Membership
I Need an Army
Over the last 30+ years of my membership in AAPG I have several times been a contributing member of the Membership Committee, in many of its incarnations. Throughout that time it has always been a fundamental goal to increase our numbers. Since we derive our purpose, our mission, our strategy, and our raison d’être through our membership, achieving this goal is crucial to our existence. It has been the stated Intention of every President and Executive Committee and every Executive Director in memory to grow membership.
Here are the metrics. We count more than 30,000 members worldwide, we derive ~14% of our income from members’ dues, we truly are competing for members with the other organizations such as the SEG and the SPE, we agonize over ways to encourage students to maintain their affiliation, and we develop competitions and programs to maintain and increase our numbers, all of which have had marginal to limited success. Right now our industry is in a golden age where earth scientists are needed and valued; our membership should be burgeoning. It is not.
I’ve been granted the challenge by President Weimer to chair the Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee. As the Committee wrestles with plans, programs, and proposals to accomplish its mission to grow membership with new members, I’m daunted by the task before us. But, there is one thing I know that works and this is the same thing that convinced me to join AAPG when I first went to work at an oil and gas company in 1978. I was invited by a mentor, I was directed by my boss, and encouraged to join by all of the geologists I admired. One-on-one. To make a statistical increase in this manner, we need an army of volunteers.
Then, I was reminded that included in the House of Delegates’ job description is the following admonition from our Bylaws:
Article IV, Section 5 (g) “Delegates shall actively solicit applications from eligible geologists for membership in this organization.”
Now that will be our army!
Please, delegates and alternate delegates, take this responsibility to heart and sign up a new member. One-on-one. And don’t stop there. Join with me in preserving the scientific legacy of AAPG by recruiting those who will be a part of something larger than self. We could never build and maintain AAPG by ourselves individually, but we can, working as a group, reach out to those who want to learn from and contribute to the finest geosciences organization in the world.
ENLIST NOW.
I thank you,
AAPG Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee
“to build and strengthen AAPG by increasing membership”
Email Valary Schulz