A "Natural" Size of 50,000 Members?

I’ve been cleaning my basement, and found an old Bulletin. I flipped it open to the Chairman’s column and read this (sharing because I found this mentality-of-the-past interesting in light of my post earlier this week.):

From Across the Table (Chairman’s column) March 1994

...Growth of the society has been a consideration one way or another during virtually all of my 25-year membership. We have promoted growth through both membership contests and heavy advertising. And, to some extent, the pursuit of growth was successful—obviously there are more Mensans now than there were 15 or 25 years ago. But Development Officer The Joyce Lundeen and I agree that we seem to have reached our peak at about 50,000 members. Heavy investments in advertising raised that number to nearly 56,000. Continued heavy investments in advertising maintained that number only tenuously, and have not been successful in increasing it.

Our working hypothesis is that Mensa has a “natural” size of about 50,000 and a “natural” annual attrition rate through all causes of about 12 percent. Our goal, then, is to shape and size a development program that is appropriate for our resources and that aims to maintain our natural size by minimizing attrition and attracting enough new members to prevent stagnation.

…Abandoning growth as an organizational goal does not imply a conscious effort to reduce the size of the society or to permit it to dwindle to nothing. It means only this: allowing the membership to stabilize in numbers. The fundamental idea is to manage today’s society with today’s resources rather than spending money we don’t have on a society that doesn’t exist....

Personally, I’m torn. The “spend what you have on what you already are”… seems rational. But looking only at what is and not at what could be… seems like a recipe for Mensa eventually heading the way of the pony express or Blockbuster.

If Mensa Had a Million Dollars

I’ve been reading some discussion about Local Group funding and how to improve the members’ experience in Mensa. I’ve watched as membership numbers slip downward, and as testing numbers continue to drop, despite all sorts of massive efforts and incentives to Groups to promote testing.

Even in Chicago, widely-admired as an active and high-functioning group, there is a sense of… staleness. I know that despite being quite committed to Mensa, and proud of my chapter, even I find myself feeling rather “meh” about most offerings. Another party with the same people and same types of food and entertainment. Another dinner out with the same crowd. Another spread of pictures of the same people playing games in our newsletter.  I like the folks here just fine. I enjoy the beer selection and some of the speakers at meetings and gatherings are quite entertaining. No complaints, really. Just…  nothing that really grabs me any more enough to put on my shoes and drive an hour.

If the group had even more money, what would I get? Another page or two of the newsletter, perhaps with some puzzles, which I can get online for free. Maybe some well-written an thought-provoking articles and essays, which I can find all over the Web whenever I sit down to catch up on the 37 blogs I follow. Perhaps two more parties a year, with some good wine and some nice hot hors d’oeuvres and the same smart people standing around talking and playing games. It’s even possible that we might hire a famous professional speaker to give a really great lecture, much like I can watch on TED. All quite nice. Might even get me to drag myself out to a meeting. But might not.

The other day, I was fantasizing about winning the lottery and what all I might do with a bazillion dollars. One of the things I daydreamed about was writing a check for a million dollars made out to American Mensa (not the Foundation, since as a bazillionaire, I was not really concerned about getting the tax deduction, but what the heck, I also dashed off a check for two million to the Foundation just because I could). In my fantasy, I arranged a meeting with Pam, Nick, and Elissa, and quite enjoyed their eye-popping gasps when I presented the check.

But there was a catch.

I challenged them to come up with an answer to this question: Since Mensa already excels at offering acceptance and succor to very smart and socially awkward people, how could they use a million dollars to provide very smart, socially adept people something they cannot easily find anywhere else?

The daydream trailed off at that point, but the emails I’ve been reading lately made me think about it again. Obviously, since I don’t buy lottery tickets, my bazillionairehood is still far in the future. But still…

I challenge the leaders and other members of Mensa to:

Think of what Mensa could offer smart and socially skilled people that they cannot easily and cheaply find elsewhere.

Develop and implement a massive fundraising campaign (hell yeah, I’ll kick in $100 for something novel and wonderful).

Make it happen.

What's Up With Outdated Handbooks?

Once upon a time, there were Handbooks. Someone (or a small team of someones) would write and write and write about everything they could think of a specific officer might need to know how to do. Some would write formally. Some would write folksy. Some would use a question-answer format. Others would write prescriptively. Some would write bare bones and assume the officers reading the handbook would figure out the details on their own.  Some focused on old technology. Some were more in tune with modern computing and Internet possibilities. Some were overly opinionated; some were so neutral as to give no real advice at all.

Once in a while, someone would push to revise and update an entire handbook, never thinking about consistency with other handbooks. And of course, as soon as the ink was dry on the paper, the AMC would change a policy and information would be out of date again.  Additionally, finding a volunteer to edit 30 or 60 detailed pages was daunting and never done often enough.

