AFTER 11 YEARS, USCF ADULT MEMBERSHIP
FINALLY UP FOR A WHOLE YEAR!
by Bill Goichberg
One year ago, I wrote in the USCF Delegates
Call, “We have been facing a vicious cycle. At our current adult dues level,
membership continues to decline, which in turn causes clubs and tournaments to
fold, which produces further membership decline, etc. We urgently need to turn
this cycle around, but since our finances are not as good as we would like, we
wait until they are better. But they never seem to be good enough, and it’s hard
to have strong financial results when Adult membership keeps declining... We
should not tolerate the continued erosion of our valuable Adult membership base
while we wait for the perfect moment to take this long overdue step.”
Subsequently, the Executive Board took the courageous step of announcing a
six-month dues sale, which offered one year full Adult membership for $39 if
paid online, between October 2006 and March 2007. The combination of the dues
sale, our improved publications and website, and more and better renewal
mailings appears to have succeeded in increasing Adult membership during a
fiscal year for the first time since 1995, after 11 consecutive years of
substantial decline which saw us lose about 40% of our Adult members.
The following table tells the story. Note that until August 2006, there was a
“Youth” category for age 20 or below at expiration paying about half the Adult
fee; in 2006 this category was changed to “Young Adult” for age 25 or below at
expiration. So even though we have apparently lost 314 “Adult” members in the
past year, actually these and others have simply been reclassified as “Young
Adult,” and if we compare Adults age 25 or up with the same group last year, we
have a gain of 551 members.
Adult members as of May 31
(Includes Economy Adult 2001 to date; that membership was abolished by the
delegates in 2004 but still has a few multiyear members)
All Age 25/up
1992 29730
1993 31311
1994 31766
1995 32892
1996 31792
1997 29997
1998 29418
1999 28529
2000 27593
2001 26582 24852
2002 25384 23677
2003 23988 22308
2004 21915 20261
2005 21212 19601
2006 20399 18848
2007 20085 19399
Notes:
1) The age 25/up figures are estimates assuming that members with birth date
unknown, about 7% of the total, have the same percentage of age 25/up as those
with known birth date.
2) Prison members were part of the Adult category until 2003-2004. As a result,
the totals prior to 2003 are probably inflated by 500-1000, and the 2003 total
by about 300-600, compared to the years after 2003. Even considering this, we
lost an average of clearly over 1000 Adults per year in the 11 years following
1995.
3) “Economy Adult” memberships without a publication were offered 2001-2004
without success. See below.
4) Additional Family members who are age 25/over increased by about 100 in each
year 2006 and 2007. This is not reflected in the above numbers.
The financial impact of the dues sale was apparently slightly negative for the
2007 fiscal year. Our cash position has improved by almost $80,000 due mainly to
an increase in multiyear memberships, but half the two-year income and
two-thirds of the three-year income must be deferred for the future, both to do
proper accounting and to assure us a cash cushion to guard against unexpected
problems. As some of these multiyear members would otherwise have renewed late
or not at all, the deferred revenue from the dues sale should help boost our
2008 and 2009 membership revenue. There is also the hidden benefit that whether
one year or multi, when the dues sale members expire, many will renew, while
with higher dues, most dropping out as a result would be unlikely to return.
After the end of the $39 dues sale on March 31, the Executive Board started
another dues sale at a slightly higher rate, $41 for online purchases. I favored
continuing the $39 rate which is a proven winner, but also feel that players and
affiliates are confused by too frequent changes in rates, so am sponsoring a
motion to place the current $41 online rate into our Bylaws. As the rate would
remain $49 for mailed or phoned purchases, affiliates may in effect obtain an $8
commission by selling memberships for $49 at clubs or tournaments and submitting
them to USCF online.
OVERALL MEMBERSHIP ALSO TURNS AROUND
Other membership categories, mostly for young people, have recovered nicely
after a two-year period of collapse following the dues increases, unfortunate
experiment with economy memberships, and suspension of a scholastic publication
in 2003. See table below; our gain of 1204 members this fiscal year was the
largest in four years.
May 31 Dec 31
1988 53205
52153
1989 51596
51105
1990 52577
54623
1991 57667
58454
1992 63403 (A) 67613
1993 68831
72014
1994 73565
79021
1995 81636
83598
1996 83155
84047
1997 83291
84791
1998 84929
85250
1999 84160
86299
2000 86109
88569
2001 87956 (B) 90005
2002 89282
94937
2003 90637 (C) 89925
2004 85856
83091
2005 80334
81792
2006 80623 (D) 82755
2007 81827
Notes:
A) Effective 1/1/92, free JTPs were no longer allowed for most scholastic
tournaments.
B) Non-magazine economy option offered for adults, 2001-2004. About 5600 adult
members (full plus economy) were lost during this period.
C) Start of higher dues and Economy Scholastic memberships, Chess Life replaced
School Mates for Scholastic members.
D) Chess Life for Kids started for Scholastic members, Economy Scholastic
category ended.
Home