Idea to get more young members in HET

Dan, I thought I would point out that the Studebaker Club's junior membership was the same price as their 2nd class mail price. Our second class mail membership is $30 and our First Class is $43. Their first class mail membership is $60. I would love to know how many young folks they attract with this. Much like our club, they are constrained by the cost of producing our magazine to be able to discount any membership that does not include the magazine. They offer a membership only for $10.

US Rates
Regular Membership with Periodicals-Class Mail:
New Members, First Year Only.............................$24.00 USD
Regular Membership Renewal..............................$31.00 USD
Student/Young Adult (to age 22).........................$24.00 USD
Turning Wheels subscription only.........................$24.00 USD
Regular Membership with First-Class Mail............$60.00 USD

No Magazine - Membership Only..........................$10.00 USD

Dan, I failed to applaude you for your sponsorship of your son's friend. This is the type of thing that our members need to do. It is hard for the HET Club to do anything financially due to the tight budget. Same goes for any type of scholarship. We keep our membership cost low and therefore dont have a lot of wiggle room. If every member looked for a younger enthusiast and purchased a membership for them we would start to foster some continuity between generations. I will be sponsoring my younger son with a membership to give him a closer connection with the Club as well.

I hestitate to even make comments on the forum since discussions have a tendency to take negative turns and there is always a potential for those posting to lack restraint in posting. But since new membership and retention of current membership is the highest priority we have in the club, I appreciate this discussion and the current tenor of this thread.

RonS I thought I would address some of your suggestions. First, I often hear of references to "the Club" taking certain actions. It is important for members to understand that NOTHING happens in the club without the invaluable support of volunteers. So anytime a member suggests any type of activity that "the Club" should do, my first question is: "Are you willing to lead this, organize, seek supporting voluteers and put this into play?" A good suggestion without a willingness to run it or to find someone to run it, is just a good suggestion.

Second, I would love to have the ability to hand out memberships. The reality is that anytime there is a cost, we have to be able to track and check to see that the expediture has an equal or greater return. This requires a volunteer to do that work which requires someone willing to do the work. I would also love to advertise in all the auto magazines, but they also have a cost and therefore requires an equal or greater return in order to ensure that the advertizing dollars are well spent. An organization that spends more to attract people than the dollars that it brings in on membership dues and at the same time paying the fixed costs of membership (in our case, WTN publishing and mailing) will not be around very long and does not do right by its membership.

The best way of doing this is for each member, who finds an interested person, to sponsor a membership. The member then, has an interest in the prospective member and can intereact personally with them. They can invite the prospetive member to meets and encourage them. This is a grass roots approach and has been the main reason for our clubs growth and success until today.

I like the scholarship idea but this would be better sponsored by individuals who have the funds to do this and have a local relationship with a community college. Wonderful idea but the cost is not feasible for our Club.

As always I am looking for volunteers who are interested in working on these types of initiatives at the local level. What the New Membership Committee is looking at is how can the National Club support Chapters in their membership activities. We are also looking at putting controls in place so that we can measure the effectiveness of the small amount of advertising we can afford. However the key element of all of our membership activities is members reaching out to prospective members they meet.

Thanks RonS for your suggestions.

Alex, thanks for your comments. My 29 is out of the garage as much as possible. I agree, you gotta drive them.