Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you are all enjoying some fun summer activities! There are a few things that we began to discuss at our June board meeting that I would like to keep moving forward on before our next meeting in August. First off, I sent out a document with all the potential volunteer opportunities <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aQghq8939-e61nNBqi6Ba6ai_AfcbiVH6vOPi4pxM1A/edit?usp=sharing> for our membership. A few of you have added in some information, but I need *everyone* to take a look and change/correct/edit/approve the roles for your committee. The DEI committee has been contacted and they are working on something now. The goal is to have this finalized and created as a page on the website before Standards! There will be an accompanying form for any member to use to express interest in volunteering any time one year, not just when we put out a call for volunteers or chat with people at Standards. *This is really important work and I need your help!* Secondly, at our last meeting, we began looking in earnest at raising membership dues. Larry pulled some numbers (which I am reattaching here) and some suggestions. I'd like to reiterate that we have not raised dues in over 10 years. I'd like to have folks share their thoughts on these changes via email so that we can finish up the conversation and vote on it at our August meeting. As with any changes, I expect we will have some vocal members, but we will give notice to allow members to renew at the current rate before the changes go into effect. Please let me know if you have any questions about either of these things, but I hope to hear from many of you, ideally all of you, on both these topics soon! Cheers, Kate Dues Proposal.xlsx <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pMSQ25yteWfFoC2sPoXI8mJ_kyNS2zAb/view?usp=drive_web> -- Kate Levy (she/her) President, Guild of Bookworkers 505.263.3209 | president@guildofbookworkers.org

I'll get started on a mock up page for volunteering, so people send Kate your needs and wants! I think upping our dues is perfectly reasonable. If eggs can go up, we should be able to too. I would suggest we work on some PR before announcing it to the membership though- people might take the increase with less hesitation if we remind them of all the perks of membership! I've been wanting to have a page on the website for "find a bookbinder" for years. We can't promote any member when it comes to paid work, but the page could be an opt in public directory for any member who would like their info shared, listed by location. I get about a dozen emails a year from people looking for binders in their area and I would love to be able to send them to a directory that we host. Timing this new perk with the increase in dues might help.... The Society of Bookbinders would be a good example to follow https://societyofbookbinders.com/List_of_Binders_%20Jan%202022.pdf On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 11:05 AM GBW President < president@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: > Hi everyone! Happy Monday! > I hope you are all enjoying some fun summer activities! > > There are a few things that we began to discuss at our June board meeting > that I would like to keep moving forward on before our next meeting in > August. > > First off, I sent out a document with all the potential volunteer > opportunities > <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aQghq8939-e61nNBqi6Ba6ai_AfcbiVH6vOPi4pxM1A/edit?usp=sharing> > for our membership. A few of you have added in some information, but I need > *everyone* to take a look and change/correct/edit/approve the roles for > your committee. The DEI committee has been contacted and they are working > on something now. The goal is to have this finalized and created as a page > on the website before Standards! There will be an accompanying form for any > member to use to express interest in volunteering any time one year, not > just when we put out a call for volunteers or chat with people at > Standards. *This is really important work and I need your help!* > > Secondly, at our last meeting, we began looking in earnest at raising > membership dues. Larry pulled some numbers (which I am reattaching here) > and some suggestions. I'd like to reiterate that we have not raised dues in > over 10 years. I'd like to have folks share their thoughts on these changes > via email so that we can finish up the conversation and vote on it at our > August meeting. As with any changes, I expect we will have some vocal > members, but we will give notice to allow members to renew at the current > rate before the changes go into effect. > > Please let me know if you have any questions about either of these things, > but I hope to hear from many of you, ideally all of you, on both these > topics soon! > > Cheers, > Kate > > Dues Proposal.xlsx > <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pMSQ25yteWfFoC2sPoXI8mJ_kyNS2zAb/view?usp=drive_web> > > -- > Kate Levy (she/her) > President, Guild of Bookworkers > 505.263.3209 | president@guildofbookworkers.org > _______________________________________________ > GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org > To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org > -- ___________________________________________________________ Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

