Board of Directors Meeting

February 1, 2008 – Membership Briefing

Ladies, we have an exciting year ahead of us.  In fact, we have an exciting two years ahead of us.  To make it even more exciting we need to make “Membership a Lifestyle, not an Event!”

Political candidates can debate, they can sling mud, they can shake hands and kiss babies – but what they cannot do, is argue with the FACTS!  The fact is, in politics it all comes down to votes.  The success of the Republican Party of Texas comes down to the number of people who strongly identify with our party and vote.

Like it or not, fair or unfair, success is defined by facts, not feelings, not rationalizations, but by facts.  Whether our feelings match up with this or not, whether we like it or not, our success as leaders of Republican Women in Texas has to be measured by the number of women we can get to identify themselves as a Republican Woman.  That equals Membership!

·         A fact is that TFRW membership equals votes.

·         A fact is that we ended 2007 with 10,530 members.

·         A fact is that we that need more members to have more votes.  We are setting a goal of increasing members by 24% in 24 months.  Sounds like a lot, but if you have a club with 100 members then you need only ONE new member a month.

There is good news and there is bad news.

Good news: We have two new clubs to welcome, Rusk RW and Sachse RW.

Bad news: Three clubs defederated. Allen Area, Edge of Texas and McKinney Area RW.

To grow, we need to keep the clubs we already have and add more clubs.

Good news:  Seven clubs have more members today than they ended with in 2007.  Congratulations to: Alvin Area, Anne Armstrong, Lubbock Area, Mesquite, North Collin County, Pecan Valley and Walker County RW.  Great job!

Good news:  Three clubs have 100% of last year’s number: Brush Country, San Jacinto and Spirit of Goliad RW.

More Good news:  47 clubs have over 50% of last year’s number and here is the really good news, I won’t read the list of their names.

Bad news:  We still have a long way to go to reach last year’s total.  To date, only 4,010 of the 10,530 members have renewed.  We can rationalize and say it is only Feb 1, but the fact is we should have had 10,530 members on Jan 1 when the dues were due.

Good news:  We are all intelligent, energetic women and we will not only match last year’s membership numbers, we will surpass them.  How?  By recruiting new members and increasing membership by 24% in 24 months.

Communication is a key to successful membership.  Please stay in touch with your Club Presidents and Membership Chairman and help them get their renewals in and help them set a goal to grow your club and TFRW.  If you want to know how many members in your club have renewed, please see me during a break.  If you plan to attend the Membership Workshop, then you will learn a few tips to grow your clubs.

So to wrap it up. What’s our goal? 24% in 24 months!

What’s our Membership theme? Membership is a Lifestyle, not an Event!

Thank you for your time today, now let’s get out there and recruit new members!