Thank you, Mr. P, for pointing out the elephant in the room.

I will continue to support the building fund, but like you, I recognize the reality of the situation. I'm an employee benefits specialist and work for a CPA firm. Much of my non-employee benefits work is analyzing financial statements and preparing financial projections. (Is there something about chip collecting that appeals to numbers people? )

Here's my take on the building fund: I think we need to expand our thinking about how the building fund can be used. Even if the building fund never grows to the point where we are able to obtain and maintain a brick and mortar location, the fund is needed for future occupancy needs.

I can see any number of scenarios where having a "home" could be feasible, but which might require a fund for expenses of maintenance or rent. Or, a situation that might require the club to provide matching funds for a donation of cash for occupancy expenses or for an in-kind donation of available space.

For example, suppose one of the strip hotels, for whatever reason, wanted to help out the club. I can envision us occupying an existing retail space such as one of the glass-front shops in the Riviera or Tropicana. The glass that fronts the corridors could be outfitted with educational displays that would be visible to the public year-round (think of Steve Cutler's Casino Legends Hall of Fame), while the inside could be used for storage and local chapter meetings. There would be no need to pay for an employee to man the "clubhouse" because it would be closed except for meetings. It might even be feasible to keep the clubhouse open during convention week through volunteer "hosts" who could sell club merchandise, visit with the non-chip collecting public and encourage them to buy a day pass to the convention showroom. This would also help fulfill the educational purposes stated in our charter. In this situation, the building fund might be used to pay the casino (a heavily discounted) rent, utilities, repairs, display cases, etc.

I can also forsee a time when we may not be able to rely on the generosity of club members to store all of the club's equipment & possessions. In this case, the club needs a source of funds to pay for storage expenses, including safekeeping of any valuable items that may be donated to the club.

I think that those who have the same dream you and I do should continue to support the building fund in to whatever extent they're comfortable and able. I hate to sound too much like The Carpenters here, but I think we've only just begun to explore the possiblities.

There are opportunities that will present themselves in the future that will require the club to step up and make a financial committment. I think it's better for us to be ready when that happens.

And, once the club has demonstrated that it can put these funds to good use, there will be an increase in the likelihood of future designated building fund gifts from individuals and businesses that want to help us.