According to the ANA membership report, 4,904 members didn't renew, 191 passed on for a total of 5095 loss in membership. During the same time period however were 5,596 new members joining during the fiscal year (2002-2003) for an upswing of 501 new members! These figures taken from THE NUMISMATIST Vol.116 #9 Sept. 2003. I find this not only exceptionally cool, but also immensely groovy!
Cool and Groovy??? If I were a ANA member I'd be asking myself why all of those former member's did NOT renew! There seems to be something wrong here someplace.New members are great,but clubs must do more to keep the member's they currently have. JMOHO. ~ Jim
Yes, cool and groovy. The very fact that we are still in positive numbers here. There are many reasons people do not renew.. they die, they forget, they are poor when the renewal notice comes, etc. There are as many reasons for joining and dropping club membership as there are people. The fact that there are that many new people interested enough to join is reason to be happy. Members of the ANA not only get a monthly subscription to THE NUMISMATIST, they also get other services and benefits from the club. There is a library, there are discounts on collection insurance offered from time to time, then there are the courses offered, the seminars, etc. I agree that the ANA should do more to retain new members and will certainly welcome those suggestions. So if you have some postive suggestions for maintaining current membership and gathering new members, by all means make them known.
I'd say those suggestions might better be addressed by a board set up by the ANA. Maybe there's something that can indeed be done, if they think it important enough to address this issue. I know we have member's resigning from EW and we're free,so it may not be a cost thing. I know I'm not a member of the ANA simply because of my specialty which the ANA couldn't help me with. I can't justify spending money on a group just to be able to use their logo on my letters.Some folks do,simply to have that logo,which is fine.Since I personally need to keep my focus in my collection,the ANA really isn't a benefit to me. I admit,I would be a exception rather than a rule.I am totally pro-ANA,and I think it's a great organization.I've even thought about joining as a group for the Error World Groups just to have that affiliation. I'd have no problem recommending the ANA to any U.S. coin collector. Perhaps as a member yourself Ric,you might suggest a plan of action to help reduce the number of member's not renewing their memberships?? Just a thought. Oh, I'm a specialist collector of "Leprosaria" the money medals,and misc. relating to the world's old "leper colonies" As the leader in this field,the ANA really can't help me.Just do you know I'm dealing from the top of the deck,and not someone with a axe to grind. ~ Jim
The changing of The Numismatist was one way they were trying to gain (and keep) members, IIRC, in order to become more 'relevant' and 'current'. They have also been talking of improving their website for a while now but...I can't say that it has become much better. it is still under-utilized by the organization. They do have a 'Membership' committee: http://www.money.org/committee2003-2005.html and I would hope that they would be interested in hearing any ideas too. I am a member and have been for a few years. Mostly for the magazine and the warm fuzzy of suporting the organization.
I was just thinking, the numbers of membership may be really screwed up... I remember when I first joined the ANA. I was about 7 or 8. I let my membership lapse for a while after high school and joined again after college but let it lapse again. In 1997, I joined again and am still a member. Each time, I became a statistic as I was a dropped from the rolls two times, but counted as a new member three times because each time I was issued a new membership number. Funny, I still have my original membership cards and can even remember my first number without looking
