Change the ridiculous rules for Unafilliated Elks. Don't blackball former members who left for good reasons. I can't bring my son to the lodge because he has an absolute demit. The rules are inconsistent. If you are the wife of an elk and join and subsequenty decide to leave, you are returned to non-elk status and can continue to enjoy lodge benefits as a guest. This is not permitted for other members of a family. This is NOT a friendly Elks policy and certaintly hurts Elks membership.
William McIlroy...#222
Very good presentation; well represented. I would strongly encourage "MARKETING" of all lodges, events, programs, facilities, charities, etc People of all classes enjoy social contact with food, drink, and entertainment as the base or center piece; some use a sport, like golf.
Bottom line, no good product, service, or business will survive over time without SALES and MARKETING. Each Lodge should play on the strengths of their individual community and exploit the opportunity(s).
William McIlroy #222 Grand Blanc, Mi
P.S. to above note----Be inclusive, not exclusive to current and past members......bring them in; do not push them away. Sacrifice or bend old rules to bring people into the fold.
Charles Wisher, Tulsa, OK
To increase membership immediately to impressive members,allow current member's spouses to become members automatically within the same amount of dues. By doing this you could increase your numbers by approximately 400,000.
By the numbers ofalone in an organization makes a statement within its self. Spouses will feel more part of the organization and more volunteer work cab't keep from happening.
Also, the image the Elks have taken on is not impressive. The bar and certain behaviors at conventions, etc. are not conductive to Elks.
cliff gilliam puryear tn
i agree with dave from tempe az. i also think that if you all would stop raising the dues every year you would get more members a lot of people can not afford the 70.00 dollar a year price for dues when i first joined the elks my dues was only like 30.00 dollars and now they cost close too 70.00 dollars. i was a member of the alexandria va. lodge #758. that lodge helped me and my family a lot but we had too move out of state and i could not afford too pay my dues so they dropped me i went too va. one time a couple of years ago and they treated me like shit i was going too pay my dues up and become a member again but when they treated me the way they did i said too hell with the elks lodges all together i will not re-join the elks at all as of then . the rules for the elks are differant for every elk they do not follow the rules at all . very dissapointed with the elks / bpoe.
Timothy Eaton
I enjoyed this presentation. I first start in Bremerton Elks 1181 and I am proud to say that Bremerton is an awesome lodge and if any one goes to Washington, stop by and enjoy the lodge. I am currently living in Killeen, Texas a small lodge and we are working hard to grow, and slow learning to change to be that friend/family lodge. I agree, that every Lodge needs to have their calender on the web either on their own home page or the elks.org web page. There is a site of each lodge for pictures and it would be nice to fill that site with the current or past volunteer events the lodge does. This will help show prospective see what the local lodge is actually are involved in and sometime seal their membership.
Richard D. Joyce Sr. LM/PER #663 Lodge#1913
Seems like volunteers are few and far between. High cost of annual dues a very large factor...... Grand Lodge can solved that. Lower their cost?
Collect dures directly.........I only pay American Legion $40. and I send it in six months early. If Grand Lodge takes over dues collection and issues cards, it will make the local Lodge's Secretary much more inviting to new members. At present the Grand has created a computer MONSTER!
Annette Hunter 1905
I agree with most of the previous comments. I dont know if I can afford the $112.00 dues this year. I agree that more marketing needs to be done to bring in more members and bring in younger members. In our lodge there are only a few that will vonenteer their time or money for projects and it is left on their shoulders to fund projects. It is sad that so many of the small lodges can get things done and the larger lodges have members and very few volenteers.
there has to be a way to raise awarness and funds from the general public.
Ted Hess
The presentation by Jim and the ERs is excellent. I am sharing it with the leadership of the states I sponsor.
DENNIS WOOD
ALTHOUGH I DO AGREE WITH SOME THINGS SAID ABOVE I GET TIRED OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THERE DUES BEING TO HIGH. IF YOU WANT YOUR DUES LOWERED TALK TO YOUR TRUSTEES AND SEE HOW MANY NEW MEMBERS IT WOULD TAKE TO GET YOUR DUES LOWERED AND STILL BE ABLE TO PAY THE BILLS. IF I COULDN'T PAY MY DUES I WOULDN,T BE SETTING IN A BAR.
