Report of the MCAA Membership Committee
Words: Dick DentingerThe Membership Committee is pleased to report that our revitalized efforts to increase membership and retain our current members have produced great results this year. We have taken on new initiatives and strategies to recruit members, and increased the MCAA population by 16%- a 48% increase over last year's new member dues! We have also revised many of our materials, gotten more members involved, and increased our communications to maintain our membership, yielding a 92% renewal rate to date. Still, there are many more contractors and suppliers that should be members of the MCAA, and we are committed to finding ways to bring them into the Association.
New member efforts
A total of 124 new members have joined MCAA this fiscal year. Our recruitment efforts have included a special issue of Masonry magazine with a membership-focused letter from Alan Griffin and the magazine's editor, a feature article about the Association's efforts, a membership application, and a tipped-on cover notifying recipients if they were not members. We ran complimentary ads through newsletters and websites including SPEC-MIX, EZ Grout, Non-Stop Scaffolding, and NCMA. We asked our Association's State Chairmen to get involved and contact non-members in their state. Melissa Polivka sent direct mail and called new member leads from many various sources, including inquiries, former members, MCAA Buyer's Guide subscribers, and Masonry Showcase exhibitors.
The staff, our officers, and members also worked with contactor groups throughout the country to encourage the establishment of chapters and recruit new members. Alan and Melissa presented membership information to a meeting of the MCA of Chattanooga, which resulted in a few new members. Mike Adelizzi joined Alan and Melissa in New York City to establish a state chapter, and this meeting opened a dialogue with the contractors in the area, and produced more new members. An invitation to join MCAA from members of the North Carolina Mason Contractors Association, including Calvin Brodie, Alan Griffin, Danks Burton, Doug Burton, and Gary Joyner, to their fellow non-members resulted in many new members. We are also in negotiations to add the members of the Masonry Affiliates Southeast, including contractors and suppliers in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to the MCAA membership.
To finish this fiscal year, and lead us into 2005-2006, we have many additional efforts planned. We have produced a Membership Brochure that contains a summary of the Association's activities and an application, which can easily be mailed to prospects or distributed by anyone interested in helping recruitment. Our Membership Committee will be visiting the non-member exhibitors at Masonry Showcase with these brochures to ask them to join the MCAA. Finally, we have many more lead sources from which Melissa will be soliciting members, including a list of all of the contractors in the country with annual sales exceeding $5 million.
Member renewal efforts
We are currently at a member renewal rate of 92% of dues billed. Aside from the multiple invoices sent to those members still pending, the efforts that we have put forth so far have been a direct mailing from MCAA Treasurer Mackie Bounds, restrictions from receiving member pricing for publications and events including Masonry Showcase, restrictions from accessing "members only" information online, and calls and letters from MCAA Officers, State Chairmen, and Regional Vice Presidents. These activities have made a significant impact on the renewal response. We are confident that we will increase the renewal amount further through our end-of-year push to renew members. Melissa will be contacting each pending member directly to encourage them to pay their invoices.
We have redesigned and will be using a new invoice for the 2005-2006 dues cycle. This invoice looks more like ones furnished through accounting software, and may prompt more attention. We will be publishing a 2005-2006 Member Directory to include and be provided to our current members.
New Member Recognition
To highlight the new contractors and associates who have joined the MCAA, we have instituted some recognition activities. Each month, Masonry magazine lists our new members on the President's Letter page. We also list the new members once a month in the Masonry Messenger newsletter. Our committee chairman sent personal letters to each of the new members asking them to attend the Masonry Showcase, and fifteen have joined us this year here in Chicago. These new members will also be wearing "new member" ribbons, so please introduce yourself and welcome them to the Association.