looks like we'll be receiving donation request shortly in the mail..
CNN just reported that they are $100 million in debt

What they spend trying to get more money out of me HAS to cost more than $35 a year!

Agree with tc6969.

They would have a lot more money to direct toward their original goal if they would quit calling me and sending junk mail every month.

I'm already paid for up for [b]LIFE[/b]
since 1986



Edited to add:

FOr those of you who get sick of all the junk mail they send you and waste their money, call them and get on their [b]"Limited mailing list"[/b]

Yeah! What they said...

Two months after I've renewed I'm getting mail from them to renew again!  ARRRGGHH!

They'd be millions ahead if they just had a decent membership renewal spreadsheet!!!

I have known that the NRA has been on the financial edge for a number of years. It looks like they are rich, indeed as organization as a whole they are, but on a per member or per state, that is a whole different story. But they can't be everywhere, everyplace.

Get an NRA sponsored credit card and they get a 1% share of every dollar you spend. Just be sure you pay the card in full every month so it doesn't cost you anything in interest. They get 80 to 100 dollars in commission every year from me.

If they'd quit WASTING their money with the stupid video tapes I'll never watch,  the keychain bullet that has no practical use, and all the other flyers and other crap that they keep filling my mailbox with, including the magazine,  maybe they wouldn't be in a crunch...but are they even in a crunch at all?   Is CNN a reliable source of ANY firearms related information?

NRA:  All I want out of you is a membership and for you to fight for my gun rights with coordination and skill.    You can KEEP the fluff and SAVE the money that it costs!   If you want to publish a magazine, post it on your website and I'll read it if I want to and you don't have to blow the money it takes to print it and mail it.

BE RESPONSIBLE WITH MY MONEY.  Quit wasting it on trinkets I didn't ask for!

CJ

no different from a normal week

I will not renew till the NRA stop with all this bullshit. And I told them so when they called last time.

They just called wanting money last night.


Funny thing, GOA has never called asking for more money......

I used to belong to the NRA until they kept sending me mail every damn day.  If they would just send one mailing a year to renew then they would quit wasting our hard earned money on postage and would probably have a hell of alot more members.  What i cant stand is they mismanage the money they get and want more.  I would have no problem donating, renewing, giving them money if i knew they were spending it wisely.

Do you have the link?

the NRA has been in financial trouble (like over 50 million (oops) in the red) for well over  a year or so.    It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

everything below is taken from the neil knox website:
[url]http://www.nealknox.com/alerts/msg00177.html[/url]  



"That trip caused me to miss the NRA board meeting (though I did attend
the Legislative Policy Committee meeting).  Once again – as it has been
for the last couple of years – the Finance Committee report to the board
has been in executive session.  This one was for nearly two hours, I’m
told.

       I suspect the closed session had something to do with the fact
that at the end of 2002, NRA’s consolidated balance sheet –
including all NRA Foundation and Whittington Center funds and
assets – were $76.6 million in the red.  The parent National Rifle
Association’s unrestricted net assets are $102,593,367.00 in the
hole, according to the 2002 Annual Report distributed at Orlando
in April.

       The previous year,  NRA’s deficits were $63.8 million and $85.5
million.

       I have reason to doubt that NRA’s finances have improved in 2003.

       Some of us – including both vice presidents and the Finance Committee
Chairman – were attempting to make significant changes in the way NRA’s
finances were being handled back in 1997, when NRA was “only” $46 million
in the red.

       We lost, and all of us are now off the board.  If NRA goes
bankrupt, the Second Amendment will have lost."

Well that's just fvcking marvy.

The membership boosts to 4 million, and they still can't break even.

Must be run by politicians - They spend money they don't have.

I upgraded to Life Member the day after I worked the Clevland school shooting in Stockton Ca ( the start of the assault wepons crap). Two years later, I get a letter from them asking for lifers to "pay there fair share" and pony up some more. They need to rethink and reorganize everything. Thank god Bush is in or we would be in deeeeeep doo doo.

Bad news! If they go under...........

A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.

NY Times ^ | 12/21/2003 | STEPHANIE STROM

A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.

