For most of the club’s 42 years, national was the producer. National planned the LOGs, sanctioned the regional drives, and held the calendar. Chapters helped. The model worked when “chapter” meant “the people who live near each other and have a phone tree.”
It doesn’t work as well now. The chapters got bigger and more capable. The communication moved off phone trees and onto group chats and Discord. The drives that fill people’s calendars are not the drives that national plans — they’re the drives that the chapter lead emails out on a Tuesday and that 14 cars show up to on Saturday.
So we changed the model. Starting in 2026, a portion of national membership dues funds a Chapter Grant Program. Chapters apply for grants to fund drives, track days, tech sessions, and equipment (corner balancers, transponders, photography). The board reviews. Money moves.
This is not a small change. It changes what national does and what the membership dollar buys. We think it’s the right change. The LUG remains national. The magazine remains national. The marketplace remains national. Everything else moves closer to the people doing the driving.
We’ll publish the grant criteria, the application form, and the awarded grants list on the new site. We want this transparent.
