To make your hotel reservation for the 2009 Spring Board of Directors’ Meeting, go to www.navyleague.org and click on the link for the meeting.  The deadline for making your reservation is May 15th.  Those making their reservations after May 15th will not be guaranteed the Navy League rate. The hotel is making the Navy League rate available June 9-15 for those who wish to arrive early or stay after the meeting.  National Directors who were unable to attend the last Directors’ meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, are reminded that they may not be eligible for reelection if they miss two consecutive meetings.

The deadline for registering for the Spring Board of Directors’ Meeting is June 1st.  The program, hotel information and online registration are available on the Navy League web site.  Additionally, information may be found in the May issue of SEAPOWER http://www.seapower-digital.com/seapower/spsample/

There are several Councils that will have officer elections between now and the end of the year. Please make sure that you send your revised officer list to service@navyleague.org so that your new officers can be entered and gain access to the OLC, and your re-elected officers don’t lose their access.

The Retention Report is back online and has a slightly different look to it. Keeping in mind that retention is your ability to retain your renewing members, it tracks all created invoices to see who renewed, and who didn’t. Life members are never included in calculating retention because they don’t renew. 2 and 3-year members are only included in the year that they actually renew. New members are also only included if and when they come up for renewal. Members that pass away are removed from the calculation and not counted against retention.

All Council Presidents, Membership, Retention, and Recruiting Chairs are reminded to take a look at your council’s roster on the Online Community (OLC) on a regular basis to manage your renewals. The National office sends out renewals on a monthly basis, but renewals can be lost or forgotten. Councils are still the Navy League’s best first line when it comes to renewals because you know your members and can speak to them on a personal level. You can remind your members of the activities your council had over the last year, any local privileges of membership, and also what you have planned for the next year.

To review your roster for lapsed or lapsing members, log onto the OLC and pull up your roster. Click on the "Exp.Date" column header once and your roster will be sorted by your members that are lapsed first. These are the members that you should contact personally about renewing their memberships. Some councils are small enough that this could be done by one person, and some may want to form a committee of members to help out.

Regardless of the size of your Council, consider (if you haven’t already) making your Retention Chair the Chair of a "retention committee." This committee’s function would not only be to remind your members to renew their memberships, but turn retention into a year long cycle that would include welcoming new members and putting together a couple of get-togethers specifically for members. These outings would be filler between ship visits or awards banquets you may already hold for your service community – these would be geared towards building camaraderie. These gatherings don’t have to be elaborate – a cookout in someone’s back yard, or a picnic at a local park. The point of these gatherings is to get together and have fun as a Council.

Remember, retention and recruiting are Council-driven. Real membership growth in your Council, as well as in the Navy League, can only be achieved with a high retention rate and active recruiting. It is not only easier than recruiting new members (many members renew simply because they were personally asked), it is better financially for Councils. The higher your retention, the higher your rebates can be.

Youth Awards season is upon us. Remember that Youth Award Medal packets are purchased online through the Navy League Ship’s Store at www.navyleague.org/shipsstore under "Council Items," and they are on the second page.