Lorna Endreson
Great presentation. We have to be much more clear about what our members are getting for their dues monies. We have not raised our dues in Portland for a long time, but the $75 seems to be a problem for some and we need to something better for our spouses.
An Elk,Elkette and an Elk Lady
Our lodge has let bartenders and Waitress becomome members. In my opinion, this is not right.
Our Chaplain has had a drinking problem for years, drove without a valid license and has spent as long as 27 days in jail. Because the things he has done, they say all were misdeamonors.
We need good people at the top and pray to God it will filter down.
I am in hot water with the lodge, so I will not sign my name.
Elks National Foundation
Thank you for all of your comments on the Membership session video, which was sponsored by the Elks National Foundation. The ENF set up this forum to encourage Elks members to share thoughts on the tips shared in this video as well as their own tips on what their Lodge’s have done to boost membership. If you have more general concerns, please post them on the Elks message board.
Ron Wylie PER #377 Leechburg,PA
As far as the above dues comments I feel they have to be left up to the individual lodges. There is a large disparity in the average incomes of the towns we have lodges and not all can afford the same dues. Keeping them local adjusts for that. Something we need to address is the length of time from when we receive an application until the member is initiated. Many times this is three to four months. We need to institute a system where a member can come in after they apply until they are rejected or scheduled for initiation. We also need to sell ourselves better in the community. I know in our case everyone is aware of our hoop shoots and drug awareness but they know nothing about our veteran services or our state project. We recently had a cash bash and I spoke briefly on what we do. By the end of the evening we had twelve people ask for applications from members they knew working there.
Dawn, Meriden CT
I think the presentation was great.I would love to see more marketing also. I do agree with some of the comments regarding the low volunteer population however I do not feel the annual dues are a hardship at approximately 8.00 a month. I would like to see more information come down from a local level regarding the programs other lodges participate in that may suit us as well as the ENF grants available to us in the future.
BILL, ST MARIES, ID
INCREASE MEMBERSHIP BY ALLOWING SPOUSES TO JOIN AT A REDUCED RATE. THIS WOULD ALLOW COUPLES TO ATTEND MEETINGS TOGETHER AND GET SOME SCHEDULED ADULT TIME TOGETHER. TOO OFTEN SPOUSES HEAR WHAT ACTIVITIES ARE HAPPENING AFTER THE PLANNING IS OVER AND DO NOT GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOLUNTEER AND GET INVOLVED. THIS LEADS TO A SMALL CORE OF MEMBERS DOING ALL THE WORK AND PLANNING. OUR LODGE HAS 440 MEMBERS IN A "CITY" OF 2500 AND 13% UNEMPLOYMENT. WE WERE GROWING STEADILY UNTIL THE ECONOMY TANKED.
Bob O, Richmond, CA
Must viewing for all Lodge Officers and Membership Committee members. I believe that covers every Elk in the Lodge.
Timothy Eaton Lodge 138
Hello, this is about membership. First we all need to remember that every lodge need members. There are steps each lodge needs to do to raise their membership and the other part is keeping them.
1. I believe each proposer is responsible of the member they bring into the Lodge.
2. To make each lodge sucessful, I believe that each lodge needs away to get everyone to do volunteering in their prospective lodge. Be that ech member through out the year do 30 to 60 events of volunteering in their lodge.
3. My sponser who I call my brother, came by and picked me up and took me to the events I marked on the back of application and volunteered too even if it was not what he was interested in, it was a way to get me to meet other members f the lodge I did not know.
4. What you put into the lodge is what you get out of the lodge.
My only problem about the other 70 percent is that they joined the lodge for:
1. Drinking
2. Dancing
3. Golfing
4. Joined for the R.V.
We need to remind everyone, what the main purpose of the ELKS is, and that is the Community Involvement and Volunteer Work, Kids, and Veterans.
