Your Dues Pay For More Than Your Membership

The cost of membership in The American Legion continues to be a matter of concern to members and prospective members alike. It might be helpful to provide some perspective on the annual cost -- and more important, what a member is really buying when he or she pays the annual dues.

Membership dues are a combination of per capita fees assessed by the Department of Indiana and the National Organization, plus a fee added by the local post. In Indiana, the most common total is about $35.00 per year. Of that amount, $13.50 goes to the Department, $13.50 goes to the National Organization, and the difference remains at the Post. That means most posts are trying to operate on $8.00 or less per member per year.

The department assessment pays the cost of occupying the historic headquarters builing in downtown Indianapolis; the salaries of a small staff; the cost of providing veterans counseling and representation by the service office; contributions to the rehabilition fund; convention and conference expenses; district commanders' travel expenses; program expenses for such activities as the Oratorical Contest, Flag Education, and scholarships; membership recruitment and records management; data systems; and supplies and transportation for the officers to the many district and post activities around the state. The total income from dues is insufficient to meet the demands of our members, our officers, and veterans we serve.

The national assessment helps fund the operation of a world-wide headquarters, all similar in nature to those described above but far more extensive. Many of those expenses are fixed, but the source of revenue -- membership renewal and recruitment -- continues to fall short. Membership income is insufficient to meet the the demands of a 21st Century organization.

The remainder of the annual dues -- $8.00 in most cases -- is all that remains at your post to cover the cost of operations. Regardless of the number of members, the utility bills still have to be paid, repairs still have to be made, supplies still have to be purchased, meeting space -- whether owned, leased or rented -- still has to be paid for, and the myriad other fixed expenses have to be covered.

Members of The American Legion would do good to remember that they are not buying a club membership. Many of them get that along with their membership in the Post, but the fundamental purpose of membership is to support the aims and purposes of the organization as outlined in the preamble.

It is not about what you get for your $35.00. It really is about your willingness to give of what little you may have to support the work of the Legion on behalf of those who may have even less than you.

Legion dues increases over the years have been few and far between, for the most part. There have been exceptions, of course, but in fact, Legion membership remains among the least costly social memberships available to you. The mistake may have been in keeping dues so low for so long that we became accustomed to paying far below comparable value. Nevertheless, what you are paying for is far more important and far more worthy than the right to sit on a bar stool and drink dollar beer. What you are paying for is the welfare of comrades who need your help.

You didn't complain about the cost in danger, fear and exhaustion when a wounded comrade needed to be humped to safety; why would you complain about the cost of helping make such a comrade whole again?

And to those of you who have never joined a veterans' service organization and swear you never will... you may not have that choice someday. If you continue to stay away in droves, consider what it will be like when your benefits are nothing more than entitlement programs competing for and depending on the compassion of your government. You certainly don't think the benefits you have earned are there today because of the indifference of earlier generations of veterans, do you? Will such indifference assure your own well-being 20 or 30 years from now? Will it assure your sons and daugthers that they will receive the rehabilitation, the education and the opportunities they need and for which they may have paid a high price?

Let's talk about it.