2024 Convention

[elkhartjim]

I just read with only 700 RV's attending the convention in Redmond, that will account for a $400,000 loss for FMCA. Along with a drop of 6000 members so far in 2024 things are looking bleak.

Sounds like Chris Smith used his inside information to abandon the FMCA sinking ship. 

[huffypuff]

On a positive note 🎵 I got about $5K of upgrades done ✅ with no sales taxes on my replacement motorhome. Less crowds than the last time it was here made it easier to shop. 

 

[palibs]

Jim,

Thank you for being a member for the last 14 years. Our Family members are our greatest asset.

The Governing Board in Redmond provide us a positive direction and approved our new name of "Family RV Association" along with continuation of our included Medical Evacuation Program. The new name is inclusive for our membership and will be a plus as we increase and focus our advertising efforts. I believe the future of Family RV Association (FRVA) is positive and with the help of our 126,000 dedicated members we have a long future ahead of us. 

Based on the preliminary results, the Redmond convention will result in a positive cash flow. The 400,000 is the amount charged against the convention based on the annual employee and office expenses. We are looking at these expenses very closely and will endeavor to explain them better in the future. 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like more details or have additional questions,

Paul Mitchell

FMCA National VP

209-815-1837

 

[prevost]

Paul,

 

As the last FMCA President to have both membership growth and positive financial results, the direction of the association is both concerning and deeply disappointing. Your response in this thread further intensifies my concerns.

 

It is great that FMCA is trying to adopt a new identity. The issue is marketing that new identity. How can that be done if you have one marketing employee and no professional marketing resources? That is like buying a new shiny boat with no water to put it in.

 

I also heard the dues were raised to $100.00 in order to keep FMCAssist because of the massive increase in premium. You are aware of the severe membership losses that occurred when dues were raised $25 per year to keep FMCAssist a few years back. I hope the EB is prepared to see membership losses that have never been seen before once the new dues rate goes into effect. What in the world are decision makers thinking? How can you try to spin this as something positive for the members of FMCA?

 

From my many years of experience, I can tell you there is zero chance that Redmond will produce "positive cash flow." If that is the case, why do investment withdrawals continue to be done to cover losses in the events? The employee and office costs must be added to the convention to get a true financial picture. Why would the employee costs of the events department not be attributed to the events?

 

Does "looking at these costs" mean firing even more staff? The volunteers of FMCA are not qualified to do the work of professional staff. If a service organization doubles its dues, and struggles to retain members, the last thing that should be done is having inadequate staffing to provide customer service for members of a social club? Instead of ruining the livelihoods of dedicated staff, why don't you and your board actually fix what is causing the financial problems? I would much rather have employees than spend $300,000 annually to send the EB to Cincinnati for meetings, the two conventions, area rallies, chapter rallies etc. Supplementing board travel that benefits the members in no way needs to stop.

 

It is apparent that after three years of me being gone as president, the current board is ill equipped to lead FMCA. The board decisions are being decided by Rett Porter, Gary Milner, Bob Weithofer, John Jacobs, and you. It is time to put this failure of leadership behind us and for all of you to resign. Paul, you run SOI club, which is a tour company (not just an FMCA chapter as you have misled some to believe). You should not be eligible to hold your position and must step down immediately.

 

The time has come for FMCA members to demand accountability from the horrible decisions over the last three years. Current leadership were handed a wonderful situation of positive financial results and membership growth from me in 2021, and somehow have managed to put FMCA on the doorstep of bankruptcy.

 

If anyone wants the real facts of the situation, I will be glad to discuss those with you. My number is 574-536-4554.

 

Jon Walker

FMCA National President 

2017-2021

[elkhartjim]

Amazingly, I've been on this forum for 14 years and neither of you has been active. Ten posts between the two of you. This is a major flaw with the FMCA elite. You people, travel around the country all expenses paid patting each other on the back when you should be listening to the members. 

We, the members need to know, was Chris asked to leave?

When my renewal comes due, I will not be renewing. FMCA or whatever this organization is calling itself this year, has no value to me. 

[erniee]

I’m in agreement with you, Jim. It’s like us regular people are just a number for the bean counters . It’s about time that the main office holders get in touch with us before the mass exodus- then you will really be wringing your hands. 