By STEPHANIE STROM
New York Times
Published: December 21, 2003

Costly legal, legislative and political battles in the last decade have left the National Rifle Association with a $100 million deficit, reopening a bitter debate within the group about how it manages its money.

In the past decade the group's efforts have helped Republicans win the White House and Congress and led to laws in more than 30 states banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers. In the last year the N.R.A. helped pay for a losing legal battle against campaign finance legislation, which the Supreme Court upheld this month.

But through many of those years, according to Internal Revenue Service and N.R.A. records, the organization spent more than it took in.

Even in 2000, when gun owners helped elect George W. Bush as president, pushing N.R.A. membership to a 10-year high, expenses outstripped revenues by $20.4 million, according to I.R.S. filings.

"The victories we have delivered have been costly, cutting deeply into the N.R.A.'s budgets," Wayne R. LaPierre Jr., the group's executive vice president and chief executive, wrote in an N.R.A. magazine, America's 1st Freedom, in October. "Winning takes millions of dollars beyond what individual members' dues cover. Today, if we were faced with a full-blown legislative assault, we simply would not have the war chest."

The N.R.A., one of the largest and most powerful grass-roots groups in the country, relies heavily on membership dues, but since 2000 - when the organization had a surge of new members - membership has slid about 20 percent, from a peak of 4.3 million to about 3.4 million.

That is partly because membership usually rises in election years and ebbs thereafter. N.R.A. officials note that membership is higher than the average during the 1990's.

But falling membership is also a result of complacency among gun owners, gun rights advocates say.

"A lot of people think that because we have a Republican in the White House, our guns are safe and our rights won't come under attack," said Angel Shamaya, founder and executive director of Keep and Bear Arms, a rival organization.

Experts who study nonprofit groups like the N.R.A. disagree about how great an impact the deficit can have on the group's lobbying or political activities. But the growing shortfall, coupled with the recent departure of Charlton Heston, the actor who was the president and the public face of the N.R.A. over the last seven years, has reignited internal fights over financial management.

"We shouldn't be going into the hole, which is what we're doing," said Neal Knox, a member who once tried to unseat Mr. LaPierre partly over concerns about finances. "The deficit isn't there because we're taking in more or less money, it's there because we're spending more money than we have."

Mr. Knox raised the same concern to incite a mutiny in the mid-1990's, which culminated at the 1997 annual meeting, when Mr. LaPierre narrowly retained his job.

N.R.A. officials said that Mr. Knox, once a powerful executive at the group, had other motives. "It's the old battle plan where you create a crisis and then come swooping in with a plan to resolve it," said Wayne Ross, a board member who last year ran for governor in Alaska. "Neal is upset about being on the outside, and so he's going to raise any issue he can."

Mr. Ross said he was not concerned about the N.R.A.'s finances. "I would rather have the N.R.A. get into deficit spending and fight the good fight than just sit on the sidelines because it was financially prudent," he said.

The N.R.A. contends that its deficit is a fiction manufactured by accounting standards. "Trying to do an analysis of the organization based on its accounting-created balance sheet is a futile attempt because it is driven by assets that aren't there, namely the quality of its members, and liabilities that aren't really there either," said Wilson H. Phillips Jr., the N.R.A. treasurer.

He said the deficit was a sign of strength, because the bulk of the liabilities reflect future obligations to long-term members. "What appears to be a growth in the deficit is actually a demonstration of membership growth and growth in longer-term commitments from members," Mr. Phillips said.

Instead of bitching and complaining about postage, or giving some lame excuse for "canceling my membership," what I will be doing is sending in a contribution. Consider the source of this article. This is New York Times bullshite.

That's an outrageous debt considering the membership size and the dues they charge. But tc6969's point is a valid one. I suppose all the fluff they spend good money on is thier way of letting us know they are working on, fighting for, or doing something for our RKBA. I wouldn't want to be the chief accountant at the next NRA budget meeting, but I'm sure they can find a more economical way to get the message out. You would think $100 million dollars would be enough cold hard cash for the NRA to outright buy the second ammendment back from the politicians who infringed it.  

