American Legion virtual Training Tuesday discusses how membership is on track for first year of growth since 2010.
A recent review of the 2022 membership forecast shows that The American Legion is on pace to exceed last year’s totals, which would be the first time the organization has seen membership growth since 2010.
“What is this going to take (to meet or exceed membership for 2022)? It’s going to take us working renewals and recruiting to get to those numbers,” said Membership & Post Activities Committee Chairman Jay Bowen of Colorado during The American Legion’s virtual Training Tuesday session April 26.
To make sure this milestone moment is met, The American Legion needs to renew or recruit an average of eight members per post per month between now and June 30. Bowen gave an example of how to work renewals.
The morning of Training Tuesday, Bowen received a list of names he recruited into his Post 209 in Colorado Springs that have not renewed for 2022. “I reached out to them via email and told them that we need them to renew, and we need them to renew now, that we were very close to hitting 100 percent for the post.” In less than an hour, one of the people he emailed renewed. And later that day, another renewed. “It can happen. We just need to reach out to them.”
Bowen advised listeners to receive the list of non-renewals from the post adjutant. This list can be accessed and printed through MyLegion.org. Then send an email that says, “’Hey, would love to have you stay on board. You’re not just doing it for us, you’re doing it for the veterans, you’re doing it for you, you’re doing it for all of us.’ Just remember, eight members per month and we will hit it (our membership goal).”
The American Legion’s 100% membership target date is May 9. Many departments are close to the goal with one having already exceeded it – the Department of Puerto Rico is over 103% of its membership goal. They are the first department to qualify for National Commander Paul E. Dillard’s incentive of retaining at least 90% renewal rate and hitting 103% of their membership goal. Now through Oct. 1, the Department of Puerto Rico will receive a credit of $18.50 for each member submitted above the 103% goal.
FIND EXPIRED MEMBERS AND NON-RENEWALS
American Legion post adjutants and commanders must be signed in to MyLegion.org to access My Groups where the following information is located.
Find expired post members
1. Enter My Groups to access Group Profile.
2. Go to “Reports/Labels” from the lefthand My Views menu.
3. Select “Post/Squadron Current Roster.”
4. Set parameters for expired members. Enter group first.
5. Enter last paid year and mailing status.
6. Click “View Report.”
Renew members
1. Click “Process Membership” in the lefthand menu.
2. Click “Add/Modify Transmittal” to open the post transmittal window. Results in this search only provide members eligible for renewal.
3. Search member by ID or name to add to batch and click “Save.”
4. Click “Finalize” to view members in batch.
5. Click “Finalize” again to advance to payment window.
6. Select “Pay Now” (add, update or select stored payment information).
- Membership