[Harp-L] Fwd: Membership Numbers

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In preparation for my bid for SPAH president, I asked Roger Bale, the membership director for a snapshot of the membership numbers for the last 10 years. He furnished me the numbers below:

Begin forwarded message:

> 2011		868 (will go up some before end of year)
> 2010		855
> 2009		899
> 2008		923


Recently, Winslow, at the suggestion of the current president, requested the same thing and was furnished with the following:

> 2001       892
> 2002       833
> 2003       821
> 2004       803
> 2005       802
> 2006       803
> 2007       877
> 2008       935
> 2009       889
> 2010       865
> 2011       872

(Thank you for digging a little deeper into this question Roger.)

It's not my intention to criticize any individual. But, an unwillingness for critical self-examination is a lost opportunity to improve. We can look at the data in a few different ways. There was net 2% drop in membership over 11 years. From that perspective, one could argue we're doing pretty well given the "difficult economy." When I look at the data, I see (1) a 7 % drop over the last four years, (2) a relatively flat growth curve over the entire period.

Is a seven percent decline over 4 years or 11 years of flat growth a problem? I suppose that's a matter of perspective. The president of a for-profit company would likely lose his job with numbers like that--even in a difficult economy. Personally, I would be disappointed with that performance. 

To me the data shows the logical conclusion of policies in which the entire focus of the board's energies have been on the convention, rather than the overall health of the organization. During my time on the board, I did not see or hear about plans for marketing or growing the membership neither did I see evidence of money spent in its pursuit.

As someone who might inherit the leadership of a business, albeit a non-profit business, I wonder why the data looks this way? And I wonder who would defend the policies or performance?

Warren and I plan to formulate and execute a membership marketing plan. We're not committing to a specific number of new member, neither will we crack open the piggy bank on hare-braned marketing schemes, but we do promise to pay attention to that part of the business. It is our belief that the organization and the convention won't be sustainable over time if the trends continue and if the organization continues to ignore growth.

Bob