  A number of months back I too became inordinately annoyed by the constant barrage of "re-up" requests from the NRA.  They started less than three months after I had paid up, and continued every few weeks until I called up and had myself placed on their limited mailing list.  The part that really got me was the "If you renew now, you can help us avoid the cost of future mailings".  Pretty convoluted logic, they could have avoided the cost of future mailings by limiting their mailings to sometime close to my expiration date.  
 The requests for donations above and beyond membership costs got me too.  The wording to the mailings I found sensationalistic, pandering, and suited to a second grade reading level. If there were an alternative to the NRA that both worked for my gun rights in an effective and honest manner, and provided me and my range with the same insurance coverage I'd jump ship in a heartbeat. Anyone know if the GOA will fit that bill?  

GOA?   what's the GOA?

Oh, and who was that guy that got shut down when he was on O'reilly's Spin zone?   Did he get ANYTHING in edgewise?

maybe this is all just subterfuge/slight of hand to give the anti's a false sense of security (?)

[url=http://www.nra.org]National Rifle Association[/url]

[url=http://www.gunowners.org/]Gun Owners of America[/url]

I do wish they would spend the money they spend on CRAP on kicking the antis asses.  

I am paid up for life too, did so when Klinton git elected. Also piad my son's life membership when Klinton got re-elected.
However, our fight goes on, and the fight takes cash.   I make regular payments to the fund for legislative action.
The NRA is far from perfect, but they are the best tool we have. I have little use for those that do not donate to them or any other pro gun group that fights on our behalf.

Looks like I'll have to up the donations...

You can bitch and moan about the NRA all you want, but you're way better off because of their activities over the past 20 years.

I'd most certinaly like to see them take a more honest approach to shooting and the 2nd, but the problem is for every one of us, there are 10 hunters who feel (incorrectly) that gun control is fine if it doesn't affect their Remington 700, and their S&W.  We need the votes of the uninformed as much as the informed.  The NRA must keep its roster as high as possible, and cannot afford another 'jackboot' scandal.

You know something's certain if both ETH and I agree...

[b]EirctheHun[/b]...

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

It appears that I'll be responding to each envelope sent to me now.  I might have to give less per envelope but I'll give more overall.

To others:

Put aside your FEELINGS for a moment and THINK.  

What organization constantly annoys the anti's?  What organization runs some of the best shooting centers in the WORLD?  What organization certifies the instructors that certify YOU to carry concealed?

It ain't quail anonymous!

If they go under, WE GO UNDER.  

Circle the wagons, folks-- one of our own needs our help!

Mike

How is it that the ACLU can just lob lawsuit after lawsuit for everything ranging from elections to church and state to freedom of speech, etc and not run out of money?

The NRA has millions of members and only deals with second amendment issues.  I just don't get it

i'll be making my donation shortly. we'd be screwed right now if it weren't for the NRA. plain & simple.

The NRA can't budget it's expenses for the fights it fights.

It spent a lot of money in Missouri on a CWW referendum and narrowly lost.

It pulls out all the stops to protect the SA.

CRC

I sure as Hell, won't miss 'em if they fold..

I guess I am a lucky SOB as I don't get any mailings, phone calls or anything else from them.  All I get is the monthly magazine and a renewal notice every 3 years.

The GOA is not even on the radar my friend. The last time I heard anything close to the GOA, was when Larry Pratt the head of of GOA was associaing with white seperatists, and the news media only mentioned GOA just en-passing.

The reason why the NRA is pleading for money because it is really, really expensive fighting lawsuits and fronting money for campaigns. But the NRA get results. When was the last time Bill C. attributed the lost of seats in Congress to the GOA, it was the NRA he mentioned. What about Al Gore, our arch enemies the left leaning news media admitted that the NRA was behind the lost of his home state.

Show me an NRA member and I'll show you a sucker. It reminds me of a stockbroker and a dumbass client. Losses, losses, small gain to get back confidence and keep the hook in, losses, small gain, small gain, losses, losses, small gain, losses, etc.

What the fuck has the NRA done for you lately?

