Dear Members of OBFS,

 At the 2017 Annual Meeting the Membership asked the Board to develop a proposal for a progressive dues structure. The Board has done so and presents the proposal below. It will be put to a Membership vote at the 2018 Annual Meeting. While developing the proposal the Board conducted a Membership survey and considered several alternative models. The proposal presented below has the full endorsement of the Board.

 Proposed Dues Structure:

Consider the following (and address the two questions at the bottom if appropriate):

• The progressive dues structure allows smaller or less-resourced field stations to join at a lower-than-current rate without compromising OBFS operational revenue.
• While the dues structure is based on a field station’s budget, budget categorization is made by the field station and remains private. In other words, member stations set their own dues, on the honor system, and OBFS maintains station anonymity with regard to membership dues level.
• There are no differences in benefits among dues levels. The progressive structure is designed to make all of the organization’s benefits and services available to a much broader range of field stations.
• The progressive dues structure is expected to bring in more annual revenue than the current structure, and will help the organization move forward on its business plan to hire an Executive Director within the next 2-4 years.
• Individual membership dues will not be affected by this the progressive dues structure.
• This proposed structure automatically raises station membership dues as a station’s budget increases over time. So there will be less (or no) need for OBFS to adjust dues levels every few years.                                                    
• Question 1: Would such a fee structure help your station, or would it deter your station from renewing your membership?

• Question 2: What changes or adjustments should the Board consider before bringing this proposal to the Membership for a vote?