[rossboyer]

Jon Walker's posting above is right on telling the real truth. The only exception is that I think we are bankrupt. Several years ago, an economic professor did an analysis of FMCA's financial position and stated that when the investments are less than twice the yearly operating expenses, the organization is bankrupt. Prepaid dues must be returned to members, severance pay has to be given to dismissed employees, and property has to be maintained for about two years until the property can be sold. Who ever convinced the Governing Board to pass the budget at Redmond should immediately leave FMCA or FRVA..  The governance of the organization is being driven by 3% of the organization due to chapters serving such a small number of the members. 
 

I was the chair of the first committee to recommend a FMCAssit benefit. Back then we could afford it. Regretfully, I am now in favor of dropping that benefit.  Convections are no longer viable.  Maybe, Area rallies can be the replacement. Governing Board must be smaller and represent the majority of the membership, not just 3% that want to hold on to milking FMCA. 

Also, Chris Smith was the best CEO we have had for many years, but the Executive Board didn't want to listen. If it were up to me, only one EB member should be kept. 
 

i have said my piece, and I know many will not agree.  My membership expires near the end of 2027.  I will not renew.

[palibs]

Jim & Ernie,

Thank you for your comments. The Executive Board and I are going to try and be more active on the forums. Our members ideas are very important. 

I will continue to do everything I can to move Family RV Association in a positive direction and all of us rely on our dedicated staff in Cincinnati. It will take everyone working together to keep us moving in a positive direction. 

I am disappointed by the personnel attacks on this forum. I don't think they help the association, nor do they belong here. 

Thank you,

Paul Mitchell

FRVA VP

 

[ianbullock]

I agree with you Paul. On a whole that negativity of the postings focused on FMCA in general are extremely disappointing and I'm sure the reason that many members do not participate.

The negative few seem to think that they know and could do better which makes one wonder why they don't go out on their own and start their own RV Association and forum? 

Just saying,,,,

[prevost]

Paul,

There are NO PERSONAL ATTACKS here.  I have stated only FACTS  

FACT:  There is no way you can take a probable $400,000 Redmond Convention loss and spin that into a “positive cash flow”  

FACT:  You have lost over a million dollars a year for the last two years….and it looks like probably another million dollar loss this year.

FACT:  You talk about how valuable the CEO and professional staff are….but you have already fired ten staff and it looks like there will be more……

Jon Walker

National President

Family Motor Coach Association,  2017 - 2021

[aztec7fan]

On 8/22/2024 at 10:25 AM, palibs said:

Jim & Ernie,

Thank you for your comments. The Executive Board and I are going to try and be more active on the forums. Our members ideas are very important. 

I will continue to do everything I can to move Family RV Association in a positive direction and all of us rely on our dedicated staff in Cincinnati. It will take everyone working together to keep us moving in a positive direction. 

I am disappointed by the personnel attacks on this forum. I don't think they help the association, nor do they belong here. 

Thank you,

Paul Mitchell

FRVA VP

 

Paul, i appreciate that you will be atrempting to revive this club, so here is a small suggestion to get you on your way:  In the magazine, how many articles have there been recently on converted coaches?  My guess would be little to none.  why should you try to appeal to this small subset of RV owners?  because there is a large number of social media influencers out there writing about "van life" and converting schoolies into tiny homes.  You know what all those people need?  advice, and parts. where can they get the advice? in the magazine.  where can they get parts?  from advertisers in your magazine.

 

this is how FMCA got started, and this is one small piece of the puzzle to helping it grow.

Chris G.

f3508s

[Louiseg1948]

When does FMCA plan on notifying its members about the Dues increase?  As a Chapter President, I am very concerned about the impact the increase will have on our chapter members.  We have 152 FMCA dues paying members at this time and a close to 100% increase in FMCA dues will likely create a loss of at least half of those chapter members.  Why was FMCAssist not made an option rather than a requirement of membership? Our chapter has been in existence for 55 years and we may not be able to remain as a Chapter in the future.

[elkhartjim]

Good luck getting any information from someone who knows. I usually find out from some 3rd party news source what FMCA or whatever our name is is doing or more aptly, done. 

My mail service got a letter from FMCA regarding my membership renewing, I told them to toss it. There may have been info on the dues in it. 

