Membership challenge #1: all you have to do is ask

The Fraternal Order of Eagles is a member-based organization. If you want your aerie to grow and prosper, you have to ask new people to join.

At the very least, they replace the aged and infirm, those who died or moved away and those who lost interest or moved on to pursue other interests. If we don’t do that, we face a future of getting older and smaller.

It sounds so very simple, but we aren’t doing it. One of our slogans is “Every Member Owes a Member Annually”, or EMOAMA.

But according to the Grand Aerie Membership Department, only 5.2 per cent of Eagles are unique proposers – people who signed up one or more new members last year. All year, only one member in 20 has encouraged at least one more person to join.

In Ontario we’re no better. Toronto Aerie 2311’s unique proposers were 7 per cent of members. London 4060 had fewer than six per cent. In Sault Ste Marie 3991 five people did (7 per cent) but three of them serve as bar stewards – people usually face to face with patrons at the bar because they aren’t volunteering for anything.

In Webbwood 4269 new members are seen as the Secretary’s responsibility – only the Secretary has been a unique proposer for years now, a practice that’s curiously common in some Eagles clubs. And in Heyden 4061 no one did.

That’s why Ontario didn’t even replace the members we lost last year, and usually haven’t for some time. In fact, in the FOE overall only seven States or Provinces reported net gains last year. The FOE has lost more members than it gained every single year since 1993, more than 20 years ago.

The critical issue here is that we’re all starved for volunteers. We need more than bar patrons. We need people to prepare dinners or to clean up afterwards. We need people to serve as officers or to sell raffle tickets, to plan and carry out fundraising activities or simply to take out the trash.

We burn out too many of the volunteers we have because we turn to them again and again.

It’s no exaggeration to say that any Ontario aerie or auxiliary signing up three – just three – new dedicated volunteers this year would transform that aerie or auxiliary.

Don’t ask yourself “why don’t they…?” There is no “they”, there’s only “we”. Sometimes there’s only you, and sometimes that’s all we need.

If you have read this far you care. So here’s what you need to do.

Think of a friend or relative who could be a good member, but wait until there’s something happening at the aerie that they would enjoy. You and your spouse could invite another (nonmember) couple to a dinner/dance. Ask someone who likes to play darts to join a dart league at the aerie. Ask a handyman to come by to help out with a renovation project.

You’ll show them a good time, get a chance to introduce them to other Eagles and have their undivided attention while you tell them how much you enjoy being an Eagle. Then ask them to join.

Repeat that process as often as you need to until you sign up one or two new members, and convince your brothers and sisters to take the same approach.

Next membership challenge post: say yes.