Convention Update

CONVENTION NEWS

Below are some of the highlights of the 122nd Moose International Covention held in Nashville, TN - July 3-7.

Nashville- July 3: Bill Airey, Director General of Moose International, in a joint session, set the tone of the 122nd International Convention by stating that the organization's financial picture has improved from the previous year; the investment portfolios have improved ~25%; and the there may be no need to raise the per capita fee in 2011. Currently the the Lodge per capita fee is $30 and rises to $32 in September.

Beginning last month MI started to mail membership cards daily. Prior to that they were mailed weekly. The change will speed up the process of you getting your card. This in combination of paying your dues online, will reduce the time even more. To pay online go to www.mooseintl.org ; find the tag "Pay Dues Online" and click on it. A window opens requesting tyour Moose ID number found on your card. Enter your info and follow the prompts. It is just that easy.

For the year, the number of insurance claims decreased alonging the carriers to reduce the risk pool requirements. This means that Lodge saw a 10% reduction in their premiums over the previous year. More money for the Lodge.

He announced that he was excited about the 65 changes to the General Laws, one which allows the Officers of the WOTM Chapter to become part of the House Committee. The revised General Laws will be available in August.

Finally he announce the new Membership Campaign to the Year. The new slogan is: "The Time Is Now". The time is now to become a leader, abide by your pledge to strengthen the fraternity by talking up the fraternity to your family and friends and finding out why members are not renewing.

Why Members are not paying their dues.

Nashville - July 5: Shawn Baile, Director of Membership reported that membership retention is a major issue, one that musy be corrected. Since May1, 2009, the membership has declined more than 47,000 or 6.6% of the membership. This decline requires the attention of every member who has sponsored any applicant. Moose International, in an attempted to find out members are not paying their dues, has been sending out emails to delinquent members asking why they are not paying their dues.

Moose International has been compiling the responses and presented the results to the attendees at the Convention. Here are the top ten reasons for not paying their dues.

10 – No time to devote to the Lodge

9 – Health issues

8 – Dropping a multiple membership

7 – Member is unemployed and can’t justify the expense

6 – The smoking situation in the Lodge home

5 – The Lodge increased annual dues

4 – Member moved out of the area

3 – No longer interested in holding membership

2 – Current state of the economy

And the number one reason delinquent members gave for not renewing their dues – they are not happy with the way their Lodge is being managed.

Now when we say, “not happy with the way the Lodge is being managed”, it does not mean the operation of the Social Quarters in all cases. Some responses did specifically cite unfriendly or unfair treatment by bartenders and wait staff, a lack of activities or social events; cliques and infighting not indictative of a fraternity that speaks of fraternalism and caring for fellow members; and finally, leadership focused on personal agendas and preference rather than making decisions that would benefit the membership as whole and ensure the future of the Lodge.

Shawn continued to state that the Lodge and its members need to focus finding out why their members are not paying their dues and take immediate action to resolve the issues. Warren's membership is down more than the 6.6% average, do you feel that many of the above reasons are why this it happening at our Lodge? We would like to hear your thoughts on this. Use the contact form on this site to express your feelings. Click here to send us your thoughts.

Warren Moose Family Center 109

Creating Some Interest