Are you a Compton Member? Why or Why Not?

[Turkeys Fear Me]

Is there anywhere that a person could view an accounting of the income and expenditures?

Thank you.

[DesertDude]

I have alot of questions about Compton....To many for this forum Whip.....

[owlbait]

I'm a member. Have been for several years. Actually, prefer it over my LOCAL organizations. I feel I can have a larger impact with Compton's than as a "Michigan" member. Compton's supports traditional bowhunter education for kids. The money they send to organizations does not go to JUST Michigan but around the country. The Rendevous is a great way to met and touch base with like minded individuals, and in a way shows that Compton's has a viable, and important mission that could be used to influence game departments or legislation involving Traditional Archery. Ask not what Compton's can do for you, but what YOU can do for Compton's    I expect this Rendevous to be the best ever, Whip has greatly upgraded the Vendor Liasion position!

[dan d]

Originally posted by owlbait:
 Whip has greatly upgraded the Vendor Liasion position!

I need to find this "Whip" guy and shake his hand at the rendezvous this year.  Good luck with your Mission to increase the awareness and membership of Comptons, everyone I met and saw last year at the show was just class act people that I am proud to be around and be a small part of.
Dan

[redant 60/65]

I've been member of the NFAA for 24 years it supports archery of all types.  All organization, and clubs are good. Sounds like Compton is another good one.

[Ray Borbon]

Not a member. Will get around to joining some time. Just trying to buy my life member to another org already. I support the local club. There's sensible reason in the "more numbers" talk. Might get around to joining comptons. If they took paypal for membership online then I probably would have already laid out some cash.

[elk nailer]

As a member of the Berrien County Sportsmans Club I was able to help at the very first Rendezvous. After being around some of the Compton people I felt that I had to join in. Many of the club members are not even archers but still belong to Comptons. A great group of people!

[doctari]

I am a member of Compton, this organization reaches out to young and old promoting archery with stick and string. I know you people would like to see the annual gathering out west or to the south and I hope someday it can. But it takes hundreds of volunteers to make this gathering as nice as it is each year. This is not just a 3D shoot, The Comptons is an event, a gathering of friends and family's who enjoy the simple pleasure of traditional archery. If you can attend,the free Friday night chili dinner is worth the annual membership. I will be there this June, I need to renew my membership and see many of the friends I have made over the years.  

[Bigriver]

I have been a member since the first year & have been to every Rendezvous so far. I go with some non members & the reasons I hear they are not members is where does the money go, "where is the financial statement, how much are these guys making off of this organization."

I guess I wonder sometimes too, it would be nice to have the financial statement in a magazize once a year.

[tecum-tha]

I am not a member of Comptons and do not intend to become one either. I promote traditional archery by mentoring or sponsering bows/arrows for deserving youth myself. So far I sponsored more than 15 youngsters. I teach them all the necessary knowledge as well, because without theoretical knowledge you spend a lot of money with no gain. I am also a volunteer hunting safety instructor for Indiana and influence even more young people by showing them all kinds of traditional archery equipment as well as the real traditional firearms. A lot of kids become inspired to see that archery is not only wheels and sights. I tend to not drive more than 3 hours to shoot 3D or go to shoots, there are plenty around and I won't take vacation time to shoot at foam. I reserve my sparse vacation strictly for bowhunting.  When it comes to traditional gatherings, I think shoots like the TN classic are as big as they need to be for me. I am not into huge masses of people like GLLI, Comptons or Denton Hill. Not my cup of tea. I am also a NMLRA member and support like this our gun rights, but I think hunting in general is more under fire, so I rather spend my $$ on the US Sportsman Alliance. This is a professional organization monitoring and influencing legislation which influences all hunting rights. Out of all hunters, bowhunters are a small percentage and traditional bowhunters are a small percentage of this percentage. If the rights of the whole group of hunters are in danger, why spend my money on a particular minority group with basically no economical power behind it to push agendas?
If I support the big group I support my own interests better.

[kadbow]

I have read some but not all of the posts above so my comments are really based on the original question.  I belong to all my local organizations and am involved in them (attend events, on boards, set up shoots, etc).  I am also a member of a few national orgs as well (P&Y, RMEF, NWTF) but they either have local chapters or roving events that has allowed me to attend their events as well.  I guess the biggest reason I haven't joined Comptons is I feel like I wouldn't be involved with the org.  I don't have the time to travel across the country to the one event.  I do have the desire and maybe someday (retirement) will have the time.

[mjh]

I'm a charter member, I'm not in a position to go to the renezvous.  I've written two compton presidents to express some of my views about the organization and membership numbers. Not much has happened.

Couple of pet peevs:  The website:  Gee Comptons could really use this tool effectively, but I've been told as a volunteer organization its hard to keep it up.  BS I call. I belong to a local club with around 150 family memberships with a website and we mangage to update our site a least once a month sometimes more!