MARIO JANAITIS LODGE 2262
Interesting bits of information which would be helpful to almost any lodge. Problem areas for most elk lodges seem to be sharing of information, inability to adapt to current membership interests, aging membership, cost of membership and lack of member participation. Without a doubt allowing female membership would not only increase finances but it would bring fresh ideas and interesting thought perspectives on board. Without a willingness to change our lodges will remain stagnant and membership will continue to drop.
Jerry Bucci / Trustee 1697 W.W. R.I.
I think one of the problems we face is that we need to be more relevant to the younger generation. To many it is percieved as a good old boy organization where you come to drink. Some of the rules are out of date and no longer relevant to the next generation. Also we should do a better job at convincing people why they should become an Elk. We should reach out and advertise and market nationally the reasons to be a part of Elkdom. I also feel that we should partner with business and companies that produce certain products, to give members some additional incentives to join. Much the way AAA partners and offers discounts to its members. We need to make membership more attractive, and fulfilling to new prospective members.
Rosemary Magnusson, ENF Chmn
Communication, respect and a friendly face--these are important. At bingo last night, I took the mike and more or less said that other than 7 or so present who went to Lodge meetings, the rest knew nothing of what we were doing in the community. So I brought everyone up to date and had one of our projects immediately funded. I didn't ask for money--it just came. And I'll do it again next week. Our State project has been the focus of our Lodge, but ENF and community involvement are growing. I am also on the membership committee. Great presentation.
Greg Peale, SVP, Lodge 1497 Burbank CA
Marketing /Advertising!!!! The Elks are the best kept secret in our communities. Marketing would be especially helpful in a large metroploitan area like we in Burbank are in as there are so many different venues so close to us that are competing for everyones time. We need to make our Lodges more attractive and friendly to younger people and to families. Without the younger members we are dooming ourselves. Dues and the costs of everything are a concern for all, but the dues should be left to each Lodge to determine for themselves based on their size and individual needs.
Brian Johnson
Including a members spouse in the annual dues is great idea, I can't think of a better way to modernize the organization and change our image.
Dues should be determined by each lodge, however many lodges use the dues as an easy way to generate income instead of running 3-4 extra events a year. Lower dues means more members.
I find some of the Elks rules to be too restrictive and inhibit a lodges ability to generate income, my states liquor laws on their own are restrictive enough. I like the traditions and history of the Elks but feel by our reluctance to change we're impeding our own success.
Timothy Eaton, Temple Lodge 138
I have notice from visiting several lodges across the country that the night of initiation is the same time the lodge does the orientation and the only one at the orientation is the member joining. It should be sometime time prior to the initiation night and both husband and wife should be there. The lodge should have their officers, spouse association (Lady of the Elks, Does, Emblem Club), Trustee Committee and the Lodge Secretary, and the proposer there to go over what the Grand Lodge requires and also what your lodge offers and requires. If we can make the right impression the first time the better chances of keeping our new members longer.
Greg Ross, Lodge #2246 Livonia, MI
Very glad to have viewed this video and will be taking these themes back to my Lodge and getting more involved in my activities committee: it's time to put the horse back in front of the cart.
It's very amusing to me that people feel burdened by membership dues, simply because annually, I spend far more on far less. For example: it's rare that I don't eat out twice per week, and at those meals I never tip less than $2-$3. Conservatively, that's $5/week times 52 weeks. If that math doesn't bring them to their senses, then obviously you have a different problem.
Bruce Henry PDD S.S.S.#2730 Fl.
I totally agree with Dave lee on the inconsistent rules of unafilliated elks.Also I think spouses of candidates should be allowed to witness the initiation.Advertizing our product to the community is the best way to sell it to the community.People want top help others they just need direction
Brian lawrence lodge 1784
I think that the Elks National Foundation should send out bulletins to all the other logdges to show them what the four lodges did to experiance membership gains in the last ten years. So the lodges can advertise to the member what was done right.
Donald LaFrance PDD #2855 FL
The presentation included just 4 of the 21 Lodges that had growth in membership. I would like to see a 'composite' of the 21 Lodges showing what they all have in common. The four lodges that were interviewed in this presentation all came from small communities where the membership was by and large composed of continuing generations of a family.
Most of our 2000 plus Lodges do not enjoy this demographic makeup. Are any of the other 21 Lodges that experienced growth in membership from larger metropolitan areas?
