Points programs

The way this works is by allowing some people to become affiliates of members, at no cost and while this does not give them membership benefits, it does allow them to take part in the points program and secondly to have a points program where members and affiliates can collect points that are awarded for new members that sign up. They are however not to be encouraged to think of themselves as sales people, as we do not want to hard sell the clubs, but as educators or demonstrators who make the availability of the club visible to a wider range of people.

The points are used either to buy memberships and pay subscriptions or to get grants. Grants vary in size, and some are automatic, while others are discretionary.

NAISC are running the points program initially although eventually a separate company may be set up (and commissioned) just for this. It is funded from a percentage of new joining fees, the percentage being adjusted so as to match the experience of the use of the points. Surplus that comes about for a number of reasons within this scheme are to go to a pool that will be used for the expansion of New Atlantis philosophies, which is in effect an extra fund we will have, to support new projects and clubs to get going.

Please note

The following may change as the club featured has been packaged and being offered  as a joint venture consortium, the following arrangements will therefore be modified and approved by the new partners before it is implemented, we have left it as defined originally here as an example of the type of points arrangements that may exist.

The first club to become involved in the points program is the Self Build Homes Club, this was chosen because it could offer real benefits to people and allow them to earn the full cost of a new house, if they were sufficiently motivated. This club was also attractive from an implementation point, in that although a fully international club, it has separate websites aimed at different countries or groups of countries, so the problems of currency is less of a problem. As most people join this club with very specific objectives the number of members who will be excited by the points program is limited, giving scope for those that are and affiliates, to gain points without the market becoming crowded. By having points splitting arrangements it is also possible for members to support others, and provide motivation, without it being seen as a charitable act. Those who use this scheme are not only empowered, but should experience considerable achievement and gain confidence, so we believe in this case it has life altering potential for many.

Points are represented in a number of denominations

• Dpoints relating to the north American continent, and Caribbean, although not having a direct value its rewards are represented in many cases in US dollars
• Epoints the same for the Euro zone
• Bpoints for the areas covered by the British pound.

The scheme that applies to a member is the one tied to the currency in which they pay their subscriptions, and an affiliate to the member they are affiliated to. This also nicely ties up with national websites and means that the details of each scheme can be posted onto the relevant websites, and that we can commission the administration company, we have maintaining membership and subscription information, to also run the local administration for us at minimal additional cost.

We don't currently have an exchange rate between points, but this is planned later, so that members in one points scheme can claim deals or grants in another.

We are also seeing how this goes with one club before expanding it to other clubs and widen up the number of ways that points can be earned, although some other clubs have already started to get excited about it and in some cases tell members that they are going to become involved.

The rewards are claimed as grants, that in concept can be repaid should they choose to, but will never be asked to. This in most countries means that it will not be classed as income. The benefits of this is larger than not creating a taxable income, in that grants are able to be obtained in most places by people on social support, so gives them a way to move forward and make the step out of poverty. We do not feel this will be misused, but used as a stepping stone to independence.

To see more take a look at the websites of the clubs involved, initially this is the Self Build Homes Club, and look on its national sites under points program.

New Atlantis International Services Corporation is a limited company registered in Belize
New Atlantis is a company limited by guarantee registered in the UK
Most other organizations and clubs are registered in either the USA or UK, or are NA trusts or NA trust partnerships.

All information we hold or handle is 100% confidential