Hi dear board colleagues, I would like to propose, in the spirit of equity and inclusion, that we keep the low-income and student fees below the inflation rate and raise the regular, family, and institutional fees in step with (or close to) the rate of inflation. For example, using the information from the CPI Calculator on Larry's spreadsheet, $30 -> $35 (rather than $42.11 or $40) $40 -> $50 (rather than $56.14 or $55) Enjoy the summer, Bridget (I will check with Emily & Lindsie and we may report back if they have comments too.) On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:05 AM GBW President < president@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: > Hi everyone! Happy Monday! > I hope you are all enjoying some fun summer activities! > > There are a few things that we began to discuss at our June board meeting > that I would like to keep moving forward on before our next meeting in > August. > > First off, I sent out a document with all the potential volunteer > opportunities > <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aQghq8939-e61nNBqi6Ba6ai_AfcbiVH6vOPi4pxM1A/edit?usp=sharing> > for our membership. A few of you have added in some information, but I need > *everyone* to take a look and change/correct/edit/approve the roles for > your committee. The DEI committee has been contacted and they are working > on something now. The goal is to have this finalized and created as a page > on the website before Standards! There will be an accompanying form for any > member to use to express interest in volunteering any time one year, not > just when we put out a call for volunteers or chat with people at > Standards. *This is really important work and I need your help!* > > Secondly, at our last meeting, we began looking in earnest at raising > membership dues. Larry pulled some numbers (which I am reattaching here) > and some suggestions. I'd like to reiterate that we have not raised dues in > over 10 years. I'd like to have folks share their thoughts on these changes > via email so that we can finish up the conversation and vote on it at our > August meeting. As with any changes, I expect we will have some vocal > members, but we will give notice to allow members to renew at the current > rate before the changes go into effect. > > Please let me know if you have any questions about either of these things, > but I hope to hear from many of you, ideally all of you, on both these > topics soon! > > Cheers, > Kate > > Dues Proposal.xlsx > <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pMSQ25yteWfFoC2sPoXI8mJ_kyNS2zAb/view?usp=drive_web> > > -- > Kate Levy (she/her) > President, Guild of Bookworkers > 505.263.3209 | president@guildofbookworkers.org > _______________________________________________ > GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org > To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org > -- Newsletter Committee Guild of Book Workers Newsletter

Hi all. The dues proposal is a starting point for conversation. We do not need to go 'all the way' to reach purchasing power parity of dues from 10 years ago. A $30 jump is steep and the board may decide that dues increases are best spread over time. However, my main concern is that the costs we incur per member are higher than our current dues rate. I want to ensure that the Guild continues to be sustainable and implementing a plan now keeps us on better footing for the future. To help inform the conversation, this is a basic view of our current costs per member at the National Chapter level. FY 22-23 Per member* Administrative Costs** $23,642.59 $35.45 Publication & Mailing Cost *** $36,808.44 $55.19 Total Admin and Publications $60,451.03 $90.64 Subsidized Membership Costs $4,688.00 $7.47 Total Costs $65,139.03 $98.11 Current avg dues income per member $81.36 Our International shipping rates for the Journal also went up significantly and I would like to seek board approval to raise the membership premium on Canadian and International member costs. A proposed $30 Canadian and $35 International premium is based on the shipping rates for the last journal issue. If the board wants to take a more measured approach: A $14 individual/family and $25 institutional increase coupled with the modest Student/Hardship rate increases proposed earlier and the increased international shipping surcharge would let us close the gap significantly. This would put us at $96.06 per member in dues income. Larry Houston Treasurer, GBW cell 920-246-0103 *Per member cost is divided by total membership (667) for administrative costs, but is divided by unsubsidized membership (605) for calculating subsidized membership costs. Subsidized membership categories include Lifetime achievement, student, and hardship rates. ** The actual administrative costs for FY 22-23 were $32,682.59, but a large portion of the administrative cost involved a one time expense for website migration. We incur website migration costs about every 5 years or so. Accordingly, this expense has been reduced by 4/5ths in the figure presented to reflect an average cost figure. Supplementary programs like Exhibits, Standards, etc. and Chapter costs are not factored into administrative figures presented here. Excluding the one time web migration expense, the 3 largest administrative costs are website (7.6k), insurance (5k), and credit card fees (3.7k) *** Cost breakdown is approximately 40 % Journal: 60% Newsletter. **** Calculated by taking (the total cost for all subsidized members) - (reduced rates paid).