[palibs]

On 8/23/2024 at 10:06 PM, aztec7fan said:

Paul, i appreciate that you will be atrempting to revive this club, so here is a small suggestion to get you on your way:  In the magazine, how many articles have there been recently on converted coaches?  My guess would be little to none.  why should you try to appeal to this small subset of RV owners?  because there is a large number of social media influencers out there writing about "van life" and converting schoolies into tiny homes.  You know what all those people need?  advice, and parts. where can they get the advice? in the magazine.  where can they get parts?  from advertisers in your magazine.

 

this is how FMCA got started, and this is one small piece of the puzzle to helping it grow.

Chris G.

f3508s

Chris,

I have passed this on to our magazine director. Thank you for taking the time to provide your ideas. 

Paul

[bobww]

There have been a number of inaccurate statements about FMCA's financial situation. Based on data provided to the Governing Board in Redmond by Treasurer Barbara Smith, in the past 10 years, there have been only two years with a positive operating income. They are the covid years of 2020 and 2021. In those years, we laid off almost all of our staff, did not have any rallies and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Federal government. With the exception of these two very unusual years, we have had only one other positive year in the past 16. Our worst year was 2010 when we lost over 3 million dollars. None of the previous administrations were willing to address these loses. The current administration had focused their efforts on reversing our financial situation. We all want them to be successful and with the assistance of all of our members, we can be.

Bob Weithofer

[elkhartjim]

"with the assistance of all our members", how can I as a member with one month left on my membership help manage expenses? 

It makes me sick that FMCA received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government and there is absolutely nothing to show for it. 

The more I find out about how FMCA is managed the more reasons I have to not contribute any more of my money to it. 

I'm curious, Bob Weithofer, who/what are you?  

[bobww]

Jim

You can help by recruiting other members and doing business with our partners.

The COVID money was used to subsidies our operations when we could not operate normally. It helped pay our employees among other things. This was required by the enabling legislation.  It is a major part of the reason we operated in the black those two years. 

I appreciate you being member of FMCA and hope that you will continue to be one in the future. The benefits we provide are the best in the industry.

FMCA is a member run organization. All of our meetings are available to our members on Zoom. They are announced on the on line calendar which also provides the link to watch. All of the committees are made up of volunteer members of FMCA. None of them compensation for the time they contribute to these committees.

Who am I? A member for over 25 years who has been and is active at all levels of the organization.

 

[rayin]

I and many others are not crowd people and thus do not belong to a chapter. This means we have no voice to the organization. Has the EB even thought of addressing this issue? 

[erniee]

Seems that bobww- been active on the organization for 25 years with 4 posts. Why doesn’t the management participate in this forum more? Maybe they don’t have a motor coach. 

[palibs]

Please provide any suggestions you have with the best way for us to include the ideas and wishes of the non-chapter members. Our Long Range Planning Committee has been wrestling with that issue for the last 2 years and it is addressed in the Long Range Plan approved by the Governing Board. 

 

[palibs]

On 8/25/2024 at 7:38 AM, Louiseg1948 said:

When does FMCA plan on notifying its members about the Dues increase?  As a Chapter President, I am very concerned about the impact the increase will have on our chapter members.  We have 152 FMCA dues paying members at this time and a close to 100% increase in FMCA dues will likely create a loss of at least half of those chapter members.  Why was FMCAssist not made an option rather than a requirement of membership? Our chapter has been in existence for 55 years and we may not be able to remain as a Chapter in the future.

Sorry I didn't answer this right away. We are working on a letter to address the dues increase and the other decisions made at the Governing Board in Redmond. Our Medical Evacuation Program is not optional simply because of cost. By insuring our total membership, it keeps our cost down, so it is affordable for all of our members. A comparable program to ours will cost in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 annually. It is a great benefit for our members and based on the results from the recent Governing Board, our members overwhelming want it to continue. We appreciate all of our Chapters, especially those that have been members for 55 years. What an accomplishment! Thank you for supporting our organization. 

Paul Mitchell

FMCA National VP

[rossboyer]

Elect 5 members per area at the same time as Area Presidents are elected.  Eliminate all top down financial support for areas. Eliminate National Directors and Alternate National directors since only 3% of the members are also members of chapters. Hold electronic Governing Board meetings with 60 attendees. Executive board members have no vote, only the 50 area representatives. The 50 could be reduced by eliminating some areas, also.

Edited August 29 by rossboyer
Additional comments.

[erniee]

How can you find a member by the number they have?

[elkhartjim]

Here ya go Erniee. https://member.fmca.com/Directories/Find-Help-From-Other-Members

[erniee]

Thanks Jim