Meadowbank and St Johns Residents Association

Membership Report

Introduction

Membership numbers are important for two reasons, firstly as a measure of how well we are serving our community and secondly for funding because we’re required to provide membership numbers as part of our reporting to the Orakei Local Board.

As recognition of this importance, following the 2016 AGM, the Committee appointed a Membership Convenor for the first time so assigning responsibility for all aspects of membership. The Committee then adopted the recommendations of a formal membership paper, and later in the year, formed a Membership Sub-Committee.

Membership Statistics

The Association’s catchment area had 5,634 dwellings in the 2013 census and this number is in effect our “target market”. Given that this is the first year we have measured progress in the membership area the results may be somewhat flattering nevertheless for the 12 month period 1 June 2016 to 31 May 201
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Financial membership increased from 29 to 96, an increase of 231%.

Membership Database numbers increased from 282 to 454 an increase of 61%.

Although still very low, our “market penetration” numbers have also significantly increased:

Market Penetration Comparison / 31/05/16 / 31/05/17 / Increase
Financial Members to Database / 10.28% / 21.15% / 105.62%
Financial Members to Target Market / 0.51% / 1.70% / 231.03%
Database to Target Market / 5.01% / 8.06% / 60.99%

We’ve set targets again for the 2017/18 year that we believe are challenging but achievable.

Membership Initiatives

We regard all of our meetings and events during the year as opportunities to grow both our database and financial membership numbers. In addition we undertook a number of specific membership initiatives - three targeted Mailchimp email campaigns – two in November and one in April, the latter with a prize draw to encourage early payment of subs. In addition we ran membership drives in October and May at the Meadowbank Shopping Centre and a smaller membership presence at the St Chads Christmas Party.

We plan to repeat all of these initiatives in the coming year and will consider additional initiatives.

Finally, the best advocates for membership of this Association are it’s members – if there are local issues that are important to you please tell us but if you are generally happy with the direction and activities of the Association, please tell others. Tell your neighbours, your family and friends who live locally and encourage them to become financial members or as a first step, to join our newsletter mailing list. Remember that when we make representations to the OLB and Council on your behalf, numbers count.

Barry Stewart

Membership Convenor