CATTLE RAISERS COMMUNITY
Of things that concern cattle raisers…
MEMBER NOTES
Membership Growth… Why? By Claude Koontz, Association Promotion Committee chair
E
ACH MAY, TEXAS AND SOUTH- western Cattle Raisers As-
sociation (TSCRA) convenes a two-day Leader Conference in Fort Worth to allow new direc-
tors, committee chairs and co-chairs, Young Leadership Series (YLS) Steering Committee members, Special Ranger supervisors, senior staff and offi cers to meet, network and collaborate on TSCRA functions. Among the topics covered are leader orientation,
media training, Association Promotion Committee plan- ning, political and industry overviews, and strategic plan review. During this year’s meeting, we were asked to split into 5 groups and focus on 1 of the 5 goals in TSCRA’s strategic plan. Those goals are: 1) Increase membership through better recruitment and retention practices
2) Maintain and protect association fi nancial stability 3) Make TSCRA more attractive to members and in- crease member involvement
4) Focus association resources to help members be more successful in their businesses
5) Enhance TSCRA’s ability to communicate about TSCRA and the cattle industry to various audiences Our group focused on the membership and recruit-
ment goal. First, we reviewed some statistics: • Members with 50 head or fewer account for 62 per-
cent of all memberships Clearly we are not only for “big ranchers”
• TSCRA members own or manage 38 percent of
cattle in Texas Signifi cant room for TSCRA growth
• 82 percent of new members come from events like
ranch gatherings and Ranching 101 These events are proving very effective
10 The Cattleman July 2016
• The average for terminated memberships is 9.8 years
Some of former members simply forgot to renew and plan to rejoin
For others, we need to better and more consistently communicate the long-term value of TSCRA membership
• Total money spent annually on postage for mem- ber/prospective member events: $103,000. We discussed at great length the need for the
organization to grow organically or from within — current members and directors being the key drivers of new member growth. We identifi ed a need to create a culture of looking
outward rather than inward or, paraphrasing Presi- dent Kennedy, “How can I help the association?” as opposed to “What can the association do for me?” To create a culture where members and directors
are motivated to actively solicit new members, we, as leaders, need to better defi ne to our membership why we are pushing so hard in terms of activities (50-plus ranch gatherings each year) and money ($100,000-plus on postage alone) to build TSCRA membership. We asked the offi cers to submit 3 or 4 specifi c
reasons they believe TSCRA is focused on member growth. We will meet, review the responses and determine the 3 reasons that best describe our drive for membership growth. These reasons will be presented at the TSCRA
Summer Meeting on June 18. In addition, we will use this column in coming months to provide more detail around why TSCRA is so focused on member- ship growth. Until then, enjoy your summer and we will see you at a ranch gathering in your area.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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