operating reserve. Meaning this is a short-term solution.
If we do not shift to digital as standard in the next year or two, be prepared for additional significant dues increases.
So, please explore the digital Marque when you get it, it will soon be a requirement just like our digital Newsleak. Paper magazines are following the same path as our paper newspapers.
Jake Jacobs
OVAHC – Delegate – Biz Manager
