Membership Tune-up

Lindenmueller token | public domain

Ladies and Gentlemen, once again I must ask you to indulge me the excuse of “Can’t do Everything at once.” In a perfect world, I would send out renewal requests about 60 days before your membership is due to renew, and then if renewal is not received by the end of the month of renewal, I would send a reminder and request to renew. As membership lapses, I would continue to remind you to renew until you either renewed or told me to go away—fortunately, the latter doesn’t happen very often, and the process has recovered some people more than 25 years after they last donated. It gives us a working membership with just over 500 people. We are seeing a gradual increase in support both in terms of dollars donated for membership and numbers of members year over year.

“Our Little Monitor” Civil War token | public domain

 

As happened in 2015 before the release of The Civil War: A Traveler’s Guide, the run-up to the completion and release of An Explorer’s Guide to America’s Revolutionary War has disrupted normal paperwork, and I have allowed many folks to run past-due without asking their renewal. Upcoming renewals due in October, November, and December (through January 2023) are critical elements of our 2022 operational budget. I need to recover those funds and get folks up-to-date with their memberships—more than 150 people will be involved.

Last year we continued a trend of annual membership support that had increased about 12% per year. Our target for 2022 is $112,000—because of my poor administrative discipline we are right around $60,000 received with 2 3/4 months left in the year. IF BGES MEMBERS RENEW AS EXPECTED WITH A NUMBER INCREASING THEIR DONATIONS TO THE REQUESTED LEVEL, we should end the year in excellent shape and will make our budgetary goal. Please be on the lookout for your renewal request and, if able, be prompt in replying and generous. It is essential to keep us going in a cash positive environment.

DUBOSE RANGERS was previously known as our Quarterguard Program, named in honor of our most loyal donor David Dubose, who passed in February 2021. It is a means of increasing the size of your donation to the BGES by splitting it out over a number of equal payments. For Dave and now his wife, Trish, it involved a fixed monthly gift that started at $20 a month in 1996 and was $73 a month by the time of his death. Our goal is to receive 25% of our membership revenue from this program with 10% of our members participating—at current membership that would be 50 to 55 people. We currently have about 20 enrolled. If you could entertain that form of contributing, please let me know by email at bgesexecutivedirector@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your support.