NESA Dues Increase

[Scouting4Ever]

I received this in an email this afternoon....

 

The national NESA Committee has voted to increase NESA membership fees effective July 1, 2011. This is the first increase in nearly 20 years. The current fees are only $25 for a five-year membership and $180 for life membership. Beginning July 1, the fees will increase to $35 for a five-year membership and $250 for life membership. Now is the perfect time to receive the great value of NESA membership.

 

[Twocubdad]

Can someone share with the group the value/benefit of being a NESA member?

 

(Okay, you're right. It's a loaded question.)

[SeattlePioneer]

You don't have to remember to make a FOS contribution since someone will send you a solicitation automatically?

[Lisabob]

I have wondered that same thing, actually. In some troops it is a tradition that Eagle scouts are given a lifetime membership. I am not sure why? Now I'm a member of a couple of non-scouting honor societies that don't do a darn thing for me at this point in my life, except that they're a line on the resume - and probably not a terribly important one, either - and that's ok, I suppose. Is NESA like that?

[nolesrule]

Well, I've been a Lifetime member for years, but I can't honestly say I feel I'd get my money's worth out of paying annually, even at current prices. The only obvious tangible benefits are the magazine, pocket and wall certificates and a pin.

 

The real benefit is in the scholarship availability, but unless you're college age, it's not much of a benefit. I assume membership fees also go toward that.

[Eagle007]

I'm a Lifetime NESA Member and I didn't vote to raise the membership dues. It seems like in the hard economic times that we are in that people would use a little more common sense about raising prices on things. Don't get me started on gas prices.

[nolesrule]

NESA is more of a support organization, so it makes sense that we don't get nearly as much back as we put in. I'm not sure why we'd call it dues. It's just a fee. We have no membership voting rights on anything.

 

As for the increase, well, it's been nearly 20 years since an increase, so it's hard to argue with it. The increases are still significantly below the 20-year inflation rate. $25 20 years ago is $40.42 now. $180 then is $291.04 now. That's 61.7%. But they only increased the fees by 40%. If you plan on supporting NESA and what they do, the OP is right. Renew or buy the Lifetime before the prices go up.

 

And don't forget, with the Lifetime membership, you get to wear the Eagle square knot with the mylar silver border on your uniform. Just throwing that out there to irritate the people who get angry about square knots. :-P

[Eagle92]

NOLE,

 

Also NESA membership is required of Eagles for the new Scouter Alumni Award.

[nolesrule]

Is it? I haven't looked at the requirements.

 

/pause to find the requirements.....

 

 

 

OK, so in addition to all the other requirements, Eagle Scouts specifically would have to "buy" their award by joining NESA. Interesting.

 

Well, I guess if you want to earn the award and are an Eagle Scout, get that membership now before the prices go up. Or get 2 for twice the price. :-)

 

Really, those requirements makes no difference to me, just like when they added the NESA Lifetime version of the Eagle square knot, since i was already a Lifetime member prior to the additions.

 

 

The resume line thing doesn't effect me either. I'm a stay at home dad and the sole proprietor of 2 businesses. I don't have much need for resume line items.

[Eagle92]

I admit I'm not a NESA member. In the 5 councils I've been in, they have done nothing.

[nolesrule]

I joined at a time when I wasn't involved with Scouting at all. I have no idea what our Council does with NESA, other than they had a NESA fundraiser CSP about a decade ago, which I still don't have in my council CSP collection. I need to look into what, if anything, they are doing now.

[Twocubdad]

I got a free, three-year NESA membership a few years ago when I purchased the Eagle directory. First of all, the directory is garbage. One rainy afternoon I went through it looking up as many Eagles as I could remember. Only about a third were included. Among the missing was my brother, whose name I submitted to the directory folks.

 

During those three years I never received anything from NESA, zero, zip, zilch, nada. No magazine, nothing.

 

Like a lot of folks, my brother and I chipped in and gave a cousin a life membership when he earned Eagle a few years ago. We though that would be a way he could stay in touch over the years until he was ready to get involved, maybe with his own sons. But as they seem to have an incredibly poor ability to keep up with their own members, then what's the point?

 

So I hear you, that maybe I should look at this as a contribution to a scholarship fund. That's it? What am I missing here?

[clemlaw]

Well, I recently joined. There's probably not a whole lot in it for me, but I really wish I had joined 30 years ago. I'm now old enough that, actuarially, I'm probably better off just sending them a check once every five years.

 

Twocub, they do send out a quarterly magazine, so you should be getting that if you're a member. So I suspect that there's a clerical error somewhere. As shocking as this might sound, the BSA is sometimes prone to making clerical errors.

 

The reason why I would encourage new Eagles to sign up is so that they will get that magazine about four times per year. It's not a particularly great magazine, although most of them seem to have one fairly good article. But at least something will keep showing up in their mailbox from the BSA, long after they drift away from scouting in their 20's. If I had been getting that magazine, I suspect at some point that I would have been spurred into volunteering for something, such as being a MBC. But Scouting was off my radar screen, and nobody called me about scouting for about 30 years, not even to ask for money.

