Membership growth has slowed to a crawl. This is unfortunate because Alcor has reached a point where we could enjoy considerable economies of scale: We could manage many more members with minimal or no increase in staffing costs. That would enable us to reduce membership dues while building up our resources. A modest acceleration in membership growth would, I believe, move us into a virtuous circle where growth enables reductions in dues which further spurs membership growth.
The most effective way to bring in new members has been through direct encouragement by existing members. Many of us realize this, but may not make it a priority to nudge our friends a little more to sign up and potentially save their lives.
How can we spur more members to gently persuade those they care about to move ahead with making cryonics arrangements? Perhaps some financial incentive will help. At the April 6, 2013 board meeting, I proposed that anyone who is primarily responsible for getting a new member to sign up will, at their request, be given a one-year waiver of membership dues. The board approved this proposal.
For an existing member to receive the dues waiver, they must (a) be credited by the person who has signed up; (b) ask for the waiver; (c) not be otherwise profiting from the signup; (d) wait until the new member has completed all essential paperwork and has paid at least six months of dues. If the member signs up two new members, they are eligible for a two-year waiver of dues. If the new member is a student or family member, the existing member is eligible for a waiver of six months of dues.
Who do you know who could do with some encouraging to sign up? Please, give it some thought, then help yourself and help the organization by helping to stimulate membership growth.
Max More
President