What would Comptons update their site with?  Well for starters put a list out of all the events that Comptons has a booth, table, representation at.  When I was in Waterloo at the Expo I was told Comptons was at 4 or 5 events that weekend.  Well why isn't that information on the website to let membership and interested folks now about Comptons attempt to be out there nationally??  How much money and equipment has Comptens given out in the last year and to whom??  Put that on the website.  Again its outreach, it's giving back, it showing folks you do more than one thing!  

I'm not an expert on these things but I do know organizations that are more visible get more of my money.

There are positives to Comptons at others have stated, but the organization needs to let folks know what, where, how much, and so forth to build and grow as an organization.

my .02 worth

[Whip]

Wow! There is a lot of great input - certainly more than I expected, and it is all appreciated.  
I'm responding on my phone so it is hard to type detailed responses everything, but I'll do my best.

First, we  really don't want to move the current rendezvous. Berriens Springs is a great facility, and after all the effort that was put in to build it up it would be tough to try to start moving it around. I

What I would like to see personally is to add other activities and events in various parts of the country. That of course is easier said than done, but I'd love to see it go that direction.  

We have taken some steps, but it is probably best for me  not to make a bunch of promises until we get a little further down the road.

As for the finances, I don't have the details off the top of my head. But I can tell you with certainty that not a penny of it pays a salary to anyone.  No officer or board member position is paid.  The organization is run completely by volunteers.  

Again, I'm doing this on my phone so it's hard to go into detail and to go back and see if I covered everything, but I sure do appreciate your input!

[JohnV]

I am a long time member and supporter of Comptons, in addition to PBS.  I have attended most of the Compton summer shoots in Berrien Springs and plan to be there this year as well.  To be quite frank and honest, I am not certain I would remain a member if I did not live close enough to attend the summer shoots.  I view Comptons as being primarily a fraternal organization.  For most members, the focus is on the summer weekend and magazine.  I'm not criticizing, but the magazine is pretty skimpy.  After you take out the officer's reports and news on upcoming or past summer gatherings, there is not much left to read.  I have not sent in pictures/articles so I shouldn't gripe.  Just being a pro-traditional archery/bowhunting organization is probably not enough to sell memberships to those who cannot attend the Berrien Springs shoots.  Shoots held in other parts of the country and a beefed-up magazine would do wonders to generate more interest, in my opinion.  Doesn't have to be a full-blown affair that rivals the Berrien Springs shoot, just a place for members to gather for a weekend and do some shooting.  I would like to see non-members charged more to attend the Berrien Springs shoot as that gives them more incentive to go ahead and join on the spot to pay lower shooting fees.

[bob@helleknife.com]

I am a member of Compton's...but I won't renew this year.  

WHY ?

Nothing out West.  And apparently no effort to reach out for those potential members.

And really, we have different issues.  We have declining mule deer herds and "back east" has whitetails running all over the place.  Everyone from auto insurance companies to house wives want to reduce those "pests", and that in part is driving the crossbow issue.

When I had the Helle knife business I soon learned that 75% of bow hunters were (more or less)east of the Mississippi...and that's where Comptons focuses their efforts.  And that's as it should be, always gather the low hanging fruit first.

I place my efforts with Traditional Archers of Oregon and our local club.

I did recently join up with PBS and they are having a Portland, Or. event this year.  I am looking forward to it.

Bob

[Turkeys Fear Me]

Originally posted by Whip:
 As for the finances, I don't have the details off the top of my head. But I can tell you with certainty that not a penny of it pays a salary to anyone.  No officer or board member position is paid.  The organization is run completely by volunteers.  

I have read numerous times that they stand up for what we believe in, or support what we are all about.  A good way of knowing what an organization stands for is to know what they spend their money on.  That's why I was asking.

[frassettor]

No I am not a member. Why, I really don't know. Sure I have heard of Compton, but never looked into it. Thanks for the awareness Joe, I will be looking into it, and I'm sure we will be in touch  

[Whip]

Turkeys, i'm at my cabin now, and don't have the specifics.  But I do know that some of the largest expense itmes are the youth program and membership services (magazine printing, mailing,etc.,). The rendezvous is of course expensive, but we try to make that self supporting.  
If you would like more detail please send me a PM and i'll be happy to look it up when I get home.
Certainly we would like nothing better than to be able to do more - thus the focus on increasing membership.  The $25 annual dues does not stretch very far, but the more members we have the more we will be able to do.  It's as simple as that.  
I do understand the thought about we need to do more to attract more members. And I'm sure that will be the case as we continue to grow. The balancing act is that of course it does take more members (and thus money) in order to do more.  The Classic catch 22, but it will happen, of that I am confident.

[Jim Dahlberg]

Right on, Mark!  Ruffling feathers has always been my trademark!
We make a difference in the local arena.  That's where I put all of my efforts anymore.  More could be said but that's enough.

[buckeye_hunter]

I just wish the rendevous was not on fathers day. That makes it hard to attend for me. I would be more likely to be a member if I could attend the gathering on a different weekend.