HEADQUARTERS REPORT 11/1/02 – 2/28/03

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBER STATISTICS

	2002/2003	2001/2002
Total New Members (11/1 - 2/28)	677	598
-Regular	170	175
-Student/Preprofessional	384	342
-Student Transfers	70	44
-Reinstates	53	37
Total Members (as of 2/28)	9170	9171
-Regular	7091	7186
-Student/Preprofessional	2079	1985
Total Members - Low-Income Countries (as of 2/28)	245	N/A
-$15 Dues	141	N/A
-$35 Dues	57	N/A
-$55 Dues	47	N/A

RETENTION

	2003 Paid	2002 Paid
Total Invoiced	6277/8426 = 74%	6213/8435 = 74%
-Regular	5496/6824 = 81%	5442/6921 = 79%
-Student/Preprofessional	781/1602 = 49%	771/1514 = 51%

Final 2002 Statistics

We continued our upward growth trend with a net gain of 87 members over 2001. Eighty-nine percent of our regular members and 60% of our preprofessional members were retained for an overall rate of 84%. This is a 4% decrease over 2001.

While retention was down, new member numbers were up. We posted our highest numbers in recent history for both regular members (824) and preprofessional members (803) over 2001 figures of 725 and 717 respectively.

Invoicing 2003

E-mail reminders went to all unpaid members on 12/5/02, 1/14/03 and 2/18/03, while second invoices were mailed on 1/24/03. Third invoices will be mailed the first week in March with one last e-mail reminder blast set for the third week in March. We have scheduled the first week in April to drop all members who have not paid their 2003 dues. They will be mailed an exit survey with a final invoice in mid-April.

Sections & Student Branches

Visits were made to the Chicago section and The Ohio State University and Purdue University student branches. A priority list of sections to be visited over the next two years has been developed. The list is comprised of active sections that have not been visited over the last four years. These sections have been urged to extend invitations to ASAE headquarters when they schedule their next section meeting.

Section Officer Update electronic newsletters were sent to section officers, the Membership Development Council and the ASAE leadership on 12/19 and 2/11 with headquarters news and updates. More and more sections are taking the information and publishing it in their section newsletters and posting it on their Web sites.

The first submission to the Grass Roots Incentive Funding Program from the Louisiana Section was approved for funding in November. There have been no other submissions to date.

Preprofessional Officers & Activities

For the second consecutive year, the Preprofessional Officers held their winter retreat at headquarters in December. They and ASAE staff discussed a number of items, including how to better reach and retain preprofessional members. It was decided that communication between the ASAE student branches and headquarters needed to be improved.

With the help of the Preprofessional Officers, ASAE undertook a project to get the names and contact information of all student branch presidents. The project is progressing well and should be finished by the end of March. Once this happens, the Preprofessional Officers will develop a newsletter twice yearly (April and October) with information of interest to preprofessionals. The first newsletter is set to go out in April and will encourage participation in the Las Vegas meeting as well as regional highlights of preprofessional activities.

Quarter Scale Tractor Student Design Competition

The sixth annual Quarter Scale Tractor Student Design Competition is set for May 29 – June 1 in East Moline, IL. We have 31 teams registered this year including a first year entry from the University College Dublin, Ireland. With only one rookie team this year, the competition should be tough.

Chicago’s WTTW, Channel 11 Wild Chicago segment featuring the Past Presidents’ 1/4 Scale Tractor Pull from last year’s Annual International Meeting will air on April 13^th and again on April 19^th.