Membership.

Membership Success Initiative. At Council 2005, LWVUS Outreach Committee Chair Carol Reimers reported on an internal survey of "successful Leagues." Leagues with membership growth in five of the past six years were asked to participate in this survey to identify factors that helped their growth. A good cross section of the League, 45 Leagues from 22 states with membership ranging from 29 to 688, responded. They identified these factors as "very important" to their success in recruiting new members: (a) the strength of the League's reputation; (b) an interesting "program" (activities, issues, forums, studies, etc.) based on issues that were of interest to the community; (c) high degree of visibility in their communities via the local media; (d) offering flexible ways for people to be involved in League activities; (e) engaging in extensive community outreach and ASKING people to join (the entire board and others, not just the president or membership chair, did the asking). During the coming year, the LWVUS will be exploring ways to expand upon these findings to help with membership recruitment and growth.

Another component of the "Membership Success Initiative" is to provide online, economical and useful items to help Leagues increase visibility in their communities. The LWVUS is pleased to announce the launch of this new tool for League leaders. LWV logo products (stationery, business cards and other goods) will be available for purchase and personalization (e.g., a League's name) through the LWVUS Web site. This customization service is designed to provide local Leagues with professional-looking goods at competitive prices. An additional bonus from the company supplying this service to the League is the small percentage of all sales that will be donated to the LWVUS. We urge League leaders to check out this new service on our Web site.