Responsibilities of the Membership Committee

Director of Membership

The Director of Membership is responsible for the following chapter committee activities:

·        Membership

·        Employment

·        Database/Directory

·        Students

·        Corporate Sponsor

·        Hospitality

Work with President

·        When applicable, provide information to the President for announcements about your committees’ activities during regular program meetings.

·        From June through August, gather committee manager names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Give the information to the President before the first Board meeting. Throughout the year, make sure the President has information and changes about your committee managers. Verify that the information gets updated on the President’s Leadership list each month.

·        From June through August, make sure your committee managers have information they need to prepare budgets and activity plans from past committee managers. Make sure they provide this information to the President and Treasurer on the date requested and that they attend Board meetings when their budgets and activities are discussed.

·        From June through August, make sure your committee managers receive all committee files and information that they need to plan and manage activities. Make sure past committee managers provide an effective handoff to the new managers.

·        Before each Board meeting, contact your committee managers for activity updates and to provide committee information as requested by the President.

·        Review past year’s Chapter Achievement nomination forms; throughout the year, provide information to the President for your committees’ Chapter Achievement activities.


Work with Director of Communications

·        From June through August, gather information about your committees’ planned activities. Give the information to the Director of Communications and make sure it gets passed to the Webmaster, Newsletter Editor, and Publicity committee.  Throughout the year, make sure the Director of Communications has information about changes to your committees’ activities. Periodically check the chapter web site and newsletter for accurate information about your committees.

·        Before the first Board meeting, give the Director of Communications committee manager names, phone numbers, and email addresses. Throughout the year, give the Director of Communications information and changes about your committee managers. Periodically check the chapter web site and newsletter for accurate information about your committees.

Work with Director of Volunteer Resources

·        As needed, assist the Director of Volunteer Resources and the Volunteer Coordinator with recruitment of managers, committee members, and temporary volunteers for your committees’ activities. Provide descriptions of committee activities. If you can, provide names of potential volunteers. You are not expected to staff your committees, but try to help others who are responsible for staffing.

·        Periodically, give the Director of Volunteer Resources information about your committees’ volunteers for recognition (Volunteer of the Month, Volunteer of the Year.), Society awards and nominations (Distinguished Chapter Service, Associate Fellow), and for future chapter officer candidates. If you can, assist in the writeup of recognition articles and award/nomination forms.

Work with Membership Committee

·        In June, work with the President and the Membership Committee manager to revise the new member welcome letter that the Membership committee sends out. You may need to help revise it again in July or August when more information is known about planned activities for the new year. Suggest to the President and the Membership Committee manager that the letter be revised every quarter.

·        Make sure the committee conducts a chapter services and activities survey every two years. Help them get started, if necessary. Make sure the Director of Communications receives a copy of this information for the newsletter and the chapter web site.

·        Encourage committee members to write newsletter articles/monthly column highlighting new and transferred members.

Work with Employment Committee

·        Make sure the committee keeps statistical records on inquiries and placements of communicators into jobs, so that they can write at least one newsletter article during the year about this. Make sure the Publicity manager receives a copy of this information.

·        Make sure the committee conducts a career and salary survey every two years. Help them get started, if necessary. Make sure the Director of Communications receives a copy of this information for outside publicity, the newsletter, and the chapter web site.

·        Encourage the committee to speak to other organizations, such as college classes, on résumé writing and the job search. Try to help, if necessary.

·        Encourage the committee to help staff STC booths at job fairs.

·        Encourage the committee to attend new member luncheons or other new member events.

·        Encourage the committee to maintain contact with the international STC employment committee and employment committees in other chapters and local organizations.

Work with Database/Directory Committee

·        From June through August, review the mailing list of people outside the chapter who receive all publications during the year and ask the Admin Council for input. Make necessary changes and notify the Database/Directory manager.

·        Encourage committee members to write a newsletter articles about how to update member information in the database/directory.

Work with Student Committee

·        This committee should be self-sufficient. However, make sure the chapter is notified of Science & Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH) competition and winners. Also make sure winners are recognized at a program meeting and in the newsletter.

Work with Corporate Sponsor Committee

·        This committee should be self-sufficient. However, periodically check the chapter web site and newsletter to make sure corporate sponsors are being recognized.

Work with Hospitality Committee

·        This committee should be self-sufficient. However, periodically attend program meetings and make sure new members and guests are being welcomed and introduced to members.

Budgets and Actual Expenses

·        Prepare a budget of estimated income and expenses before the first Board meeting and submit to the President in time for inclusion in the President/VP budget. If you expect some expenses to be donated, include them in the budget with an estimated cost. (Keep an extra copy of the budget to pass on to your successor.) Monitor your actual expenses against your budgeted expenses from the Treasurer’s monthly reports.

·        Give merchants a copy of the Texas Sales Tax Exemption Certificate when buying committee supplies. (We don’t pay sales tax as a nonprofit organization.) Complete the chapter’s Request for Payment/Deposit Form for purchases and deposits and give it to the Treasurer.

·        Inform the Board if you believe your expenses may exceed your approved budget.

Resources Needed and Meeting Availability

·        Ability to spend an average of 2 hours a week on chapter work throughout the year.

