I'll first address the finances.
The membership fee was initially (2015) set at a level which we felt would cover the PLI fee and leave a little to spare (we can't have it the other way around as who would you ask to subsidise the PLI for everyone else?!?).
We made a healthy surplus in 2015, a small one in 2016 and barely broke-even in 2017 - we were seeing fewer and fewer people bothering to be members, for whatever reason (presumably because they didn't want to go to the SSC so saw no benefit to themselves from joining).
The accounts presented also didn't account for the IT costs Geoff had incurred as he was late pulling them together and submitting them, so that £400+ is an overstatement - if we accounted for those properly then the only year the Club would have made any notable surplus is 2015, the first year when everyone signed-up to go to the 25th Anniversary event at the SSC.
So at the 2017 AGM the decision was made to increase the membership fee - BY those people at the AGM, not by those of us running the Club. Note that at £25 a year, including Platinum membership to NSXCB (a £10 cost) it's lower than most other clubs. That decision was made because we were seeing year-on-year increases in the PLI premium and year-on-year decreases in the number of members - until Mike (in his own time) shopped around and negotiated a significant discount this year, we were facing a near wipe-out of our reserves in 2018 due to declining membership (22 this year, vs 65 in 2015!).
Ref the Spa event, I'll let Mike share further details but my understanding is:-
- the invitation came from Honda themselves (they subcon all their events management out, as do a lot of car companies - nothing to read into that Sharon) and it came into THNOC not NSXCB.
- Here in the UK NSXCB, as I understand it, has never acted as a formal club nor liaised with HUK - that's been done offline by Mike for the SSC marquee, and then subsequently by THNOC, who are an official club.
- In Europe Bas and Dimer haven't had the legal requirement to set-up an official club (but have spoken to us about the pro's and con's of such), but HAVE fostered very close relationships with Honda Europe. So they are the face of NSX owners as far as HE are concerned...
...so I'm sort of wondering why you're so upset.
- The Club ISN'T making a profit - it's got a modest surplus (try looking at other Club accounts!) against future 'rainy days' (e.g. withdrawal of the Honda marquee) or against anything else that the members decide they'd like to pursue. We CANNOT run a deficit - if we do the Club winds up and we can no longer attend SSC as a Club.
- The only people in the UK putting their hands in their pockets to support the cause of the NSX are those signing-up to THNOC and arguably Paul (Senninha / ForumAdmin here). NSXCB Platinum membership doesn't count really as that's a 'pay to advertise' fee and a contribution towards Paul's costs of running this site.
- The only people in the UK actively working to support the cause are Paul, Simon and Kaz on here, and the THNOC committee - none of whom receive any pay and not a lot of thanks for the time they put in.
Last edited by havoc; 27-06-2018 at 09:34 PM.
"No man with a good car needs to be justified"
Blue '08 FD2 CTR - big, ITR-sized shoes to fill...
Yellow '96 NSX 3.0 - oh was it worth the wait!
Black '99 ITR - well, I had to have another one, the first was so much fun. Miss this one even more than #1...
Blue '03 S2000 - SOLD, flawed but fun
Blue '04 Focus TDCi Sport - SOLD, very good fun for a diesel!
Black '00 ITR - SOLD, still missed
Red '98 Civic VTi - SOLD, probably still bombproof