AUSKF 2021 Membership Registration Announcement Letter [by Keiko Umemura]

12/30/2020

Dear Federation Representatives:

We are writing to you regarding membership registration for next year. The current pandemic has imposed on us various challenges, including kendo and its related activities. The AUSKF has had to cancel or postpone virtually all the events that had been planned this year, including the national championships. Understandably, we have seen a significant drop in membership this year.

During the recent board of directors meeting, we have decided to reduce membership fees for the 2021 year. Our decision was partly due to our inabilities to host and sustain various kendo activities and events and partly due to our concern that some of our members are experiencing economic challenges caused by the pandemic. We set the rates so that we can continue to pay for insurance, which varies with membership size, and support other essential functions of our organization. We encourage your local federations to consider discounting your fees and providing a relief to our members as warranted.

Administratively, we anticipate challenges in collecting fees. In many areas of the country, in-person activities are and will likely be severely constrained during the upcoming months. For those organizations that rely on dojos to collect fees, the current situation may hamper your membership drive effort. We encourage these federations to consider either transitioning completely to the online system or adopting a hybrid system that allows some members to register online individually while other members can be registered in the traditional batch entry system. To reiterate, the online system significantly reduces the amount of administrative work for everyone. It also allows individual members to keep their profile current and, at the same time, strengthens data security as we can avoid multiple data transfers in between. We provide a separate document detailing instructions regarding how to set up an online registration system for your federation.

We hope that, with a sufficient preparation time, each federation can plan well in advance for the upcoming membership drives. Please note that membership counts for the next year will be used to determine the size of votes given to local federations in the election of the next board members. Per our by-laws, one vote per 50 members is allocated to local federations, based on the membership counts as of 4/30/2021.

We are committed to the mission of our organization—promote and educate members in the art of kendo and other related arts in the USA. We have discussed in our recent board meeting various initiatives where, even in this remote environment, we can engage our members actively. Please look forward to upcoming communication from Mr. Brandon Harada, VP of Education, regarding this effort. Thank you for your cooperation. Please do not hesitate to contact Keiko Umemura (keiko.umemura@auskf.org) for questions regarding issues related to membership registrations in general and Mr. Travis Stronach (travis.stronach@auskf.org) for questions related to technical implementations of online and batch registrations.

Thank you for your cooperation as always. Please see below for a summary of information and instructions regarding the registration for next year.

Keiko Umemura

Treasurer, AUSKF

1. Online Registration Start Date (3/15/2021):

The 2021 membership runs from 4/1/2020 through 3/31/2021, and we will roll out the online registrations for individual members on March 15, 2021. The federation representatives need to talk with Mr. Travis Stronach (phone 608-217-7270) to set up their bank account and the 2021 fee schedules BEFORE the roll-out. Please note that the 2020 registration will be closed as of 3/14/2020. If an individual wants to register for last weeks of the 2020 membership, please consult with Keiko Umemura.

2. 2021 Membership fees:

Adult (18 years and over) $60 $40

Children (17 years and under) $30 $20

Full time students $30 $20

One time Initiation Fee $10

Age will be that as of the timing of registration.

3. 2021 Membership Renewal Due Date: March 31, 2021

Per AUSKF Policies and Procedures, annual membership is due March 31st each year. The annual AUSKF insurance count is based on these numbers.

4. Payment Address (for collective checks):

If your federation decides to register collectively via spreadsheet, refer to the AUSKF 2020-2021 Spreadsheet-Based Membership Registration for how to submit your file, send your payment to the address below, and email xlsadmin@auskf.org for notification. Ms. Jean Kodama (jean.kodama@auskf.org) and Ms. Mary Dejong (mary.dejong@auskf.org) have been assisting the federations to import the membership data and continue working on the spreadsheet registration.

Keiko Umemura

330 West 85^th St., Apt. 4B, New York, NY 10024

email: keiko.umemura@auskf.org

5. One Check Policy (collective registrations only):

Please make checks payable to All United States Kendo Federation (or AUSKF). Please make sure that your federation collects all fees from individual dojos and submits one federation check. AUSKF will not accept checks from individuals or dojos.

6. Late Registration for 2021

If a person wishes to be registered after the deadline of 3/31/2021, you can use new Supplemental Registration Form (instructions are on this link at AUSKF 2020-2021 Spreadsheet-Based Membership Registration). Alternatively, you can let the individuals register online. We strongly encourage members to register as soon as possible before the deadline. Members will not be eligible for promotion and other regional events unless they are paid and registered.