They certified me as a trainer and now I'm teaching multi-state CCW.

That's cool, but I was speaking in a broader sense.

You sir are mistaken.

[url]http://www.gunowners.org/larryr.htm[/url]

Amen to that.



Based on this last paragraph, it sounds like they are counting life memberships as liabilities (because they have to provide them with services for life; but have already spent the money) - using this logic, more NRA life members = bigger NRA deficit.

Now a few points:

1) Your $35 a year donation goes to promote safety education and range programs. It does absolutely nothing to safeguard your gun rights besides educating new shooters and giving them places TO shoot. If you want to help the NRA lobby on Capitol Hill, you need to donate to the NRA-ILA (Lobbies Congress for legislation) or the NRA-PVF (donates money to help reelect pro-gun Congressmen).

2) If the mailings are a bother, ask for the reduced mailing list.

3) The mailings work. If only 0.5% respond with $10 per request amongst 3.4 million members, then each request grosses about $170,000.

4. In [url=http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.asp?txt=Q13&cycle=2000]2000[/url], NRA-PVF gave $1,578,354 to pro-gun politicians. The next largest Second Amendment group (GOA) gave $83,246. In [url=http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.asp?txt=Q13&cycle=2002]2002[/url], the NRA-PVF gave $1,208,317. The next largest pro-gun group(GOA again) gave $173,766. For the [url=http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.asp?txt=Q13&cycle=2004]2004 election cycle[/url] NRA has given $330,573 to pro-gun Congressman. GOA has given $8,577 and is the only other pro-gun group spending PAC funds so far.

5. In [url=http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softtopindus.asp?cycle=2000&sort=amnt&code=Q13]2000[/url], the NRA gave an additional $1,489,222 in soft money to pro-gun politicians. GOA gave nothing and the industry lobbying group (NSSF) gave a mere $330,000. In the[url=http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softtopindus.asp?cycle=2002&code=Q13]2002 election cycle[/url], NRA spent $752,873 on soft money. The only other group to contribute was NSSF, who anted up $211,850.

6. All it would take to erase the current debt AND provide the mother of all war chests for 2004, is for every NRA member, [b]over the course of a year[/b] to donate $30 to NRA-ILA and $30 to NRA-PVF on top of their regular membership fees. Is that too much to pay to see the AWB dead?

[b]EDITED TO ADD ONE MORE THING:[b]

In the[url=http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/indusclient.asp?code=Q13&year=2000]2000 election cycle[/url], NRA and NRA-ILA combined spent $1,230,000 on lobbying - they used the money to hire 35 lobbyists over six different firms (including in-house lobbyists). For comparison [url=http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/client.asp?id=10047&year=2000]GOA spent almost 3 times as much[/url], $4,130,000 - all to pay five in-house GOA lobbyists.

What bullshit, the list are just the registered lobbyists, not what they spend on them. Also, your item #5 conflicts with your item #1.

Your item #1 is right and that is the NRA, as it is incorporated, is prohibitied from policitical activities including donations. That is why NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF are separate corporations.

Your item #6 is the biggest BS on your list. Increasing one's dues will only result in more expeditures on the back end. Simply put, the NRA cannot control their expenses much like the CA state government.

The NRA needs to be more prudent with their member's money. When a long-term or life member signs up, the NRA picks up liabilities on the books to fulfill their requirements (mag subscriptions and services). They are suppose to offset this with investing a portion of the dues paid upfront. Thus, the assets and liabilities are to balance out.

The NRA has not been doing this clearly evident by the fact that their were in the RED in 1997. Now, if the NRA moved from the BLACK into RED as a result of the stock market crash of 2001, then I can see the problem. However, they were in the RED well before then which clearly points to them not moving enough dues into short-term investments to offset the liabilities.

If you don't see the handwriting on the wall that says these jokers need to be replaced, you are blind.

Sounds like the got their financial advice from our Government. I already gave as much as I could this year, but I agree, if they go under, we all go under. The Anti's must be salavating right now over this.