Let's face it, our Order grew during the years of 'small town America'. How do we address the problems with population shift from those rural areas to our larger cities as it affects membership?
James Wright #190
Several factors play into increasing membership. Among them is each and every lodge is entirelly different. This brings up the problem of desigining a universal plan for the entire orginization. Certnaly there some commonalites that could be universal to all. Possabilly it could be dynamic leadership, unity in the lodge and some others. With being said I would think the orginization should look into marketing stragities in a waining economy. JMO
29 comments
Change the ridiculous rules for Unafilliated Elks. Don't blackball former members who left for good reasons. I can't bring my son to the lodge because he has an absolute demit. The rules are inconsistent. If you are the wife of an elk and join and subsequenty decide to leave, you are returned to non-elk status and can continue to enjoy lodge benefits as a guest. This is not permitted for other members of a family. This is NOT a friendly Elks policy and certaintly hurts Elks membership.
Very good presentation; well represented. I would strongly encourage "MARKETING" of all lodges, events, programs, facilities, charities, etc People of all classes enjoy social contact with food, drink, and entertainment as the base or center piece; some use a sport, like golf.
Bottom line, no good product, service, or business will survive over time without SALES and MARKETING. Each Lodge should play on the strengths of their individual community and exploit the opportunity(s).
P.S. to above note----Be inclusive, not exclusive to current and past members......bring them in; do not push them away. Sacrifice or bend old rules to bring people into the fold.
To increase membership immediately to impressive members,allow current member's spouses to become members automatically within the same amount of dues. By doing this you could increase your numbers by approximately 400,000.
By the numbers ofalone in an organization makes a statement within its self. Spouses will feel more part of the organization and more volunteer work cab't keep from happening.
Also, the image the Elks have taken on is not impressive. The bar and certain behaviors at conventions, etc. are not conductive to Elks.
i agree with dave from tempe az. i also think that if you all would stop raising the dues every year you would get more members a lot of people can not afford the 70.00 dollar a year price for dues when i first joined the elks my dues was only like 30.00 dollars and now they cost close too 70.00 dollars. i was a member of the alexandria va. lodge #758. that lodge helped me and my family a lot but we had too move out of state and i could not afford too pay my dues so they dropped me i went too va. one time a couple of years ago and they treated me like shit i was going too pay my dues up and become a member again but when they treated me the way they did i said too hell with the elks lodges all together i will not re-join the elks at all as of then . the rules for the elks are differant for every elk they do not follow the rules at all . very dissapointed with the elks / bpoe.
I enjoyed this presentation. I first start in Bremerton Elks 1181 and I am proud to say that Bremerton is an awesome lodge and if any one goes to Washington, stop by and enjoy the lodge. I am currently living in Killeen, Texas a small lodge and we are working hard to grow, and slow learning to change to be that friend/family lodge. I agree, that every Lodge needs to have their calender on the web either on their own home page or the elks.org web page. There is a site of each lodge for pictures and it would be nice to fill that site with the current or past volunteer events the lodge does. This will help show prospective see what the local lodge is actually are involved in and sometime seal their membership.
Seems like volunteers are few and far between. High cost of annual dues a very large factor...... Grand Lodge can solved that. Lower their cost?
Collect dures directly.........I only pay American Legion $40. and I send it in six months early. If Grand Lodge takes over dues collection and issues cards, it will make the local Lodge's Secretary much more inviting to new members. At present the Grand has created a computer MONSTER!
I agree with most of the previous comments. I dont know if I can afford the $112.00 dues this year. I agree that more marketing needs to be done to bring in more members and bring in younger members. In our lodge there are only a few that will vonenteer their time or money for projects and it is left on their shoulders to fund projects. It is sad that so many of the small lodges can get things done and the larger lodges have members and very few volenteers.
there has to be a way to raise awarness and funds from the general public.
The presentation by Jim and the ERs is excellent. I am sharing it with the leadership of the states I sponsor.
