HEADQUARTERS REPORT 3/1/04 – 6/30/04

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBER STATISTICS

	2004	2003
Total New Members (3/1 - 6/30)	475	501
-Regular	202	145
-Student/Preprofessional	187	250
-Student Transfers	46	60
-Reinstates	40	46
Total Members (as of 6/30)	8221	8,289
-Regular	6725	6,590
-Student/Preprofessional	1496	1,699
Total Developing Country Members (as of 6/30)	277	186
-$15 Dues	148	95
-$35 Dues	100	57
-$55 Dues	29	34

RETENTION

	2003 Paid	2002 Paid
Total Invoiced	7059/8437 = 83.7%	6,989/8,426 = 82.9%
-Regular	6128/6781 = 90.4%	6,045/6,824 = 88.6%
-Student/Preprofessional	931/1656 = 56.2%	944/1,602 = 58.9%

Invoicing 2004

Third invoices were mailed 3/8 with an e-mail reminder sent 3/26. On 4/1, we dropped 1,546 members for non-payment of dues. This number was comprised of 834 regular members and 712 preprofessional/student members. Combined with the 74 members that requested to be dropped between 10/1/03 and 3/31/04, the total number of members who were taken out of membership was 1,720.

On 5/3, we began a telemarketing campaign with ComNet Marketing to bring back members who were taken out of membership for non-payment of dues on 4/1. From 5/3 – 5/19, lapsed, non-student members were contacted by telephone and urged to renew their membership. The campaign proved greatly successful with approximately 50 members renewing and another 25 pledging to renew in the near future. It should be noted that we have already exceeded our full member retention goal of 90% for 2004.

For those members who had not renewed by 6/11, a short exit survey was sent to them electronically. This is the first year we conducted the survey online and the response rate was nearly double that of last year’s hard copy survey. Some primary reasons for not renewing were identified as the high cost of dues, high annual international meeting fees and lack of benefits and access for non-U.S. members.

Sections Visits & Activities

Visits were made to the Florida, Georgia and Ohio sections as well as NABEC’s annual meeting. Sections continue to give us great feedback on the name change issue along with a variety of other things.

To better acquaint new section chairs with what benefits and services ASABE has to offer, we began sending each new chair an electronic orientation packet outlining the necessary information. New chairs now have a better transition into their new post and are fully aware of just how headquarters can help with information dissemination. To date, it has been very well received.

International Outreach

We are pleased to report that our cooperative agreement with the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) has begun to produce its first batch of members. In May, ASABE welcomed 20 new ISAE/ASABE members and we look forward to many more in the future.

In June, we also saw movement on the multi-year membership agreement ASABE has with the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineers (CSAE). Thirty new CSAE members joined the ranks of ASABE for a four-year period. Each member made one lump-sum payment to cover dues through 2007.

1/4 Scale Tractor Student Design Competition

The seventh annual 1/4 Scale Tractor Student Design Competition was held 6/1 – 6/4 in East Moline, IL. Twenty-six first teams and 11 X-teams from across the U.S. and Canada competed. The Oklahoma State University Cowboys were first-time conference champions this year with the University of Kentucky taking second. The University of Kansas took third, with the University of Nebraska and Michigan State University teams placing fourth and fifth respectively. Willie Vogt, Farm Progress Companies acted as emcee at the awards banquet and was so impressed with the competition, that he vowed to come back next year and cover the event for his publication. He has also showed interest in shadowing a team from start to finish and writing a series of on-going articles about the tractor building experience.