Membership Data Hints
The ASCE FTP site provides Section and Branch officers with a powerful communication resource to reach out and contact members with a few clicks of their mouse. Maintain connections with current members and create relationships with new ones by accessing up-to-date correspondence information. One member in each Section and Branch may gain access to membership data. Now that you have the key to this valuable tool, here's what you can do with it:
How do I use the FTP site: How do I use the FTP site to:
- Welcome New Members
- Retain Current Members
- Welcome Students who have Recently Upgraded
- Recognize Life Members
- Celebrate my Members' Professional Accomplishments
- Recognize Member Anniversaries
- Contact Members with similar Technical Interests
- Encourage Members to Apply for Fellow Grade
- Keep Life Members Involved
- Establish or Reinvigorate your Younger Member Group/Forum
- Involve Local Companies and Agencies
In many cases, the first local contact a new member receives, if they are contacted at all, is the Section or Branch newsletter, 8-14 weeks after joining. Extend a welcoming hand to new members of your Section or Branch after identifying them with your FTP database by their election date. For example, choose all members who were elected between January 1 and 31, 2006, for January new members. New members are also identified by an "N" in the transaction code field. Welcome new members to ASCE and your Section, Branch, Younger Member Forum or Technical/Professional Committee by:
- Sending a "welcome" e-mail, letter or postcard.
- Explaining the benefits of membership in your Section or Branch.
- Inviting them to your next meeting, program or activity.
- Introducing new members who attend meetings, programs or activities.
- Finding small ways to initially get them involved.
Remember, members won't automatically renew their membership each year - they need to see the value of being an ASCE Section or Branch member! Take an opportunity to communicate ASCE's value.
Members who have not renewed their 2006 dues will be dropped from the membership rolls in March. In addition, March will be the last month of Civil Engineering magazine and ASCE News for members who have not paid their 2006 dues. These members will be placed in "arrears" status and will lose their valuable ASCE benefits.
Section and Branch leaders, please be sure that your dues have been paid so that you are not placed in dues "arrears."
Use your membership data to encourage members to renew their membership during the renewal period to avoid being dropped. Field "AU," titled "Last National Dues Paid Year," indicates the last year a member paid dues. Any member that does not have "2005" or "2006" in this column will be dropped in March. Most of the members that will be dropped will have either "2005" or nothing in this column (upgraded Student Members who did not ever pay dues).
There are three easy ways for members to renew:
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1. Go to www.asce.org/renewal.
2. Call (800) 548-ASCE (2723) or (703) 295-6300.
3. Return one of the renewal forms they received in the mail.
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1. 1-3 year members
2. Recent graduated students
3. Members who have not renewed by February
Those who have paid dues will have a "Y" in the National dues and/or Section dues field, while those who have not paid dues will have an "N" in the respective fields.
Welcome Students who have Recently Upgraded
It is the perfect time of year to welcome newly graduated Student Members who have upgraded to Associate or Affiliate Member to your Section or Branch. Use membership data to identify these members and contact them with a personal e-mail, phone call or letter to invite them to attend meetings and other activities or to participate on a committee.
To identify these members, look for Associate Members and Affiliate Members with recent grade dates. Those whose grade date does not equal their election date joined ASCE as a Student Member and recently transferred to Associate or Affiliate Member grade. For example, an Associate Member with a grade date in June 2005 and an election date in September 2003 joined ASCE as a Student Member in 2003, recently graduated and transferred to Associate Member grade in June.
Recognize Life Members
Life Members are identified in your membership data by a "yes" in the Life Member Code field. In addition, the Life Year field lists the year in which a member either became a Life Member or will become one in the future.
To identify new Life Members, simply sort the data by "yes" in the Life Member Code field and then sort by the Life Year field - members who have a "yes" in the Life Member Code field and "2005" in the Life Year field have recently become Life Members.
ASCE sends new Life Member certificates to Sections and Branches, and there are many ways to recognize these members for their lifetime of commitment to ASCE and the civil engineering profession:
- Host a banquet or dinner in their honor.
- Ask them to speak at a meeting.
- Publish their picture and bio in your newsletter.
- Post their picture and bio on your Web site.
ASCE and general association surveys indicate that one of the primary resources people join professional societies is for professional recognition. However, in some cases engineers do not request accolades. Do not take this to mean that they do need positive feedback. Sections and Branches can use membership data to recognize members who have achieved significant milestones in their ASCE membership. Consider honoring these members at meetings; listing them in your Section/Branch newsletter; and contacting them with a personal e-mail, phone call or letter thanking them for their support of ASCE.
Would you have appreciated a note of congratulations when you passed the PE exam? Members who have recently passed the PE exam typically contact ASCE to update their credentials. Any Associate or Affiliate member with a PE qualifies to be advanced to the Member grade. Use the FTP data and sort by "Grade Date" to identify all members that have recently advanced their membership grade.
You can also use this data to recognize those advanced to the Fellow and Honorary grades of membership - the two highest member grades you can attain.
NOTE: If you have access to lists of members that have passed the PE exam, please send them to member@asce.org, and we will advance your Affiliate and Associate members.
