Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)

Membership Growth Brings Challenges

By Richard Hoban

CCA Membership Operations Committee

TIDE

May/June 2009

As a grassroots organization, CCA is really all about one thing – you. Our members are what make us strong. Whether it is volunteering manual labor for bay clean-ups, reef building, marsh restoration, or having our voice heard in state and federal legislatures, it is our members that make us a special organization.

Today, CCA has more than 100,000 active members. That number is a far cry from the 70,000 or so members we had just 10 years ago.

Back in 1999, CCA launched a new membership computer system. That system, along with the dedicated personnel of CCA’s national membership department, is responsible for managing our members. As you know, many changes have occurred within our organization over the last 10 years. This fact, combined with advances in computer technology over the same period, has resulted in a membership system that requires updating. Unfortunately, some of you may have experienced delays in receiving your membership packages and other difficulties in the recent past. CCA’s state and national staffs have heard your frustrations.

In August 2008, CCA’s Board of Directors formed the Membership Operations Committee (MOC). The MOC, comprised of Board members with deep backgrounds in computer systems and organizational procedures, was tasked with analyzing the current system and procedures and developing recommendations for improvements. The Committee was told there are no “sacred cows” with respect to possible improvements and solutions, including the potential for developing and implementing a completely new system and set of procedures.

Since last August, the MOC has worked closely with the National staff to fully analyze the current and future needs of our great organization. One interesting fact about our organization is that about 60 percent of our memberships are processed during the four-month period from March to June each year. This fact is not surprising given that, historically, many of our fundraising banquets have occurred in the spring and, in addition, the summer-long fishing tournaments in Texas and Louisiana kick-off each Memorial Day.

As you can imagine, this large “spike” in processing memberships during the spring presents unique challenges, not only for personnel staffing, but for any membership system that has to accommodate this “peak” load.

As a result of the work to date, the MOC has begun to implement several important changes to the current system. For example, changes are being made to the National website – www.JoinCCA.org – to make online sign-up and renewals a more smooth and efficient process. The changes currently being made will help ensure that the difficulties experienced in the past will not recur in the future.

This summer, the MOC plans to make its final recommendations to the National Board of Directors as to whether a new computer system or refurbishing the old system is the best course of action. Regardless of which path is taken, certain changes to the internal procedures will be made.

In the meantime, we are asking our members to be patient as we address this critical aspect of our organization. If you do experience difficulties, please refer to our list of Frequently Asked Questions reflected at www.JoinCCA.org and see the accompanying sidebar. We are here to serve you – our most important asset.

How You Can Help

· Provide your CCA member ID number when renewing your membership or corresponding with us. Your ID number can be found on your membership card, any renewal notices you receive from us, and the mailing label for TIDE magazine (see graphic below).

· Be patient. It may take six to eight weeks to receive your membership package depending on the time of year, the method by which you joined and a number of other factors. Memberships included in banquets take longer as some processing is done by volunteers. Also, we use third-class postage to save funds for the more important work of conservation. Finally, we sometimes use a third-party for fulfillment which adds time to the process.

· Write legibly and provide all requested information. When joining or renewing via a paper form, whether it is a banquet ticket or printed application, please print legibly and provide all contact information, especially your email address. Also, if more than one person of your household is a member or if you have a common name, please provide middle initials and suffixes such as “Sr.” or “Jr.”

· Select the correct member type. New Tide memberships are only for members who are 17 years of age or under at the time of joining or renewing. Associate memberships are only for those persons who live with another Standard member in the same household, typically a spouse.

· Keep your contact information current. If you move or change email address, update your information by calling your state office or make the changes online at our web site, www.JoinCCA.org.

· Check out the web sites. For members participating in the STAR tournaments in Texas and Louisiana, most questions regarding the tournaments can be found online. By getting the answers to some of your questions from the web sites, we can reduce the number of phone calls to your state and National staff, leaving them more time to spend on processing memberships and STAR entries. For example, many phone calls can be avoided simply by knowing that you do NOT need your CCA membership card when weighing-in a fish, but you MUST be a member in good standing and a valid entrant at the time you catch a fish to be eligible to win a prize.

· When you receive a notice, renew. Take a few moments to respond when you receive your CCA membership renewal notice in the mail. Doing so sooner, rather than later, saves paper, postage, money and time.

· If you are still having problems, tell us. Your comments and questions may be directed to Membership@JoinCCA.org and we will respond as quickly as possible.