Had a question for all the club reps and officers out there regarding your club sponsors. First a little background.
I feel that WAMAS is a fairly large club with 600+ paid memberships, and 1000+ board members. Currently we have both LFS sponsors and national "internet" sponsors of the club. We are probably in an enviable situation in that we have great sponsors from both. I doubt many smaller clubs have that luxury. We do have a standard Terms of Service contract that sponsors of the club comply with, that defines what the sponsors and our club gets out of the deal, depending on the level of sponsorship the sponsor chooses. This defines banners, forums, socials, mailings etc...
Recently (maybe as part of the economic climate), a few of our LFS have requested us to ban the internet (non brick-and-mortar) sponsors from our site, claiming it is harmful for local clubs to do so. Obviously we do not want to loose local stores, or see them out of business, and we are trying to work on the relationships and ways to keep them thriving. I was just curious if any clubs out there exclusively use LFS stores in the area and deny and/or separate sponsorship requirements differently for "internet" sponsors. And yes, I know that fine line is extrememly difficult to distingush that line. They have suggested a few clubs that only have local stores, but I feel that given the opportunity, they would not turn the large internet sites down.
I'd love to hear experiences and ideas from other clubs. I have my opinions, but am trying to remain nuetral and said I would investigate...
Thanks for the time,
Doug Arthur, WAMAS President.