Membership Promotion Is Our Business

Abstract

W E sit in our district meeting and hear the membership committee chairman read the membership report: current membership-181. This includes 52 new members and 129 renewals. We smile complacently as we congratulate ourselves on the large number of new members. Something, however, has been omitted from that report which, if added, should quickly wipe the smile of complacency from our faces. The complete report would include the number of delinquent members-44. Have we then gained 52 new members? Have we tried to see why the 44 are delinquent? What can we do now to assure ourselves that this year's new members may not be on next year's delinquent list? The reception of a new member in any organization is her first and most lasting impression of the entire group. When she comes into the new organization, she expects something to happen in her life because she has joined this particular group. She believes that this organization will help her to become a more informed member of her profession, will give her an opportunity to become acquainted in a new community, or will broaden her social horizons. Every program, each officer, and the least activity of any group has some immediate effect on the membership promotion of that group. The membership committee may seek and obtain the new member-what then? Is she given a welcome which lives up to her expectations? Is she given information regarding the programs and projects of the group? Is she included in the committee lists? In other words, do we treat this new member as one of us, or as an outsider who has crashed the party? The story of Mary Jones will illustrate these points. Miss Jones is approached by someone from the membership committee and she decides to apply for membership in the local district of the state nurses association. The credentials committee is very slow in acting on her application. She has a wait of several weeks before she is notified that she is accepted. By this time, the regular