2. Prepared by Region X Membership Retention Committee, August, 2008
This slide was developed in PowerPoint. Notes accompany several individual slides to help presenter develop a narrative. This presentation focuses on the Retention of NARFE members. Its purpose is to help us focus our membership training/workshops and chapter management/activities on those things that help us keep members. Information developed in this presentation is National, Regional, and Federation in scope. In the first 10 slides, some of the graphics will have to be replaced by the presenter if outside Region X or your Federation to fit the specific location, but we hope these slides are helpful as a template for developing your own presentation.
Prepared by Region X Membership Retention Committee,
August, 2008 2

3. Develop a regional retention action plan for Region X,
THE COMMITTEE MISSION:
Develop a regional retention action plan for Region X,
Note:
Slide developed in PowerPoint. This regional retention action plan is work in progress, developed in Region X, but available to all regions. Presenters may modify information in this report to fit their unique situations, and will need to be developed by presenters if outside of Region X or your Federation. Any feedback from presenters would be welcome. Direct feedback to the Region X Vice-President.
and make it available as a useful instrument for all regions to consider. 3

4. NARFE NATIONAL MEMBERSHIP TREND
This graphic imported from Exel. Narrative for presenter to consider. This slide shows the dramatic drop in NARFE’s total national membership numbers since 1995, a 25% decrease in membership during a 12-year period. A continued loss of this magnitude will seriously weaken our strength and influence as an Organization, and efforts to protect our retirement benefits will be rendered ineffective. 4

5. This graphic was developed in Microsoft Paint so you can add your chapter’s regression line. Narrative for the presenter to consider: As with National membership, both Region X and NC are faced with significant declining memberships over the past 12 years. Similar trends are seen in other Regions and Federations. The reduced negative trends for Region X and NC may reflect their proximity to the Washington, DC area. The last three slides show us the serious nature (from real data) of our current membership trends, It is noted, again, that if current trends continue, the effectiveness of NARFE will be jeopardized. 5

6. Graphic imported from Excel
Graphic imported from Excel. Narrative for the presenter to consider: The next two slides show some of the diversity within NARFE membership and how that diversity may impact membership retention. NARFE membership consists mostly of retirees, however, the retirees range in ages that include those that retired early and may be involved in other employment or business to seniors whose health is compromised and cannot actively participate. A small but significant portion of NARFE membership are still active federal employees. The diverse membership age and work status add unique membership characteristics that must be considered by chapter management in order to meet NARFE’s membership needs and interests. We must also keep in mind that the younger members may be from a generation that is not joiners and meeting attendees, and that tend toward electronic communication. The data in the lower right are comparative percentages for Region X and National.
Diverse membership age and status must be considered by chapter management to meet our membership needs and interests. 6

7. Graphic imported from Excel
Graphic imported from Excel. A second area of diversity is found with our dues categories. This slide shows that a large portion of NARFE member(56%) choose to pay dues annually. On the other hand, 11% choose to pay dues for 2 years, 7% choose to pay dues for 3 years, 18% choose the dues withholding option, 6% have chosen the Life membership option, and 2% are honorary members. We can assume that Life and Honorary members have a very high retention rate. Retention rate varies among the other categories and among those 4 categories, retention rate is judged to be best for the dues withholding category and worst for the 1-year or annual category with 3 year being better that 2 year. Thus, encouraging our membership and new members to join the ranks of the dues withholding and/or 3 year categories should improve retention. The data at the lower right are comparative percentages for Region X and National.
1-Year Year Year Dues With. Life Honorary
Region X % % % % % %
National % % % % % %
NARFE dues categories are diverse and they differ in membership retention. 7

8. This chart represents January 2008 through August 2008 data for the North Carolina Federation using the M-112 reports. It shows that 84% of those dropped for non renewal come from the annual dues payment category. The other categories are inconsequential by comparison. Just getting those who pay annually to convert to any of the other categories would be beneficial. Why do so many of our members (56%) choose the annual dues category? One easy answer is that they are undecided about NARFE. We need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of NARFE. Some say it’s the cost, but if this is true then they would welcome the discount for dues withholding of about 20% over the annual dues rate. The not so simple answer is that we just don’t know but we should be finding the answer. The purpose of this presentation is to solicit your help in identifying problems and recommending solution.

10. Service Area

11. Activity Center – Where the Work Gets Going
Update your officer’s list and chapter meeting information
Print your “Chapter Membership Book”
Register and credential your delegation for our next convention

12. President’s Activity Center
Input F-7’s
Update your chapter’s New Item
Membership Book
File Registrations and Credentials
Add a Chapter Newsletter
Photo Gallery

13. Print your Chapter’s Membership Book

15. Member Listing Section

16. Print postcards to members

18. Print a letter

19. M-112 in MS EXCEL FORMAT

20. M-112 IN DISPLAY