Section 1 | Membership

Membership is a difficult issue for many groups, as most do not want to charge students a membership fee. There are benefits and disadvantages to each option. For all members, you should keep the following in mind:

• How to become a member should be defined in your constitution or bylaws.
  
• Put all members on an e-mail announcement list to keep them informed of upcoming events.
  
• Keep track of members with a database or spreadsheet.
  
• Consider creating a suggested membership fee for students, and perhaps a mandatory one for non-student members.
  
• If you have the time and means, create membership cards and other incentives.
  
• Have an officer or volunteer in charge of tracking membership to keep things updated and organized.

Paid Membership
Having dues or a membership renewal fee offers your community a chance to literally buy into your group and show support. If you must pay to be a member, consider what the perks of membership might be. For example, paying members may get to vote, receive an additional newsletter, and/or be invited to members-only events. If you are worried that asking for money will preclude people from membership, create a scholarship program. Members who may be able to give more can donate to the scholarship fund to help sponsor others. Be careful - some people may be self conscious about their financial status, so it is important to have a way to inquire about scholarships anonymously, and to keep scholarship recipients confidential.

Students for Freethought at The Ohio State University uses a three-tiered membership system:

• General Membership is free and everyone can join, student and non-student alike.
  
• Voting Membership is only available to OSU students. It costs $5.00, gives voting privileges, discounts on merchandise, and entry into periodical prize drawings.
  
• Donor Membership is available to everyone and requires a minimum donation of $20.00. Because of university policy, donors cannot have voting privileges unless they are OSU students, but all donors receive front-row seating at special events, first notification of special dinners and fundraisers, discounts on merchandise, and honorary mention on the group website if desired.

Andy Lyman-Buttler, former SSA board member and former leader of the University of Minnesota's C.A.S.H. tells us about his group's formal membership system:

Andy Lyman-Buttler

How much do members pay?
Students pay $5; non-students are eligible for membership, and they pay $10.

What does your group do with the money? (CASH also gets quite a bit of money from its school.)
Really, it's just part of the overall budget, so it's going towards all the things we budget for. The money is actually an important revenue stream for several reasons. First, when we apply for fees, funding and grants, the committees that award those like to see that your organization is capable of attracting funding from other sources. If x number of people are willing to pay $5 for membership, that's basically x people voting with their wallets that the group is worth funding. The money coming in from dues is not insubstantial; in 2007, we had 100 members. Around 1/4 of our members were non-students, and a few students voluntarily contributed more than the "recommended" membership level. That worked out to about $700 in dues alone. It's nice to have money that doesn't have strings attached. Every once in a while a project might not fall under the guidelines of fees, grants, or other funding sources...or perhaps you don't have time to write a grant!

What are membership benefits? Do you exclude non-paying members from certain activities? How do you get people to pay?
Members are entitled to vote for officers, run for board positions, check out materials from our fabulous freethought library, attend board meetings, make motions, etc. Also, some "fun" events (our annual year-end picnic, bowling night, etc.) are members-only. Membership becomes effective when payment is received, so by definition all members are paid up.

Why did your group enact this system? Did it need more funds to run?
The dues system is pretty old and predates any formal grant or fees funding our group receives. We keep it in place to demonstrate that our members think CASH is worth paying for, even if it's just a small amount.