Bylaws of your chapter dictate the responsibilities of each officer and board member. Here are the responsibilities of the Membership Committee:

The Membership Committee is responsible for membership growth, activation of new members, membership retention, and the current database and roster.

What the Member Receives for Dues Paid

One common question members get from individuals thinking about joining is "what do I get for the dues I pay to join ASGA?" The short answer is "an opportunity to meet quality singles in a quality environment - - a new social life - - new friends - - things to do while having fun." That's essentially the benefit of joining ASGA. But in addition to that, they're joining a national association that provides benefits in a "back office" way. More members are not involved in starting new chapters, running chapters, etc. The national association provides the "back office" for the local chapters. For some in depth review of what we provide, please review this website: http://singlesgolf.com/view_section.php?section=31

Success Comes From New People Joining

Singles want to meet other singles in quantity and a growing chapter is a healthy chapter. If members bring guests to the monthly meetings or golf outings it shows that they enjoy being a member of the chapter and want others to share in the fun. Encourage members to invite friends, neighbors and co-workers. If the chapter’s budget allows, you may want to offer an incentive such as “bring a guest and get a free drink” or “bring a guest and get a raffle ticket for a chance to win a free sleeve of golf balls,” or, even if you have no budget, you can always offer free mulligans to those who bring guests to meetings or golf outings. During the year, you may want to work with the golf committee in planning a member/guest tournament or join ranks with the social committee and have a member/guest picnic.

Guests Make New Members

Ask other members to assist you at the monthly meeting with signing in members and guests. Have a special nametag for guests. You can place a small dot next to their name or have it a different color than members' nametags. This way the members can recognize the guests and make them feel welcome. If guests are made to feel welcome, then they will join. Many people when asked why they did not join they answer, “No one asked me”. Ask guests to join.

Have each guest introduce themselves at the meeting and tell something about themselves, how they found out about the chapter or how long have they been playing golf. Ask all new members/guests to stay for few minutes after the meeting for a brief orientation with the Board of Directors. Here they can ask questions that they may not have asked in front of others. If they plan on joining that night, ask them what committee they would like to work on and pass on that information to the appropriate chairperson.

Add Your Guests to the National Database

After each membership meeting, go to the national website (www.SinglesGolf.com) and enter the guests' names and info into the ADD A GUEST section, as shown on the left side of the home page. (You can also go directly to this area by clicking here: http://www.singlesgolf.com/add_guest.php)

If you do not want to enter the new member data into the ADD A GUEST area of the website, please send the Guest Registration Form directly to ASGA by fax (704-889-4605) or mail and we will enter the information into the database.

All Guests Should Have Applications In-Hand

It is very important to give each guest and application form and a pen when they arrive at your meetings. No point in arm twisting. If they like ASGA, they'll join. But some people never join because they're never asked. When you receive a completed application form and check (or credit card info), please forward the membership applications to ASGA, PO Box 848, Pineville, NC 28134.  The form must be filled out completely and signed by the applicant. We need the original application in our office.

All guest and new member information is maintained in the national headquarters database. Guests will receive a complimentary newsletter for the three (3) issues following their entry into the database and they'll be given multiple opportunities to join ASGA.

Note: Guests are not allowed to attend meetings more than one time as a guest. Please refer to our national policy on guests at the bottom of our policy page. At any time, any person can go to www.SinglesGolf.com/ruamember (as in "are you a member") and see if someone in their chapter is a member.

Guests and general inquiries are kept “active” for three months and will receive a copy of the current newsletter during that time. If after three months they do not join, they are then archived.

Changing and Accessing Your Chapter's Database

Our system now allows individual members to update their own information in the database, i.e. address, handicaps, etc., however, not all information can be changes, e.g. their expiration date.

Chapter leaders (one or more) also have the ability to review the database and make certain changes. Normally, the chapter president and the membership chairperson should have access to this area, although others can get the username and password through the chapter president.

Members accessing this database can also review who's inquired about joining or joined their chapter recently. Go to www.SinglesGolf.com/news and enter your chapter's username and password. This is NOT the same username and password used to enter your personal record. If you have forgotten your chapter's username and/or password, please contact the national office by clicking on the CONTACT US button on the left side of this page, or e-mailing the office here.

The website, www.SinglesGolf.com/news is also the site whereby you can edit your chapter's website (if your chapter uses the national-based website we provide it free of charge, e.g. www.yourchaptername.singlesgolf.com format). You can upload photos, articles, etc. For a sample of a live site maintained by one chapter, go to www.DallasFtWorth.singlesgolf.com. All chapter leaders should have regular visits to www.SinglesGolf.com/news if you want to keep your members informed.

Dues Rebates

Around the 15th-25th of any month, the national office returns the chapter's portion of dues ($10.00) to the chapter's treasurer. It is a check representing members who joined the previous month. Twenty dollars ($20.00) is paid back to the chapter for those members who join and pay for two (2) years upfront. At www.SinglesGolf.com/news, the Membership Chairperson, or the chapter's Treasurer, can pull a list of all paid members for the previous month and match this number to the check your chapter receives each month for dues rebates.

New Policy Effective January, 2011 Relative to Dues Rebates to Local Chapters:

Receiving a local chapter's monthly newsletter is a stated benefit for the individual who pays to join ASGA.  Effective with the May, 2011 newsletters, any chapter not submitting such monthly newsletter to the national office will forego its portion of the dues rebate for that month.

Renewing Members

We cannot assume everyone will renew their membership and you can't call someone whom you haven't seen in six months the day before their dues expire and expect them to renew their dues. New members need to become active and in order to retain existing members, you must stay in some contact with them if you haven't seen them in a while. Your membership committee should always be looking at who's coming up for renewal and who's memberships recently expired. Your monthly newsletter has a special report in it indicating these persons. You may want to have someone on your committee contact members reminding them that their membership is due to expire and contact past members whose membership has lapsed. ASGA National automatically bills each member one month prior to the membership expiring.

Please note that renewal members do not receive a new membership card each year. They'll be sent a renewal notice from the national office approximately 45 days from the date of their dues expiration date and with that notice the member is given an opportunity to request a new bag tag and lost club labels.

Local E-Mail List

Many chapters maintain an e-mail list for event reminders and chapter announcements. It is a good idea to have one person send out all information so that there is no confusion. Gang your notices together so members don't get hit with 3-4 e-mails each week. When e-mailing, always send one to yourself and blind copy the rest of your membership (simply put a "(" in front of the first e-mail address on your list and a ")" after the last one in order to blind copy). Blind copying prevents any one member from instantaneously grabbing all the e-mail addresses.

As a reminder, the roster including e-mail addresses is copyrighted and may be used only for ASGA purposes. It is not to be used for selling things, multi-level marketing, private parties (not associated with ASGA), or soliciting members in any way for any other business purposes. ASGA National does not sell or give-away its members’ names and addresses, so please do not use the roster or e-mail addresses for any other purpose than ASGA.

We have a great checklist of the important things to remember for membership meetings including this Monthly Meeting Agenda Form for the Chapter President: (PDF) (MSWord)

SOME FORMS YOU'LL NEED

GUEST REGISTRATION FORM (pdf)

YELLOW 10-TAB SIGN (pdf)

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM (pdf)

A BUNCHA MORE FORMS HERE