ALTHOUGH I DO AGREE WITH SOME THINGS SAID ABOVE I GET TIRED OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THERE DUES BEING TO HIGH. IF YOU WANT YOUR DUES LOWERED TALK TO YOUR TRUSTEES AND SEE HOW MANY NEW MEMBERS IT WOULD TAKE TO GET YOUR DUES LOWERED AND STILL BE ABLE TO PAY THE BILLS. IF I COULDN'T PAY MY DUES I WOULDN,T BE SETTING IN A BAR.
Great presentation. We have to be much more clear about what our members are getting for their dues monies. We have not raised our dues in Portland for a long time, but the $75 seems to be a problem for some and we need to something better for our spouses.
Our lodge has let bartenders and Waitress becomome members. In my opinion, this is not right.
Our Chaplain has had a drinking problem for years, drove without a valid license and has spent as long as 27 days in jail. Because the things he has done, they say all were misdeamonors.
We need good people at the top and pray to God it will filter down.
I am in hot water with the lodge, so I will not sign my name.
Thank you for all of your comments on the Membership session video, which was sponsored by the Elks National Foundation. The ENF set up this forum to encourage Elks members to share thoughts on the tips shared in this video as well as their own tips on what their Lodge’s have done to boost membership. If you have more general concerns, please post them on the Elks message board.
As far as the above dues comments I feel they have to be left up to the individual lodges. There is a large disparity in the average incomes of the towns we have lodges and not all can afford the same dues. Keeping them local adjusts for that. Something we need to address is the length of time from when we receive an application until the member is initiated. Many times this is three to four months. We need to institute a system where a member can come in after they apply until they are rejected or scheduled for initiation. We also need to sell ourselves better in the community. I know in our case everyone is aware of our hoop shoots and drug awareness but they know nothing about our veteran services or our state project. We recently had a cash bash and I spoke briefly on what we do. By the end of the evening we had twelve people ask for applications from members they knew working there.
I think the presentation was great.I would love to see more marketing also. I do agree with some of the comments regarding the low volunteer population however I do not feel the annual dues are a hardship at approximately 8.00 a month. I would like to see more information come down from a local level regarding the programs other lodges participate in that may suit us as well as the ENF grants available to us in the future.
INCREASE MEMBERSHIP BY ALLOWING SPOUSES TO JOIN AT A REDUCED RATE. THIS WOULD ALLOW COUPLES TO ATTEND MEETINGS TOGETHER AND GET SOME SCHEDULED ADULT TIME TOGETHER. TOO OFTEN SPOUSES HEAR WHAT ACTIVITIES ARE HAPPENING AFTER THE PLANNING IS OVER AND DO NOT GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOLUNTEER AND GET INVOLVED. THIS LEADS TO A SMALL CORE OF MEMBERS DOING ALL THE WORK AND PLANNING. OUR LODGE HAS 440 MEMBERS IN A "CITY" OF 2500 AND 13% UNEMPLOYMENT. WE WERE GROWING STEADILY UNTIL THE ECONOMY TANKED.
Must viewing for all Lodge Officers and Membership Committee members. I believe that covers every Elk in the Lodge.
Hello, this is about membership. First we all need to remember that every lodge need members. There are steps each lodge needs to do to raise their membership and the other part is keeping them.
1. I believe each proposer is responsible of the member they bring into the Lodge.
2. To make each lodge sucessful, I believe that each lodge needs away to get everyone to do volunteering in their prospective lodge. Be that ech member through out the year do 30 to 60 events of volunteering in their lodge.
3. My sponser who I call my brother, came by and picked me up and took me to the events I marked on the back of application and volunteered too even if it was not what he was interested in, it was a way to get me to meet other members f the lodge I did not know.
4. What you put into the lodge is what you get out of the lodge.
My only problem about the other 70 percent is that they joined the lodge for:
1. Drinking
2. Dancing
3. Golfing
4. Joined for the R.V.
We need to remind everyone, what the main purpose of the ELKS is, and that is the Community Involvement and Volunteer Work, Kids, and Veterans.
Interesting bits of information which would be helpful to almost any lodge. Problem areas for most elk lodges seem to be sharing of information, inability to adapt to current membership interests, aging membership, cost of membership and lack of member participation. Without a doubt allowing female membership would not only increase finances but it would bring fresh ideas and interesting thought perspectives on board. Without a willingness to change our lodges will remain stagnant and membership will continue to drop.
