Technical Writing
Is the STC a loss-making business?
Cindy Curry (STC President) points out that the recession left the STC with a “loss of about $400,000 USD in principal and interest from our investments, which have traditionally been used to provide support for activities that have as yet no revenue source, such as the Body of Knowledge and other key committee work.”
What is the Body of Knowledge?
If you know, can you please shed some light on this?
Also, increasing the membership fee to $215 won’t solve these finances and may actually result in less technical writers signing up.
Higher Fees, Less Members
Bearing in mind that many technical writers have lost their jobs and/or are concerned about security, increasing these fees may be a risk move.
Once people leave, it’s hard to get them to re-join.
What do you think of the new fees?
What should the STC do to generate revenue?
UPDATE:
Karen Lane asked: “So who gets the $25 and $10? Will it be paid by the member directly to the Chapters/SIGs? Or to the Society and automatically passed on to the Chapters/SIGs?”
According to the discussion at the STC Ideas Ning site, the money will be paid to the Society, and the Society will *not* automatically pass it on to the Chapters or SIGs. It appears that for 2010, funds will be passed on to the communities if they experience hardship. Going forward, funds will go to the communities as needed to support their programs.
