Originally Posted by
LeadSled
Sunfish,
On the contrary, the membership is steadily increasing, quite a feat, given all the circumstances, and the finances are sound.
Tootle pip!!
The AOPA financials make for an "interesting" read, quite a few anomalies in there.
The purported membership growth they spruik is clearly misleading. Just to expand on what OldTimerFlyer mentioned, the stats are below:
2017 - 2,726 members with income of $137,330
2016 - 2,487 members with income of $149,219
2015 - 2,508 members with income of $154,170
So between 2015 and 2016 there was a decrease in the number of members which jumped in 2017 by 200+ since 2015. The membership income was actually more ($16k) with less members. I am sure nobody in AOPA will give the membership breakup.
It is more than reasonable to conclude that this growth cannot be attributable to actual aircraft owners or pilots. With the purchase of the bus (also in the new latest financials), rebuilding these 2 x 150's etc and the focus on getting young people involved is the focus. Student pilot membership - Free. Young Eagle membership - Free. Handing out free memberships inflates the numbers. Unless someone else can convince me otherwise, these free memberships are included in the member numbers. So this would be the easiest path to stop that declining membership base.
If you look in the financials, the bus was not cheap to buy nor is it cheap to run. Who knows what is going to cost AOPA to restore these 2 "young eagle" Cessna's. This is where the member fees will be going. Do they really want to let them spend the money on doing this?
Profit was down $76k between 2016 and 2017, current assets (cash, receivables etc) was down $120k.
The frequency change of the publication of the magazine was supposed to reduce costs. It did, by $468. It seems the only thing that dropped from 2016 was advertising income by $28k.
Rent has gone up for them 31% since 2016. Wages are up.
I guess this is just the tip of the iceberg. So what I read from this is - sure, membership is up and I agree with fostering and promoting junior pilots but not at the cost of an overall organisation and the detriment of the paying members. Buying buses, planes and running around the country takes both time and money. This time and money detracts from the actual point of AOPA - advocacy and services for aircraft owners and pilots. If we don’t start making it easier, cheaper and less restrictive for existing pilots there is no future for the student pilots and young eagles. But is seems that just building member numbers is the Board focus along with some token advocacy or jumping on the bandwagon of existing reforms and claiming them as your own.
The Exec Director purports to be an "aircraft owner" which is also in the audited financials. Aircraft is registered to Muskridge Pty Ltd which has a sole director and it isn't the Executive Director. He also cant fly it on his RPL or GFA Certificate given the aircraft type...
AOPA can do better.
Then there is Aviation Advertiser which I was asking about. Seems it has been dead long ago:
Aviation Advertiser Digital Pty Ltd was registered with ASIC in November 2013 with a sole director. It was deregistered in April 2016. It was a Section 601AB deregistration so initiated by ASIC. An ASIC company search will confirm.
The website
www.aviationadvertiser.com.au is registered to Academy Group Internet Services Pty Ltd. This domain is still registered to this company. Again, sole Director company. It was registered in July 2007 and deregistered in November 2009. Another 601AB ASIC initiated deregistration.
The you have the company listed as the one registered with Paypal taking out the advertising fees for the Aviation Advertiser/Academy Group. This is Academy Group Procard Services Pty Ltd. Check your paypal accounts and bank statements. This company was registered with ASIC in July 2007, again the same sole Director. Another ASIC initiated deregistration of this company which led to the deregistration in December 2009. Have they been taking payment whilst deregistered?
So it appears we have a few deregistered companies here operating whilst deregistered, taking paypal payments while they were unable to do so.
Aviation Advertiser as a business name which is now registered to Plane Sales Pty Ltd. This was registered in October 2018. I asked, they have nothing to do with Aviation Advertiser or the former Director (I thought it might have been bought out by them) merely a commercial decision to pickup some IP when they could.
All seems fishy to me but I guess it is up to the Board who they appoint and the direction they want to take as an organisation. It is up to the members to tolerate the Board or continue with membership and what they get out of it.