It does seem that the $98.11 unit cost for this fiscal year is inflated for the website migration, so it would be this approximately every five years and maybe a little cheaper the other four in reference to admin costs. My opinion: would be to not go above $100 for the first increase. When I first read the notes and saw that I thought "tough times to be raising rates" but actually it is necessary to at least break even, so if every five years the unit cost per member is $98.. . . logic would obligate a rate of $100, but I wouldn't go above that. The difference in admin savings per member on the other four years should benefit the organization in the positive direction enough to reduce the need for a larger hike at this time. . . to be revisited by scheduled agenda point for 2026. All the Best, Shannon On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 1:27 PM Larry Houston < treasurer@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: > Hi all. > > The dues proposal is a starting point for conversation. We do not need to > go 'all the way' to reach purchasing power parity of dues from 10 years > ago. A $30 jump is steep and the board may decide that dues increases are > best spread over time. However, my main concern is that the costs we incur > per member are higher than our current dues rate. I want to ensure that > the Guild continues to be sustainable and implementing a plan now keeps us > on better footing for the future. > > To help inform the conversation, this is a basic view of our current costs > per member at the National Chapter level. > > FY 22-23 Per member* > Administrative Costs** $23,642.59 $35.45 > Publication & Mailing Cost *** $36,808.44 $55.19 > Total Admin and Publications $60,451.03 $90.64 > Subsidized Membership Costs $4,688.00 $7.47 > Total Costs $65,139.03 $98.11 > Current avg dues income per member $81.36 > > Our International shipping rates for the Journal also went up > significantly and I would like to seek board approval to raise the > membership premium on Canadian and International member costs. > A proposed $30 Canadian and $35 International premium is based on the > shipping rates for the last journal issue. > > If the board wants to take a more measured approach: > A $14 individual/family and $25 institutional increase coupled with the > modest Student/Hardship rate increases proposed earlier and the increased > international shipping surcharge would let us close the gap significantly. > This would put us at $96.06 per member in dues income. > > Larry Houston > Treasurer, GBW > cell 920-246-0103 > > *Per member cost is divided by total membership (667) for administrative > costs, but is divided by unsubsidized membership (605) for calculating > subsidized membership costs. Subsidized membership categories include > Lifetime achievement, student, and hardship rates. > ** The actual administrative costs for FY 22-23 were $32,682.59, but a > large portion of the administrative cost involved a one time expense for > website migration. We incur website migration costs about every 5 years or > so. Accordingly, this expense has been reduced by 4/5ths in the figure > presented to reflect an average cost figure. Supplementary programs like > Exhibits, Standards, etc. and Chapter costs are not factored into > administrative figures presented here. Excluding the one time web migration > expense, the 3 largest administrative costs are website (7.6k), insurance > (5k), and credit card fees (3.7k) > *** Cost breakdown is approximately 40 % Journal: 60% Newsletter. > **** Calculated by taking (the total cost for all subsidized members) - > (reduced rates paid). > _______________________________________________ > GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org > To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org >

I think Shannon makes a great point, raising our fee from $85 to $99 or $100 is a much easier pill to swallow. We can then bump the numbers up again in a few years- especially if we pair the smaller increase with Larry's idea of the family/institutional increase. We don't want to find ourselves in jeopardy of not being able to afford Standards, but we also don't want to discourage our members who may already be slightly on the fence about renewing. Marianna On Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 11:07 PM S Kerner <shannonkerner@gmail.com> wrote: > It does seem that the $98.11 unit cost for this fiscal year is inflated > for the website migration, so it would be this approximately every five > years and maybe a little cheaper the other four in reference to admin > costs. > > My opinion: would be to not go above $100 for the first increase. When I > first read the notes and saw that I thought "tough times to be raising > rates" but actually it is necessary to at least break even, so if every > five years the unit cost per member is $98.. . . logic would obligate a > rate of $100, but I wouldn't go above that. The difference in admin savings > per member on the other four years should benefit