No one reviewed them as a whole, which meant topics shared in different handbooks were inconsistent. As handbooks got more and more out of date, those inconsistencies became even more glaring. A few examples are references to Mensa Testing Day, Proctor Coordinators, InterLoc, blue pencils, Compuserve bulletin boards, newsletter exchanges, dues rates and LG reimbursements, IRS requirements, who to contact at the National Office for what, and so on.

As someone recently said, the Handbook revision process was broken and ineffective.

Very.

And so, two years ago, it was decided to scrap the entire concept of Handbooks and develop a new way of archiving and sharing and managing the ton of information officers and other volunteers need to know to do their jobs well.

No
More 
Handbooks.

Furthermore, we have developed a plan to ensure consistency of information and timely updates for all officers who share a need for certain sections of information (think of Treasurers and LocSecs who both need information about budgeting and tax reporting). All old-style handbooks are being ”ripped” en-masse into content sections that will be archived in the almost-ready-to-test-drive Compendium section of the AML Web site.

There will be hundreds of content sections. A LocSec’s Guide may, for example, comprise Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 13, 14, 29, 33, 34, and 56. The Treasurer’s Guide might comprise Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 34, and 108. But going forward, both the LocSecs and the Treasurers will be reading the exact same advice and rules on how to create budgets, how to report information for tax purposes, and how to juggle RG finances. And when a LocSec suddenly finds herself having to wear the Gifted Youth cap as well, all of those content sections will be easily accessed and consistent with what he or she has already read elsewhere about the GY program and regulations.

It will all be updated online, though you will still be able to download and print out a pdf if you wish. The updating process will be ongoing— not “static until we get around to it again" like the old system. No one or two people will have to update an entire handbook ever again; subject experts will review and update a few pages at a time, which is a far less daunting task to ask of volunteers.

Many sections are policy or procedural information (what day of the month does distribution get mailed, what is the rate Groups are reimbursed for contacting lapsed members, what tedious accounting details does the IRS want this year, who is the staff person to call about a member not receiving a newsletter, etc) and will be  kept up-to-date by the staff as  necessary.

So where are we in this process?

I have pulled apart nine handbooks so far, focusing on the LG Officers (Treasurers, LocSecs, Membership Officers, Editors, Area Coordinators, GYCoordinators, Mediators, Testing Program, and SIGHT) and have created over 100 separate "Sections" that will comprise the new Leadership Guide file base. I anticipate having 200 Sections or so for these nine Guides when all is said and done.

The sections from the Gifted Youth handbook and the SIGHT handbook have been given to those committee chairs for review and revision. The pieces about the Testing Program are about to be passed on to the Testing Committee for input.

Howard and his team are working on the online structure that will house, organize, and maintain these sections. Howard expects to have a working demo ready for the AMC by December.

Hat Juggling

Wow, it's been forever since I posted anything.

But I have been plenty busy with my three main Mensa responsibilities: Exec Editor of the Foundation's Mensa Research Journal, Chair of the MIL Name and Logo Protection Committee, and AML's Officer Guide Coordinator. I still proctor for my Local Group now and then, too.

A Toolkit for AMC and other Leaders

Now this looks like a very useful thing for leaders who are trying to think at high levels and still hope to accomplish something more practical than coming up with yet another "air is good—everyone should breathe it" type of strategic plan.

"All you need is a group and a goal: The CAT isn’t a rigid template for problem solving. It's designed to be flexible and accessible, with an action map and activities arranged into six categories, from building a group, to imagining new ideas, to planning change. The toolkit challenges groups to move beyond discussion to action, continually clarifying their shared goals based on what they learn through the problem-solving process. The result is a holistic approach to help groups tackle issues in their communities."


Download free

Jared's Amendments

I'm lurking on M-Grapevine, watching the discussion of why Jared's bylaws amendment proposals did not get enough signatures to be put on the ballot. The complexity of the system (put in place by the evil AMC so regular members don't stand a chance), the lateness of his start, the lack of publicity about the process, etc. (to be fair, it is Lee, not Jared, making the excuses).

I find it interesting that no one has posited the possible explanation that plenty of people DID know about his proposals and his need for signatures... but simply did not approve of the changes he was proposing. Sure, plenty of Mensans will sign petitions of things they disagree with just because they feel it is important for a wider voter base to consider them. But plenty more, myself included, do NOT place our names as supporters of a proposal... we don't actually support.

In my view, that is the reason for petitions: to see if there is even enough support to bother with the effort and expense of going forward.

I'm sorry for your continued frustration, Jared. I may not agree with you, but I know how hard you worked and how passionately you feel. If only the AMC would work half as hard on their governance improvement projects.