 

Should I have come forward on my own? Yes. But I didn't, and I suspect that getting a little magazine four times per year would have encouraged me to do so.

 

They finally did call after about 30 years, to sell the directory, which was at least a good start. By then, I did have a son in Cub Scouts, so the call wasn't really necessary in my case. But if I had received that call 10 or 15 years ago, it probably would have led to me becoming a volunteer in some capacity.

 

So for this reason, I really do encourage new Eagles to be given a life membership. It's not that expensive, and it will probably pay off in future leaders.

 

If you are currently a leader, then there's probably not a whole lot in it for you, with one exception. It could be beneficial for your unit or your district. As a member, you have access to the NESA database, which includes all Eagles from the beginning of time. It includes thier name and address, unit in which they made Eagle, date they made eagle, and possibly a little more information. Supposedly, you have the capability to send them an e-mail, although I have had very little luck with that feature. But as far as I can tell, the addresses and phone numbers do mostly seem to be accurate. They created this database a few years ago to sell the directories, and for most of the people I have checked out, the information is accurate. In a few cases, I had a hunch that someone was an Eagle, and I used the database to confirm my hunch. In a couple of cases, I found out that so-and-so never made Eagle, after all.

 

This database is a treasure trove for units and districts, and I'm shocked that it's completely underused. First of all, as far as I know, it's not used at all for FOS solicitations. I'm sure that 99% of the names on the list are good for a $20 donation, just for the asking. But they have never been asked.

 

But more importantly, this list is an incredible source for finding unit and district volunteers. It takes a little bit of finesse to search the database (after all, it's a BSA website, so you can't really expect it to work perfectly). But it is quite easy to search for Eagle Scouts in a particular zip code or city. From the year they made Eagle, you will know their approximate age. The 21 year old Eagles are probably still busy with college. The 99 year old Eagles are probably deceased. The 40 year old Eagles might have already drifted back into Scouting with their sons. (But, on the other hand, if they don't have sons, then they probably didn't drift back.)

 

But that leaves a lot of names on the list, aged approximately 25-40 who are Eagle Scouts who are probably not involved in Scouting. If someone asks them, they'll probably get out the checkbook. But more importantly, if someone asks the 30 year old lawyer, he's probably eager to counsel Law MB. If someone asks the electrician, he's probably willing to counsel Electricity MB. If someone asks the accountant, he's probably willing to help out the district finance committee. If someone asks the elementary teacher with only daughters, he's probably eager to become a Cubmaster or Den Leader.

 

I can tell you from experience that there are people who would be willing to help out, as long as someone asks them. But I can also tell you from experience that they won't help out unless someone does ask them.

 

For whatever the cost of membership is, you will get 24/7 access to a list of such people. IMHO, that's what's "in it" for current Scouters.

 

As others have noted, BSA and NESA do a poor job of communicating. That's their loss and your gain. When you get ahold of one of those potential eager volunteers, you can be almost certain that you are the first one who asked them. When they say "yes", they'll be saying it to you, not to the unit down the street. You can rest assured that the unit down the street didn't bother to ask them.

[skeptic]

Gentlemen and Ladies:

 

Why is it that so many that post on things here seem to only focus on perceived negatives of the subject thread? I suspect that a large percentage denigrating NESA already have not even bothered to actually look at the NESA site, or make the effort to find the possibilities it offers. Here is the link to the site. There are two sections; and yes one, with a few more items of interest, requires actual membership.

 

http://nesa.org/index.html

 

While I have been a life member for many years, deciding it was a good investment when it was $100 or a bit more, the actual cost is very low, even without life membership. Besides the scholarship support, it has the "potential" to be a truly viable instrument in councils, and camp support. They are working on improving it, and have done so. Yes, the changes are glacial, and often frustrating, but they move forward. The networking "possibilities" are potentially large, especially for younger members with more ability or desire to move about. The magazine revamp is very good, and has become far more interesting. There are areas in which they have tried to make it even more useful; but so far they have not really become particularly viable; but they can be.

 

As far as local NESA goes, those councils that have had the right people with the right foresight utilize the chapters for a myriad of support for the council programs. If your council does not have an active chapter, perhaps you could be the one to drag it into existence, rather than **** about how much of a waste of time it is, or a rip off.

 

"On my honor, I will do my Best". "To obey the SCOUT LAW". etc. Maybe we can all do a bit better to think about what these words and ideas mean, and then work to do "OUR BEST" wherever we may serve, and quit finding fault with things, rather than working to make them better.

 

JMO; off the soapbox.

[Eagle92]

Skeptic,

 

I'm glad the website is now up and running. I will be looking at it when I get the chance this weekend. In the past when I tried to access it, I have had major problems, usually the site was under construction or nothing there. Revamp looks good.

 

I admit NESA piqued my interest with that Scouting article a few years back. But it is disappointing and frustrating when you ask around and most folks knows nothing about it. And the few NESA members you do run into, tell it's just OK, but not a big deal.