Message from the NAR President: Membership Campaign

It's Time for Us to Grow

By Trip Barber, NAR 4322, NAR President

Our membership has been in the range of 4500 or so for several years. It’s time for us to grow back to where we were in the late 1990’s, before the long successful legal battle against BATFE: 5200 members. We won the battle against BATFE and are free of their burdensome regulation. We have a great organization that offers the best membership value in the hobby. It’s time to get back on track and regain the members we need to support the new services and programs that you want.

Growing our NAR membership will not just happen; we need everyone to help. In order to help focus us all on what we need to do, the NAR Board has decided to conduct our first-ever membership-growth campaign between January 1, 2010 and the first day of NARAM-52, July 30, 2010. Our goal is to reach 5200 members by NARAM-52: “52 by 52”. I ask for your help in recruiting new NAR members to help us reach this goal.

Our membership drive was organized and is being led by Carol Marple, the new chair of our Membership Committee. She is being assisted by Todd Schweim and Jeff Taylor, but what we are doing will involve many people beyond this committee. Here are the major elements of the drive:

• Several manufacturers have agreed to support it through kit stuffers; through banner ads on their websites that direct people to the “Join the NAR” page of our website
• Three manufacturers have agreed to provide free products (rocket kits by Semroc and Quest and a rocketry hat by Aerotech) that will be mailed directly from them to new members who join during the campaign. This is $30 of rocketry products, free!
• Sections will be sent a supply of color tri-fold NAR brochures with their 2010 renewal packets, and are asked to use them at launches, hobby stores, and public events. You can get more if you need them simply by asking NAR headquarters. Sections will continue to get a $5 bonus for each person of growth in their total count of NAR members
• Members who recruit a new member will get a $5 cash incentive if that new member provides their recruiter’s name and NAR number on their application. If you need a personal supply of NAR brochures to be a better recruiter, ask NAR headquarters.
• Nationally we will put publicity announcements in publications and popular online forums, send NAR delegations to run booths at several major educator conventions, and enhance our web presence.

Persuading people to part with money that could buy rockets in order to buy membership in a rocketry association instead is not always easy. It takes a little bit of salesmanship and a lot of belief in the value proposition of our organization. Don’t be shy about saying it: we’re not only the world’s first and largest rocketry organization; we are the best value in the hobby. Here is what we offer our members in exchange for their dues:

• Great insurance that is primary coverage and that is valid anywhere in the US, any time, not just at organized launches
• The best magazine in the hobby: 48 all-color pages 6 times a year, at no extra charge beyond their dues
• A 60-page Member Guidebook full of how-to articles and rocketry reference information
• A monthly electronic newsletter
• Extremely effective representation of members’ interests with federal agencies and national safety organizations
• High-power user certification through Level 3
• Participation in organized national and international competition programs, individual skill-development programs, and education programs that no other organization offers
• Free kits and other merchandise when they join during the period of our drive

Please help us make your NAR a better organization with better member services by being an active recruiter for new NAR members. If you have additional ideas for things that we could do nationally to make our recruiting more effective, or ideas for recruiting initiatives that others could pursue at the local level, please share them with Carol Marple at cjmarple@peoplepc.com or with me at president@nar.org. It will take all of us working together to reach our goal: 52 by 52. Let’s go get it done!

Be safe, have fun and pay forward in your rocketry activities.

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