The ARRL has paid a commission to clubs collecting ARRL dues for quite a while now, but as I pointed out in 2014, the commission ($2 for membership renewals) was too low for it to really be of interest. Well, according to the May 24, 2022 issue of ARRL Club News, the powers that be have raised this commission to $5, effective June 1, 2022. Hopefully, this increase will make it more attractive for clubs to both recruit new members and retain existing ones.
Unfortunately, they seem to have not yet updated the ARRL website with this information. The item reads, “Additional information, as well as FAQs, can be found on the Affiliated Club Benefits web page.” I’ve been over that page several times, and for the life of me, I can’t find any information on the program.
Having said that, I would encourage all club officers to subscribe to this newsletter. The ARRL website does not make this easy, though. Down at the bottom of the newsletter is the boilerplate:
ARRL Club News is published every month (12 times each year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/club-news.
I may be getting old, but I found no description of how to subscribe or unsubscribe on that page. Not only that, the link to do so in the membership profile is misnamed, I think. Instead of being labelled “subscriptions” or “email newsletters,” the link one has to click on is “Opt In/Out.” That’s not very intuitive, but now you know the secret.