Three reasons we’re losing members

EMOAMA is the new marketing slogan for Eagles membership - Every Member Owes A Member Annually.

It’s an ambitious goal for an organization in long-term decline. The FOE has suffered a net loss every year since 1993. The Eagles overall enrolled 101,074 new members last year but suffered a net loss of 32,508. Toronto Aerie 2311 signed up 28 new members last fiscal year but dropped 32.  Only 7 States and Provinces have a net membership gain for the year.

But all of this can be reversed. The common excuse for decline is that fraternal organizations are no longer fashionable, or that people now seek community through social media and the Internet. Yet how does that explain the top five local aeries signing up an average of 350 members each last year? How does it explain 142 new members signed by one person in Coeur D’Alene ID Aerie 486, or the top 10 individuals  in the Eagles who signed up an average of 112 new members each?

There are, according to the Grand Aerie Membership Department, three reasons for our decline.

The first is simple: we don’t ask people to join. Only 5.2 percent of all FOE members are unique proposers. Toronto Aerie 2311 is slightly better, at 7.9 percent - 19 members proposed a new member last year out of 247 members. If only 4 percent of all new members who joined the FOE during the current year proposed a new member, the FOE would reverse its decline and have a net gain every year.

The second reason is that we don’t do enough to keep people. Aerie activities have a direct bearing on both new member development and retention of those members we have and are about to lose. The strongest Aeries are those with a variety of social activities, community involvement and charity fundraising. Those who content themselves with being a bar or fundraising for the Aerie itself almost inevitably fail.

The third reason is that we don’t ask people to stay. Our Member Management System has an automated renewal notice feature to alert members that their dues are due, that they are delinquent, and that they are about to be dropped from the membership roster for failure to pay dues. Yet 50.6 percent of Local Aerie Secretaries do not use this proven system. Aeries which use direct contact with organized calling of delinquent members report a reduction in dropped members of more than half.