Recognize Member Anniversaries
To identify members who have achieved significant membership "anniversaries," such as 5, 10 or 15 years of ASCE membership, just look at the Election Date field in your membership data. For example, a member who joined ASCE in 1981 has reached their 25th year of ASCE membership in 2006.
Send e-cards to members on their birthdays and membership anniversaries.
First, use your membership data to identify members' birthdays and/or membership anniversaries. Sort the data by the Birth Date field to find upcoming birthdays. While none of the sites listed below are endorsed by ASCE, they have free e-cards and no pop-up ads:
- www.e-cards.com: e-cards with a global, educational or environmental twist
- www.greetings.yahoo.com: large selection of e-cards
- www.hallmark.com: large selection of e-cards in addition to for-fee greetings services
- http://moma.e-cards.org: small but attractive selection of e-cards featuring artwork from the Museum of Modern Art in New York
- www.1001postcards.com: e-postcards, including an extensive and diverse holiday selection
- www.mycardmaker.com: sponsored by Hewlett Packard, allows you to use existing artwork or your own photos to create cards that can be printed on blank greeting cards (also available from hp) or sent via e-mail
- http://disney.go.com/dcards/: e-cards featuring Disney characters
- www.regards.com: e-cards and e-invitations, allows you to track RSVPs
- www.evite.com: e-invitations, allows you to manage RSVPs, include maps and directions to events, collect payments online using Paypal
How well do you know your members? Use your membership data to extract information about their technical interests. This information can be helpful for activities such as formation and retention of local technical groups, developing and marketing technical meeting topics and seminars, and membership development and retention efforts.
Members' technical interests are indicated in the "Enrollment" fields in your membership data. Members may prioritize the interest areas in which they have enrolled, with "1" indicating their primary level of interest. To see how members have prioritized each of their interest areas, look in the "Degree of Interest" field that accompanies each "Enrollment" field. We suggest that you focus only on interest levels "1" and "2;" the data on the lower interest levels is not significant.
To better serve members' technical needs, this data and the collection parameters have been recently updated. The data will be meaningful with the February download, after the majority of renewals have been returned.
Encourage Members to Apply for Fellow Grade
How many ASCE Fellows do you have in your Section or Branch? ASCE Fellow grade is an acknowledgement of leadership and progressive achievement, and Fellows occupy the Society's second-highest membership grade, exceeded only by Honorary Members. Less than 6% of ASCE's members advance to the Fellow grade. Here's a tip on how you can take the lead in encouraging your eligible Members to apply for this distinction.
There is no direct admission to the grade of Fellow - applicants must advance from the grade of Member, have at least 10 years exceptional responsible charge and experience gained while in that grade and be a licensed Professional Engineer or Professional Surveyor. Fellow applicants must provide three testimonial references from Society members (at least two references must be from ASCE Fellows) and must obtain a nomination from an Organizational Entity (for example, your Section, Branch or local committee) of the Society.
First, check your Section/Branch membership data to determine a listing of those who have held Member grade for at least 10 years. Simply sort the database by Column AP "Grade Date" - the column shows the date of election to ASCE Member grade. Then sort for those at the Member grade in the "xx" column. Any Member that has been at the Member grade for 10 years meets the initial criteria for advancement to Fellow Grade.
Then contact these Members to notify them about their eligibility for Fellow grade, and let them know that the Section or Branch will be proud to nominate them as the Organizational Entity.
Application packets may be requested by contacting the ASCE Membership Division at (800) 548-ASCE (2723) or (703) 295-6300; by fax at (703) 295-6333 or by e-mail to member@asce.org. The applicant can also access additional information about the Fellow guidelines and a PDF version of the Fellow application packet at http://www.asce.org/membership/fellowgrade.cfm
For questions about the Fellow application process or guidelines, please contact the applications coordinator at (800) 548-ASCE (2723) or via e-mail at member@asce.org.
Keep Life Members Involved
ASCE has over 20,000 Life Members, many of which are retired, and are willing to help mentor engineers at earlier career stages. Use the data to sort for Life and/or Retired members to initiate contact with them. In some cases you may find that these Life Members are former Section/Branch officers and may have participated in or on national committees. For more information regarding a mentoring program, visit www.asce.org/professional/careers/.
Establish or Reinvigorate your Younger Member Group/Forum
Your Younger Member Group can be the strongest link to connecting with and retaining recently graduated students and new members. Use the "Birth Date" field to identify members who are 35 years and younger, then engage these members in fun activities like cook-outs, kickball tournaments, professional sports events, Outreach programs and service projects as well as joining more technical civil engineering programs.
Involve Local Companies and Agencies
Sort data based on your members' company to determine how many members you have in a particular company or agency. Contact those members to hold a Section or Branch meeting on-site or invite the head of that company or agency to give a talk. Their participation is a potential source for new members and opens networking opportunities for your current Section/Branch and its members. ASCE offers a brochure to help establish these new avenues of communication with companies and agencies. To request more information, call (800) 548-ASCE (2723) or e-mail member@asce.org.