I think one of the problems we face is that we need to be more relevant to the younger generation. To many it is percieved as a good old boy organization where you come to drink. Some of the rules are out of date and no longer relevant to the next generation. Also we should do a better job at convincing people why they should become an Elk. We should reach out and advertise and market nationally the reasons to be a part of Elkdom. I also feel that we should partner with business and companies that produce certain products, to give members some additional incentives to join. Much the way AAA partners and offers discounts to its members. We need to make membership more attractive, and fulfilling to new prospective members.
Communication, respect and a friendly face--these are important. At bingo last night, I took the mike and more or less said that other than 7 or so present who went to Lodge meetings, the rest knew nothing of what we were doing in the community. So I brought everyone up to date and had one of our projects immediately funded. I didn't ask for money--it just came. And I'll do it again next week. Our State project has been the focus of our Lodge, but ENF and community involvement are growing. I am also on the membership committee. Great presentation.
Marketing /Advertising!!!! The Elks are the best kept secret in our communities. Marketing would be especially helpful in a large metroploitan area like we in Burbank are in as there are so many different venues so close to us that are competing for everyones time. We need to make our Lodges more attractive and friendly to younger people and to families. Without the younger members we are dooming ourselves. Dues and the costs of everything are a concern for all, but the dues should be left to each Lodge to determine for themselves based on their size and individual needs.
Including a members spouse in the annual dues is great idea, I can't think of a better way to modernize the organization and change our image.
Dues should be determined by each lodge, however many lodges use the dues as an easy way to generate income instead of running 3-4 extra events a year. Lower dues means more members.
I find some of the Elks rules to be too restrictive and inhibit a lodges ability to generate income, my states liquor laws on their own are restrictive enough. I like the traditions and history of the Elks but feel by our reluctance to change we're impeding our own success.
I have notice from visiting several lodges across the country that the night of initiation is the same time the lodge does the orientation and the only one at the orientation is the member joining. It should be sometime time prior to the initiation night and both husband and wife should be there. The lodge should have their officers, spouse association (Lady of the Elks, Does, Emblem Club), Trustee Committee and the Lodge Secretary, and the proposer there to go over what the Grand Lodge requires and also what your lodge offers and requires. If we can make the right impression the first time the better chances of keeping our new members longer.
Very glad to have viewed this video and will be taking these themes back to my Lodge and getting more involved in my activities committee: it's time to put the horse back in front of the cart.
It's very amusing to me that people feel burdened by membership dues, simply because annually, I spend far more on far less. For example: it's rare that I don't eat out twice per week, and at those meals I never tip less than $2-$3. Conservatively, that's $5/week times 52 weeks. If that math doesn't bring them to their senses, then obviously you have a different problem.
I totally agree with Dave lee on the inconsistent rules of unafilliated elks.Also I think spouses of candidates should be allowed to witness the initiation.Advertizing our product to the community is the best way to sell it to the community.People want top help others they just need direction
I think that the Elks National Foundation should send out bulletins to all the other logdges to show them what the four lodges did to experiance membership gains in the last ten years. So the lodges can advertise to the member what was done right.
The presentation included just 4 of the 21 Lodges that had growth in membership. I would like to see a 'composite' of the 21 Lodges showing what they all have in common. The four lodges that were interviewed in this presentation all came from small communities where the membership was by and large composed of continuing generations of a family.
Most of our 2000 plus Lodges do not enjoy this demographic makeup. Are any of the other 21 Lodges that experienced growth in membership from larger metropolitan areas?
Let's face it, our Order grew during the years of 'small town America'. How do we address the problems with population shift from those rural areas to our larger cities as it affects membership?
Several factors play into increasing membership. Among them is each and every lodge is entirelly different. This brings up the problem of desigining a universal plan for the entire orginization. Certnaly there some commonalites that could be universal to all. Possabilly it could be dynamic leadership, unity in the lodge and some others. With being said I would think the orginization should look into marketing stragities in a waining economy. JMO