Membership Blog

VFC-MemberStats-Jun2017-LongVers
VFC-MemberStats-Jul2017-LongVers-2

Membership Totals
For June, Areas III and VI had the least decline in total membership – at -8.8%.  The Virginia Federation (VFC) overall was down almost -13% in Chapter membership, and down only -3.6% when the National Division members living in Virginia are counted.

On a year-t0-date basis, 9 Chapters either had a net increase in membership or showed a net decline of -5% or less:  2265 Midlothian (-4.7%), 1293 Churchland (-2.6%), 1697 Brentwood (+13.4%), 1837 Wilderness Trail (-4.2%), 1793 Page Valley (-1.9%), 2358 Shenandoah County (+1.8%), 2112 Caroline (no decrease), 1159 Annandale (+19.2%) and 489 McLean (+13.6%).

For July, Area VI again had the least decline in membership — -9.7%, and Area III was second, at -10%.  The VFC overall was down -15%, but down only -5% when the National Division members are added in.

With the exception of Chapter 1837 Wilderness Trail, the same eight Chapters had a net increase in membership or showed a net decline of -5% or less in July.  Chapter 2065 Louisa came close with a net -5.5% decline.

Prospect Conversion Ratios (# of New Members/# of Prospects Referred by HQ)
For both June and July, Area VI had the highest Prospect Conversion Ratio — 39% and 40%; Area VII was second with 33%.  The Ratio for the VFC overall was only 10% to 10.5%.

In June, seven Chapters had Prospect Conversion Ratios of 40% or higher:  685 Colonial Williamsburg, 1823 Northern Neck, 1510 Imperial Plaza, 1293 Churchland, 1793 Page Valley, 2358 Shenandoah County, and 2112 Caroline.  These same Chapters – plus 2265 Midlothian and 1885 Lake of the Woods – had Ratios above 40% for July.

On the down side, for both June and July, 16 Chapters had Prospect Conversion Rations of 5% or less.  In fact, 15 of these Chapters had zero or one new members YTD, despite HQ having referred as many as 60-80 Prospects to some of these Chapters.

CONCLUSION:  For many Chapters, contacting and converting Prospects to members is a major issue.

Retention Ratios (# of Reinstatements/# of Non-Renews)
For June, Area VII had the highest Reinstatement Ratio (52%); Area X was second (36%).  Area VII also had the highest ratio for July (49%); Area VI was second (39%).  The ratio for the VFC overall for both months was 32% to 33%.

15 Chapters had Retention Ratios of 40% or higher in June, and 13 Chapters met this mark in July.   2079 Southside had the highest Retention Ratio (75%) for both months.  The other Chapters are:  682 Peninsula, 2265 Midlothian, 1293 Churchland,  1743 Suffolk, 110 Lynchburg, 111 Roanoke Valley, 135 Charlottesville, 164 Harrisonburg, 180 Winchester, 1549 Fauquier, 2065 Louisa, 1159 Annandale, 1270 Woodbridge, 7 Arlington, 1116 Vienna, 1665 Metro Northern Virginia.

Notice that most of the Chapters who met the 40% mark for Retention Ratios did not meet the 40% mark for Prospect Conversion Ratios — and vice versa.  CONCLUSION: For some Chapters, more work is needed on how to contact renewing members — both before and after the renewal date has passed.

BJ Thomas McMillan
VFC Membership Chair