The value of goodwill
Money Matters by Keith Sessions, Chief Financial Officer
keithksessions@hotmail.com.
No one ever wants to hear of a club that is losing its field or losing membership to the point where it might cease to exist. When this occurs, the solution often arrives several years too late. Clubs that grow and sustain a healthy membership, and are able to reestablish after a field loss, share one thing in common—they all have a stronghold of goodwill on their balance sheets.
In the financial world, goodwill is the amount of money someone is willing to pay for a company above and beyond the tangible asset values. In some cases, this can be a considerable amount—so much so, that we often take this number off the balance sheet when evaluating a company. In the RC club world, goodwill means what you are adding to your community.
When you look at a club that is losing members, often it is described by outsiders as a “close-knit group.” It might be a great group of individuals, but as a group they do not make themselves open and welcoming to the public. Visitors are often ignored when they ask how much, how high, and how fast. Current pilots who visit are told they cannot fly instead of being welcomed and shown friendship.
Clubs that grow add to goodwill by offering training nights, embracing new forms of model aviation, and reaching out to youth through organizations such as Scouting. One of the best rules I have seen is that if a young person wants to learn how to fly, the parent must at least try it, too.
Field loss, in some cases, is inevitable. Urban sprawl will always exist and sometimes it overruns our modeling meccas. We have seen clubs where this has happened and they cease to exist. In other cases, they reestablish themselves in new, often better, places.
The AMA has been working with the EPA and parks services to open new spaces. On a local level, the best thing for a club to do is to make itself visible and valuable to the community. Every club should host events that draw pilots from other areas. When you do this, make sure the local hotels, restaurants, business owners, and the city council know what kind of economic impact you have on the community.
It is also important to give back to the community through charitable giving. National Model Aviation Day is a great place to start, but I recommend hosting separate events just for a specific local charity.
Pilot fees, 50/50 pots, and gate fees will only raise so much. To have a real impact, make the event public, advertise, and get corporate sponsorship. This turns a $2,000 event into a $20,000 event and makes much more of an impact. If urban sprawl hits your field, a large charity event will not save it, but a long history of raising money for a local charity will encourage local community leaders to help you to find a new field.
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and flying a lot. If you are reading this, it better be raining or your batteries are on charge.
