Membership Committee 2014 Report

The Membership Committee has prepared the following contribution to NASPA's 2014 collection of reports on committee activity.

Hello, My name is Mad Palazzo and I am the chair of the membership committee along with 2 members John Robertson and Tony Leah.

Just a brief summary on some facts about the membership committee: As of today NASPA currently has 5,375 members with 2,378 active members. In the last year NASPA has signed up 392 members.

Since the inception of NASPA in 2009 I am proud to say that we have not increased our dues. We have easy on line payments or if you are not computer savvy you can mail in a cheque to NASPA. With the various NASPA memberships that are offered there is something for everyone.

• $30 for a 1 year regular membership
• Early renewals, 1 month before expiration at savings of $5 cost is $25
• If purchasing more than 1 year, years 2 to 5 are a discount rate of $25
• New members who are not sure about being a member we have a trial membership at a cost of $15 for 5 months and then if you decide you like you can pay another $15 to get the full membership
• If you only play in 1 tournament a year you can purchase a 1 week membership for $19
• If you are under 18 the cost is $15 for a year
• You can purchase a life time membership at a cost of $20 per every year from your expiration to the age of 80
• If you are older than 80 a free membership you is offer.
• We offer vanity membership numbers at a cost of $50 as long as the membership number is not taken.

As a benefit NASPA does send out reminder emails to let you know that your membership is about to expire so that you can take advantage of the early membership renewal discount.

Currently, we there are 151 sanctioned scrabble clubs that meet weekly throughout North America giving you the opportunity to attend a club near your home and to meet other scrabble players.

As the chair of the membership committee we are always looking for creative ideas on how to boost our membership. Here is an example of how Club #3 has increased NASPA membership:

• “At Club #3 what we are getting an extra $1 from each player weekly. If they attend 50% of the sessions they get a new or renewal membership to NASPA. It’s a great way to get members to join who may feel that the cost might be too much upfront. This year we renewed 33 members.”

Awesome work Club #3!!!

If any director or club has done anything similar please let me know so that we can share with others.

One last comment and this is for all directors and members: PLEASE ensure that your profile information is correct in our NASPA database. I would hate to see any one of our members miss out on any updates because we had an incorrect email address, phone number or address.

On that note anyone who wishes to join the membership committee or has any ideas big or small that they wish to present, please email me at mad4u@sympatico.ca.

Thank you for reading.

For more details on membership dues visit our website: http://scrabbleplayers.org/w/Membership For more details on where to find a club near you visit our website: http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/w/Club_roster

Cheers Mad, Co-Chair