Membership
trends and dues
by Bill Goichberg
USCF dues are too high. We once could successfully address financial problems by raising membership fees, and I supported increases before becoming Executive Director, but this method no longer works. The most recent dues hikes effective January 2003 provided short term help, but caused a sharp downward membership trend which would have been disastrous if not reversed. USCF lost 7566 Full Adult members in 8 years (1995-2002), then 4014 more in just 14 months (1/03-2/04). After the changes I initiated in 3/04 (Activity Means Members program, $38 promotional memberships, better written and more frequent renewal mailings), we actually showed a net gain of 47 full adults in the following 12 months, and Full plus Economy declined by only 446 compared to 3445 in the previous 14 months.
The following chart shows membership totals for our largest categories as of the beginning of March each year since 1989, plus those at the beginning of January 2003, when the dues increases went into effect. Beginning January 2003 an Economy Scholastic membership without a magazine was also offered- "M" indicates magazine, "NM" no magazine.
Full Adult Youth Schol/M Schol/NM Total Scholastic
3/89 29730 4243 1907
3/90 28425 4271 2955
3/91 30112 4718 5097
3/92 30095 4933 10118
3/93 31291 5128 16207
3/94 31783 5393 20103
3/95 32799 6670 25224
3/96 31869 8579 26684
3/97 30741 9679 28199
3/98 29566 10725 29087
3/99 28497 12147 28602
3/00 28135 13325 31749
3/01 27073 12570 35196
3/02 25727 11858 38302
1/03 25109 12338 42264 1 42265
3/03 24808 12661 40641 2025 42666
3/04 21095 11883 23338 16936 40274
3/05 21142
10755 19631 16339
35970
The $38 promotional membership for
new or returning adults has been an important factor, and we must reduce other
dues as well. I suggested dues reduction to the Executive Board prior to the
2004 annual meetings and their response was generally favorable, including
approval of a proposed $2 online discount, but at Fort Lauderdale they couldn't
find the time to discuss this important topic in order to make a recommendation
to the Delegates. My motion for a $4 Regular decrease and $2 Youth decrease
would probably have been approved were it not for unexpected Board opposition.
Instead, the proposal was referred to the Board with the suggestion that they
could enact lower dues as promotional memberships. The Board ignored the
idea.
We urgently need these decreases, to accelerate Adult gains and reverse our Youth decline (down 13% since 1/03). And Scholastic, our fastest growing category until 2003, is now shrinking, and also needs the reinvigoration of a $2 reduction. This would bring the online cost to affiliates down to $13, the same price as Economy Scholastic, a category that should be abolished (membership without a publication has a poor renewal rate). From 2000 through 2002 we gained 12,632 Scholastic members, all with a publication. Since the changes of 1/03 (Scholastic dues raise, new Economy Scholastic category, ending of separate scholastic publication), we have lost 22,633 of our 42,264 Scholastic members with a publication! It was hard enough to convert Scholastic members into eventual Adult members before, but we did covert some, and this is far harder to do with kids who receive nothing from USCF but a membership card.
Do not be concerned that USCF would lose money on $13 Scholastic memberships with 6 issues of a publication; the cost (magazine plus processing) of adding each such member should be only about $7 to $8 (roughly $4.50 to $5.50 for the magazine, $2 to $3 for processing).
Even considering Scholastic plus Economy, we are down by 6295 kids since January 2003. The changes made at that time are not working and must be reversed. We should also consider returning to a separate School Mates if we can afford to, but it should be for the elementary age group (Under 11 or Under 12), rather than Under 15 as before. The School Mates insert in Chess Life every two months has not seemed to be effective in regaining Scholastic members.
Just as
the dues increase of Jan 2003 made money for USCF that year but set in motion an
unacceptable long term trend, I expect that a dues decrease now will lose money
in its first year but create a favorable trend for the long term and ultimately
be profitable. We must look ahead and choose growth over stagnation.