Let’s Spend ’05-’06 Building On Our Gains--Not Catching Up
> At this writing, I do not know exactly how our fraternity will have finished the 2004-05 fiscal year in our annual striving to come in with a net increase in members on the rolls of the Loyal Order of Moose, the Women of the Moose and the Moose Legion.
But, after 34 years working for this organization, I can comfortably predict this:
The final quarter of this fiscal year--the period between Feb. 1 and Apr. 30--will almost certainly be the biggest quarter of the year for new-member growth; both applications reported and new members enrolled.
April after April, we have finished our Moose years in gangbusters fashion, with a late surge in newly sponsored and newly enrolled members, and in efforts to get lapsed members to reinstate. Some years, the flood of new members, reinstatements and re-enrolled former members has been enough to finish the fourth quarter on the plus-side for total members on the rolls.
But then . . . in the first quarter of the following year--May through July--we have too often, collectively, looked at this as a period to rest on our member-sponsoring laurels; to “take a break” from our intense early-spring efforts. This is, perhaps, a natural inclination.
Problem is, the world goes on during that period. Some members move; others pass away. Way too many more are busy; they may or may not see their dues-renewal notice come in the mail along with other bills and correspondence. Unless they get a reminding phone call or other contact from an officer or colleague, they may assume the Lodge or Chapter simply doesn’t care. And so they may make the decision--whether consciously or unconsciously, but more often than not silently--to drop their dues.
And so, by the end of the first quarter on July 31, or even more so by the end of the second quarter on Oct. 31, more often than not we’re way behind the eight-ball--as a Lodge or Chapter, on a state or provincial basis, and as a fraternity overall. And so the cycle repeats itself; we all find ourselves facing that huge, Herculean effort in late winter and early spring just to try to make up for the member-production deficit in winter months. Too often it doesn’t work.
But--what if we make an early-May resolution to not let ourselves get behind? After our brief post-April 30 breather, during the first half of May, why don’t we assemble a list of all applicants in the hopper, schedule a special meeting of the Application Review Committee if we have to, and get the applications approved? Then, schedule a special event enrollment well before the Fourth of July--and get them enrolled!
Simultaneously, let’s compile listings of delinquent members--especially the ones who would otherwise be dropped for nonpayment effective with the July quarterly report--and let’s contact each one of them, personally! Find out if there’s some way it might be made as easy as possible for them to reinstate their membership . . . offer to go pick up his or her check in person!
If we get off to a “running start” in this fashion, we can spend next winter and early spring--during our “end-of-fiscal-year push”--doing something very different for a change:
We can use that push to build on our gains--not just in trying to catch up!
Do you have other ideas on how we might approach this challenge more effectively? Please contact me personally at DRoss@mooseintl.org. And thanks!
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Please click on any photograph below to view a larger image.
Director General
Donald Ross
‘If we spend the May-through-July quarter getting off to a running start, then our end-of-year push next March and April can be used to gain ground!’
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May/June/July 2005
