To pay dues, or not to pay dues, that is the question.
Posted on January 13, 2010
Filed Under Cultural Beliefs, Grow People
Happy New Year to all! As an International Steering Committee we are grappling with the idea of whether we should encourage all chapters to require dues to be considered an “active” member of the chapter. As you know, our goal is to increase membershp to 6000 active members (which we have internally defined as dues paying but are now questioning whether that is the correct measurement). We very much want to hear what you have to say out there in the actual chapters. Do you think each chapter should charge membership dues? Why or why not? What would you like us on on the Committee to encourage? (chapters decide on their own what constitues an “active” member or we push to try to get everyone aligned on the same definition of “active”)?
Your input would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks for taking the time to weigh in.
Troy Romero (Chair)
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I think we should let each chapter decide if they charge dues or not and how they structure the amount they charge for events. We should also give them examples from several successful chapters as to how they run their chapters as to dues, etc.
I believe an active member could be someone who attends at least one activity per year. The chapters could be asked to report this each quarter.
We would start at the beginning of each year tracking the number of active members.
The information we measure will drive our conduct. If we measure by who pays dues, we will focus our efforts on trying to get more people to pay dues. If we measure by attendance, we will try to get more people to attend our meetings.
Because different chapters have different dues structures (amount of dues and what benefits paying dues brings), paying dues does not mean the same thing for all chapters. Also, some countries do not allow chapters to charge dues at all.
Personally, I would rather spend our energy trying to get people to meetings and hope that over time they will become more committed. But that is just my two cents worth.
I couldn’t help but catch the headline on this blog. To me this issue is perhaps the single biggest issue that impedes accelerated growth.
If you really want to scale the organization and multiply influence and impact, you have to bring the barriers to entry to the floor. Fees should be event based. Let members assess the potential value of an event and pay on that basis. Let members decide where to exchange value. Let the fundamental value proposition of the organization be available to all.
The dues may seem small or inconsequential to some, but they are a huge deterrent for many people, particularly if you want to increase global membership. Pull them in at no charge and then demonstrate value one element at a time.
The traditional model of dues-based-membership has outlived its usefulness. If you really want to accelerate, you need to let it go. Then you will have the opportunity to achieve the stated institutional mission of the Society as never before.
My two cents.
Tim Clark
Alpine, Utah
I think each chapter would decide if they charge dues or not, depending on their own situation, when their are starting the chapter, it is difficult to stablish hard rules, but little by little things starts going on!
Also, I think a member who attends at least one event per year, could be considered active.