I don't know what a life membership cost when all you other guys paid up, but it is $750 today. I started my son a life membership after mine was paid off, and if you don't want to donate some extra bucks to keep it going and just read your magazines, that's up to you. A gift membership in the NRA or GOA is a great way to help us all out.

Yes, they both spend alot of money on postage and paper, I guess if you have a problem with getting all that stuff call them and they will gladly quit. I did and I get no calls or mail.

hmmm....sounds like instead of bitching to everyone here, some of us need to be writing letters to the NRA expressing our concerns, attending annual meetings, actually voting instead of throwin it in the trash.

i agree, this calls for some fiscal repsonsibility but they are set up to spend it - on programs for shooters, legal battles, etc.  

i'd assume all of the naysayers would rather see them with several, several millions in the bank, showing profits and the Second Ammendment , well, who's worrying?  we're in tha money, boys!
better to work to make it better, fight it out financially now.
-Or, let your sons and daughters ask why we didn't just send them $10 a piece per year to keep them from bleeding and dying for what we helped lose.
i know of no perfect organization anywhere - not the NRA, not your local church and even home takes a good tweeking once in awhile.

sounds like time to dig in up to the elbows, men.  while we still can.

Machaira out.  

If I hafta "Pay" cash, to see the Constitution, and the principles upon which this nation was founded, upheld, by lining the pockets of lobbiests, and politicians, and LAWYERS, [b]FORGET IT!!![/b]  [pissed]!!

My cash is MUCH better spent, buying weapons and ammunition!!  [devil]

What it comes down to, is this.

You leave those alive, who take your rights, you just feed the corrupt system, and KEEP the cycle going....

Why the Hell do you think Jefferson mentioned watering the tree of liberty, with the BLOOD, of patriots, and tyrants???

[b]He[/b] knew, they had to be killed every so often, or they'd just "keep coming back"!! [;D]

Today, so-called "patriots", tell you to VOTE for those who enslave you, or compromise with those who do.....

It's simple, if you're not prepared to pull the trigger best to use the pen.

It's one way to voice your opinion. IMHO, much better than just bitching about it on a forum where everyone agrees with you.

Tj

It has gotten outta hand with mailings from the NRA HQ, the NRA/ILA AND yesterday a letter from the NRA POLITICAL VICTORY FUND.I sent them $100 not too long ago and they're BEGGING again.All the donations in the world will not help them get out of debt until they improve their fiscal responsibilities.[;D]

I just got my "Vote freedom First" bumper sticker and The American West calendar. Not that I need them but they come in handy. I sent in a little something to help. Mainly I did so because I only paid 25 bucks for this years' membership thanks to Arkansas_Rocketman. Is he still a member here?

First if it came from CNN and the NYT it does not lend much credibility to the story.
2nd I cannot begin to count the number of times the brady/MMM/americans for gun safety --or whatever they are calling themselves this week have almost gone TU financially and re-orged and merged despite falling membership and always found a billionaire sugar daddy or two to revitalize them as well as big buck hollyweird donors and ma and pop liberals who dont seem to mind donating to thier cause.
3rd I may not be all that thrilled with the NRA's actions sometimes and some of thier "well this bill is better than the alternative" compromises over the years but I do shudder at the thought of what would have been without them. I have a lot more respect for GOA's stance and am a member of both NRA and GOA as well as other pro-gun rights orgs. But I know the NRA is the group with the most access in DC.
While they may not be perfect and I do get annoyed at some of the mailings and such NRA has spent alot of money -- and rightfully so on media,lobbying and information campaings that have had some effect and the alternative of letting the NRA die on the vine as it were and thus letting Brady/MMM/AGS win by default? Hell I hate to think how much they have spent on American rifleman television but I am glad its out there.
Helping to protect out RKBA is only partly the NRAs responsibility and mostly ours and for Me,personally $35, $50 or $70 a year to let the folks in DC know I am still here and still care about this issue,is cheap compared to the other things I could spend my money on.But it does not absolve me from doing my part and calling writing and faxing and e-mailing My reps and leting them know directly My opinion on an issue or legislation. I'll keep supporting them(as well as GOA and others)till GOA or someone else gets big enough to do the job.