·        Ability to hold at least 5 telephone calls a week during business hours; some calls are long distance.

·        Ability to attend most of the chapter functions for general membership and to periodically attend Student and Membership meetings or events.

·        Access to fax machine and/or email.

 

Membership Committee

·      Give committee members recognition for their work.

·      Give committee members support, and enable them to do all they want on the committee. Perform the tasks they don’t want to do.

·      Answer inquiries from nonmembers about the chapter and STC. These inquiries can come from various sources, for example, in person, from telephone calls, from email, from the answering service.

·      Send each person requesting information on STC and the Houston Chapter:

— Standard letter about the chapter and next meeting (on chapter letterhead)

— Most recent issue of the newsletter

— Chapter brochure

— STC brochure (optional)

— Membership application

·      Send each new member:

— Welcome letter (on chapter letterhead)

— Chapter bylaws

— Chapter brochure

— Summary of volunteer opportunities

·      Consider calling new members to welcome them and answer questions.  Coordinate this effort with the Hospitality manager.

·      Ask the President to write the welcome letter. This will present a different tone and content from the inquiry letter that you write as Membership manager. This should be updated quarterly.  The welcome letter should include:

— Monthly program meeting date, time, and place

— Information about Chapter email list and Web site

— Information about the Tech Pubs, Art, and Online competitions and Awards banquet

— Information about SIGs and satellite groups

— Information about seminars and workshops, if applicable

— How to obtain the membership directory

·      Ask the Volunteer Coordinator to write a summary of current volunteer opportunities.  This should be updated quarterly.

·      Send the Database & Directory manager a copy of the monthly membership report that you receive from the Society office. This report lists new and transferred members and changes of addresses.  The report lists other information about chapter members that the Database & Directory manager must have:

— Whether to exclude the member from a published membership directory

— Whether to exclude the member from a mailing list exchange or sale

·      Write articles for the newsletter about new and transferred members and membership advantages.

·      Provide chapter and STC brochures and STC applications at chapter meetings.  Periodically check with SIG managers, Student committee manager, and satellite group managers to make sure they have an adequate supply of STC publications and forms. Reorder brochures from the Society office as needed.

·      With the Hospitality manager, conduct drives and contests to increase membership and to entice inactive members to participate. Coordinate the drives with the Arrangements, Newsletter, Program, and other committees as necessary.

·      At the end of March, the Society office sends a list of non-renewing members with the monthly membership report.  Consider calling or emailing non-renewers in April and May, or send them a letter or postcard encouraging renewal.  Give the Database & Directory manager a list of  verified and unresponsive non-renewers by the end of May.

·      Prepare a budget of estimated income and expenses, including the answering service, for the August board meeting. If you expect some expenses to be donated, include them in the budget with an estimated cost. (Keep an extra copy of the budget to pass on to your successor.)

·      Give merchants a copy of the Texas Sales Tax Exemption Certificate when buying committee supplies. (We don’t pay sales tax as a nonprofit organization.) Complete the chapter’s Request for Payment/Deposit Form for purchases and deposits and give it to the Treasurer.

·      Inform the Board if you believe your expenses may exceed your approved budget.

·      Attend each Board meeting, if possible. If you cannot attend, submit a report to the President beforehand on your committees activities.

·      Report on your committees actual expenses and income and on your committee’s accomplishments at the June Board meeting.

Resources Needed and Meeting Availability

·      Ability to attend as many regular program meetings as possible.

·      Ability to attend the first Board meetings during budget discussion and approval.

·      Ability to attend Board meetings whenever the agenda includes topics relating to your committee.

·      Two committee members to send mailings and respond to inquiries.

·      Ability to hold an average of five telephone conversations a week during working hours.  After the Competition call-for-entries and event brochures are mailed, you may receive three or four calls a day.  If press releases about the chapter appear in newspapers, you may receive 50 calls a week.

·      Ability to send an average of 40 mailings a month.

·      Ability to spend one or two hours a week on committee work.

·      Access to fax machine and/or email.

Deliverables

 

Deliverable

Due Date

Receiver

Preliminary budget

Aug Board meeting

 

Administrative Council

Final budget

Sept Board meeting

 

Treasurer, V-P, President

Committee status report

Every Board meeting

 

Administrative Council

Standard letter about the chapter and next meeting

 

As requested

nonmembers

Newsletter articles

 

Periodically

Newsletter manager

STC and chapter brochures

 

Every program meeting

Meeting attendees

Membership applications

 

Every program meeting

Meeting attendees

Copy of the Society’s monthly membership report

 

Every month

Database & Directory manager

Non-renewal letter or postcard (optional)

 

May

non-renewing members

Receivables

 

Receivable

Due Date

Sender

Newsletters

 

Every month after printing

Newsletter manager

STC brochures

 

As needed

Society

Membership applications

 

As needed

Society

New member welcome letter

 

June

President

Chapter bylaws

 

As needed

Bylaws/Parliamentarian

List of non-renewing members

 

April

President

Chapter brochures

 

As needed

Publicity manager

 Click here for an MS-Word version of this Membership Committee responsibilities document.