Membership Dues Task Force COR Report October, 2002

1. Membership Dues Task ForceCOR Report October, 2002 • Virginia Connolly, Task Force Leader • Vi Brown, VP of Transition, Officer Contact • Nancy Nelson, Deb Willems, Marcia Lampela, Michelle Tortolani, Pam Ankrum, Alma Martinez Fallon, Rachel McQuillen • Please hold all questions until the end of presentation

2. SWE Membership Value and Benefits • SWE’s future success as an organization is dependent on whether or not it can deliver value and satisfaction to its members, partnerships, and those segments of the public that it desires to serve. • How does one define value for a professional non-profit organization like SWE? One definition: Value is the ratio of the benefits a member receives to what the member pays for Membership. Value = Benefits/Costs Benefits = Functional benefits + emotional benefits Costs = Monetary costs + time costs + energy costs + psychic costs

3. Value and Benefit • For the value equation, emotional benefits run high for many SWE members and so do time, energy and psychic costs. • How can SWE increase member value? • Make members aware of the current value and benefits that SWE provides (very important). • Select and make sound resource commitments and investments. • Operate resources in a competitive, cost-effective manner. • Select and source prudent funding options. • Identify SWE’s“Big Value Proposition”.

4. Benefits for All Members • Scholarship program for freshman, sophomore, juniors, seniors, graduate students and women re-entering the workforce as engineers (at the local and national level) • Awards Program • Annual Conference provides a specific venue for networking and career opportunities • SWE Magazine • ResumeLink /JobMatch / On Line Career Fair • GEICO Insurance / MBNA MasterCard/Visa

5. Benefits cited by Student Members • Increasing circle of friends (home, school, and other places) • Networking • Career/job opportunities • Volunteerism (especially for causes specific to women) • Leadership experience in a non-threatening environment • Professional development advice for women from women • Opportunity to make a difference

6. Other Benefits • Opportunity for members to promote and support women in engineering. • Exposure to a select community of women (and men) at all stages of professional development with a multitude of experience across many industries. • Latchkeys to internal networks inside corporations and organizations that may lead to job offers or other opportunities. • SWE is positioning itself to become a national player for STEM issues and programs, e.g. CAWMSET, 2006 E-Week Host, ICWES and INWES, etc., which allows the organization and its members to “cast wider nets” and gain greater visibility by partnering with organizations that have similar goals.

7. Discoveries to Date • Task Force collected membership dues data on other organizations. • SWE does not have a “true peer” organization to compare itself with. • Based on operational costs and increases in the cost of living, SWE needs to raise member dues to maintain baseline services. • Our members expect more from us. • SWE also needs to upgrade these services and offer new and additional services to members – to do so will most likely require future and more timely membership dues increases. • FY03 Budget “wish list” is unfunded and contains items that some members consider “must haves”. • We need to move many tasks currently performed by volunteers to staff. This will allow us to better utilize the limited time and efforts of our volunteers. (e.g., administrative tasks that can be done by staff)

8. Parking Lot Issues • Delivery channels of services to students need to become more efficient (e.g.,membership renewal, mailings, magazine delivery, etc.) • Retention of members (Membership Committee working on this) • Professional development (limited services offered) - need to expand offerings • Need to focus on a unifying strategic plan for services and operations • Recruiting new corporate members These will be passed on to the appropriate committee

9. Balance of Income Services = services we “sell” to others (conference & magazine)

10. How much to serve a member? - 2 Different Approaches • Started with 03 SWE Expenses, and then subtracted the following: • magazine, grants, scholarship expenses • magazine & conference income • student dues income  $102 per Member to be covered by dues & other unrestricted income Above numbers based on FY03 budget and are per Member. FY03 budget does not fully support all SWE’s current goals - many line items reduced or eliminated (see FY03 Treasurer report to the COR.) How much to “keep the lights” on? • Cost to Serve a Member ** **Figures for 2000 taken from research of Anne O’Neal, FY01 Membership Chair, and Joan Kuyper, Deputy Director of Advancement.

11. Costs to Serve a Member - What is included? (Kuyper / O’Neal Estimate) • Printing • Dues bills processing • Office stationery and supplies • Postage • Membership rosters • Student upgrade packets • Financial management Categories of expenses to serve a Professional Member: • Webpage membership information • Magazines • Resume Link • CSR support • President’s Panorama • Office salaries, overhead, benefits • Membership services • Rebates Additional / different Categories to serve students: • Scholarships • Student Awards What’s missing from these lists? • Other organizations dues (e-week, AAES, etc.) • Insurance, Legal • Archivist • IT • Board support • Committee support (e.g., strategic planning, nominating, section vitality) • During this time period we had much lower HQ financial support personnel

12. What has inflation done over the last decade? Dues with Cost of Living Adjustment* *Cost of living factors taken from American Institute for Economic Research, www.aier.org/cgi- bin/colcalculator.cgi Or, from another point of view - Value of 1992 Dues Today

13. Task Force Recommendation New! • Members get a $5 discount if they pay early. This would continue year after year (for each year they pay early). • Rebate percentages would stay the same 20% Section/MAL, 2% Region, resulting in an increase in funds to these groups. (based upon amount paid). No additional discount for retired/unemployed. • The application fee will remain constant at $20. The reinstatement fee will continue to be remain set at $0. • Invest in ourselves, Invest in SWE

14. Proposition for Dues Increase • Put SWE Dues in perspective. What does $100 buy a Member, or $20 buy a Student? • Members $100 - 2 or 3 months of high speed internet service, 7 months of Wall Street Journal • Students $20 - Dinner and a Movie (Dutch treat), 1/4 of a text book, one month cell phone service (on a very low cost/low minute plan) • What do the Dues get a Member/Student? • Jobs, Networking Contacts • Friends, Support • Professional & Personal Development opportunities • Chance to “promote the cause” - make the world a better place for other women. Priceless!

15. Proposition for Dues Increase - Cont. • Inflation of the last decade has eroded membership dues of $15 and $75 to $11.73 and $58.69, respectively. • SWE’s cost of doing business has increased over the last decade. • Some task previously performed by volunteers are now being performed by HQ staff and more need to be transitioned. • Proposed member dues increase only accounts for a cost of living adjustment. • SWE members expect more for the Society. • Lessons learned from this valuable financial exercise requires SWE to review the dues structure annually, and to being an aggressive campaign to increase other revenue streams. • Value and benefits of SWE membership can prove to be “priceless” and is dependent upon knowledge and skills of member.

16. Next Steps • Vote on Motion • Implement review of Dues as part of Finance Committee/ BOD budget process with Membership Committee input. (put in Procedure for both committees) • Communications Plan • Magazine articles • Presentation for Sections to show value of Membership • Letter to Corporate Members (and what do they get) • Life Membership - “Get it while it is cheap” • Implementation at HQ • Database changes • Literature changes • Staff training • Review Parking Lot Issues