Sons surpass 2018 membership goal

Thirty-one Sons of The American Legion (SAL) detachments surpassed their Dec. 31, 2018, membership goals, with nine of those exceeding their 105 percent target.

The SAL year end membership report shows 371,020 members across the 55 detachments, surpassing the goal of 369,861 by 1,159 members.

The detachments of Rhode Island, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Oklahoma, District of Columbia, Arkansas, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama surpassed their 105 percent targets for membership.

Last year’s National Membership Chairman, Seth Rippe, noted that Past National Commander Danny Smith and the SAL Membership Committee set some aggressive goals: 400,000 total members, a 95 percent renewal rate, and 50,000 new recruits.

“But we didn’t want to just stop there,” Rippe, the Detachment of Nebraska adjutant, wrote in an email. “We, as a membership committee, set out to find and create membership tools to help meet these challenges. We introduced these tools on the regional conference calls every month and then disseminated them to use. This is something that this year’s Membership Chairman, Joseph Navarrete, has continued.”

Rippe added that there were a record number of Individual Recruitment Award recipients — more than 140 — for those who signed up five new members in to the organization.

The complete 2018 SAL Year End Membership Report can be found here, with 2018 End of Year Renewal Rates here.