Membership Committee meeting

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) membership is at 88% of 2002’s total membership. The amount of revenue brought in is at 93% of the total from 2002. At the summer 2002 NCBA meeting, a plea was made for donations to fund NCBA’s budget, which is in a severe deficit, and $277,068 has been brought in to date.

The NCBA’s declining membership is a concern for all involved. Merial has joined NCBA in a membership sponsorship — if you join the NCBA by March 1, 2003, they will give you a free 50 mL bottle of Ivomec, or a free 250 mL bottle of Ivomec Pour-on.

Melanie Daye, an NCBA representative, spoke about the Top-Hand Club, which rewards members who recruit more members. She said that state and individual members have questioned if the program is costing money. She says there are some management issues that need to be addressed, but that the program needs to go through a restructuring in the management as well. They want to encourage people to utilize the program, because it rewards members who are bringing in new members.

Ideas on how to boost membership were discussed. A new dues proposal was presented that would streamline the dues program, which would create a more simple and fair dues structure. Its goal is to increase membership numbers and revenue. The goal of the new dues proposal would instill a feeling of ownership for the NCBA in its members.

No action will take place until the mid-year meeting in July to give members a chance to read over the proposal and think about how they can make it work in their states.

Other short-term ideas for recruiting new members include more personal outreach to connect with producers, provide a membership pitch and video/brochures at every regional meeting, change "member" to "owner" on the membership application, and create a one page results summary and comment card to attach to dues invoices to keep members up-to-date on how the NCBA is working for them.

Long-term ideas to recruit membership include creating a multi-year membership option and offering membership to younger people and families.

The NCBA funds are falling severely under their budget, and last year they had a $1.3 million deficit. The membership committee said that this was partially due to membership numbers being down.

The committee said that for the NCBA to meet its budget, $4 million needs to be brought in from dues, which is part of the reason for restructuring the budget. (Last year dues brought in about $2.5 million.)

Producers on the membership committee also encouraged members to go out and recruit people to join NCBA. One member proposed that if every member recruited another member for the next year, it would solve the problem of declining membership numbers. J.D. Fitzpatrick, a Top-Hand Club member who recruited 143 members this year said that in order to recruit members you have to sell a product. "Motivate the person on what the NCBA can do for them and then sell it to them," he said. "All it takes is a little effort."

-- Stephanie Veldman