the organization in the > positive direction enough to reduce the need for a larger hike at this > time. . . to be revisited by scheduled agenda point for 2026. > > All the Best, > > Shannon > > On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 1:27 PM Larry Houston < > treasurer@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: > >> Hi all. >> >> The dues proposal is a starting point for conversation. We do not need to >> go 'all the way' to reach purchasing power parity of dues from 10 years >> ago. A $30 jump is steep and the board may decide that dues increases are >> best spread over time. However, my main concern is that the costs we incur >> per member are higher than our current dues rate. I want to ensure that >> the Guild continues to be sustainable and implementing a plan now keeps us >> on better footing for the future. >> >> To help inform the conversation, this is a basic view of our current >> costs per member at the National Chapter level. >> >> FY 22-23 Per member* >> Administrative Costs** $23,642.59 $35.45 >> Publication & Mailing Cost *** $36,808.44 $55.19 >> Total Admin and Publications $60,451.03 $90.64 >> Subsidized Membership Costs $4,688.00 $7.47 >> Total Costs $65,139.03 $98.11 >> Current avg dues income per member $81.36 >> >> Our International shipping rates for the Journal also went up >> significantly and I would like to seek board approval to raise the >> membership premium on Canadian and International member costs. >> A proposed $30 Canadian and $35 International premium is based on the >> shipping rates for the last journal issue. >> >> If the board wants to take a more measured approach: >> A $14 individual/family and $25 institutional increase coupled with the >> modest Student/Hardship rate increases proposed earlier and the increased >> international shipping surcharge would let us close the gap significantly. >> This would put us at $96.06 per member in dues income. >> >> Larry Houston >> Treasurer, GBW >> cell 920-246-0103 >> >> *Per member cost is divided by total membership (667) for administrative >> costs, but is divided by unsubsidized membership (605) for calculating >> subsidized membership costs. Subsidized membership categories include >> Lifetime achievement, student, and hardship rates. >> ** The actual administrative costs for FY 22-23 were $32,682.59, but a >> large portion of the administrative cost involved a one time expense for >> website migration. We incur website migration costs about every 5 years or >> so. Accordingly, this expense has been reduced by 4/5ths in the figure >> presented to reflect an average cost figure. Supplementary programs like >> Exhibits, Standards, etc. and Chapter costs are not factored into >> administrative figures presented here. Excluding the one time web migration >> expense, the 3 largest administrative costs are website (7.6k), insurance >> (5k), and credit card fees (3.7k) >> *** Cost breakdown is approximately 40 % Journal: 60% Newsletter. >> **** Calculated by taking (the total cost for all subsidized members) - >> (reduced rates paid). >> _______________________________________________ >> GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org >> > _______________________________________________ > GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org > To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org > -- ___________________________________________________________ Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers

> > I've been wanting to have a page on the website for "find a bookbinder" > for years. We can't promote any member when it comes to paid work, but the > page could be an opt in public directory for any member who would like > their info shared, listed by location. I get about a dozen emails a year > from people looking for binders in their area and I would love to be able > to send them to a directory that we host. Timing this new perk with the > increase in dues might help.... The Society of Bookbinders would be a good > example to follow > https://societyofbookbinders.com/List_of_Binders_%20Jan%202022.pdf We had laid a lot of the tracks for making a public directory when we built out the website, but never followed through. Luckily it was pretty easy to copy and modify the View for the membership directory and make it public: https://guildofbookworkers.org/find It's filtering current members who opted in with the "List me in the Public Directory" question on their profile. Just displaying their city, state, work phone, email, website, commission, and specialization fields. I removed searching by last name, since that seemed less important here, but added sorting by commissions and specializations. It's not listed in the main menu yet, so we could spruce up the header text, brainstorm a better URL, make a plan for advertising, and then launch with the change in dues. HH On Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 1:33 PM Marianna Brotherton Crabbs < communications@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: > I think Shannon makes a great point, raising our fee from $85 to $99 or > $100 is a much easier pill to swallow. We can then bump the numbers up > again in a few years- especially if we pair the smaller increase with > Larry's idea of the family/institutional increase. We don't want to find > ourselves in jeopardy of not being able to afford Standards, but we also > don't want to discourage our members who may already be slightly on the > fence about renewing. > > Marianna > > > On Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 11:07 PM S Kerner <shannonkerner@gmail.com> wrote: > >> It does seem that the $98.11 unit cost for this fiscal year is inflated >> for the website migration, so it would be this approximately every five >> years and maybe a little cheaper the other four in reference to admin >> costs. >> >> My opinion: would be to not go above $100 for the first increase. When I >> first read the notes and saw that I thought "tough times to be raising >> rates" but actually it is necessary to at least break even, so if every >> five years the unit cost per member is $98.. . . logic would obligate a >> rate of $100, but I wouldn't go above that. The difference in admin savings >> per member on the other four years should benefit the organization in the >> positive direction enough to reduce the need for a larger hike at this >> time. . . to be revisited by scheduled agenda point for 2026. >> >> All the Best, >> >> Shannon >> >> On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 1:27 PM Larry Houston < >> treasurer@guildofbookworkers.org> wrote: >> >>> Hi all. >>> >>> The dues proposal is a starting point for conversation. We do not need >>> to go 'all the way' to reach purchasing power parity of dues from 10 years >>> ago. A $30 jump is steep and the board may decide that dues increases are >>> best spread over time. However, my main concern is that the costs we incur >>> per member are higher than our current dues rate. I want to ensure that >>> the Guild continues to be sustainable and implementing a plan now keeps us >>> on better footing for the future. >>> >>> To help inform the conversation, this is a basic view of our current >>> costs per member at the National Chapter level. >>> >>> FY 22-23 Per member* >>> Administrative Costs** $23,642.59 $35.45 >>> Publication & Mailing Cost *** $36,808.44 $55.19 >>> Total Admin and Publications $60,451.03 $90.64 >>> Subsidized Membership Costs $4,688.00 $7.47 >>> Total Costs $65,139.03 $98.11 >>> Current avg dues income per member $81.36 >>> >>> Our International shipping rates for the Journal also went up >>> significantly and I would like to seek board approval to raise the >>> membership premium on Canadian and International member costs. >>> A proposed $30 Canadian and $35 International premium is based on the >>> shipping rates for the last journal issue. >>> >>> If the board wants to take a more measured approach: >>> A $14 individual/family and $25 institutional increase coupled with the >>> modest Student/Hardship rate increases proposed earlier and the increased >>> international shipping surcharge would let us close the gap significantly. >>> This would put us at $96.06 per member in dues income. >>> >>> Larry Houston >>> Treasurer, GBW >>> cell 920-246-0103 >>> >>> *Per member cost is divided by total membership (667) for administrative >>> costs, but is divided by unsubsidized membership (605) for calculating >>> subsidized membership costs. Subsidized membership categories include >>> Lifetime achievement, student, and hardship rates. >>> ** The actual administrative costs for FY 22-23 were $32,682.59, but a >>> large portion of the administrative cost involved a one time expense for >>> website migration. We incur website migration costs about every 5 years or >>> so. Accordingly, this expense has been reduced by 4/5ths in the figure >>> presented to reflect an average cost figure. Supplementary programs like >>> Exhibits, Standards, etc. and Chapter costs are not factored into >>> administrative figures presented here. Excluding the one time web migration >>> expense, the 3 largest administrative costs are website (7.6k), insurance >>> (5k), and credit card fees (3.7k) >>> *** Cost breakdown is approximately 40 % Journal: 60% Newsletter. >>> **** Calculated by taking (the total cost for all subsidized members) - >>> (reduced rates paid). >>> _______________________________________________ >>> GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to >>> gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org >> > > > -- > ___________________________________________________________ > Communications Chair for the Guild of Book Workers > _______________________________________________ > GBWEXEC mailing list -- gbwexec@list.guildofbookworkers.org > To unsubscribe send an email to gbwexec-leave@list.guildofbookworkers.org > -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// *Henry Hebert *(he/him) Vice President, Guild of Book Workers 919.360.3425 | vicepresident@guildofbookworkers.org