Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, May 2015)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership.  There is a new membership champion in the BDPA family -- BDPA Cincinnati!   BDPA Cincinnati chapter, under the leadership of Dalric Webb, broke a streak of over 10 years that had been held by BDPA Chicago.   BDPA Cincinnati implemented a number of strategies and initiatives that allowed it to power up from the #5 slot it held in January 2014 ... leapfrogging BDPA chapters located in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Michael, Wayne, Audra, Patrick

The major membership growth by BDPA Cincinnati chapter can be attributed to its leadership in the Membership Management business area.  The chapter VP-Membership Management is Wayne Hicks.  He leads a team of directors -- Shelton Graves (Marketing), Patrick Nelson (Member Benefits), Michael Pulliam (Contact Management) and Audra Sweeney (Membership) -- who worked hard to improve the brand awareness of BDPA in the greater Cincinnati area.   The chapter effectively used its monthly program meetings to introduce itself to the community.  Finally, the chapter actively works to ensure a high retention rate amongst its members.

BDPA believes in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:

1. Cincinnati - president, Dalric Webb (up 1 spot)
2. Chicago - president, Reggie Rush (down 1 spot)
3. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore (up 1 spot)
4. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden (down 1 spot)
5. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
6. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown (up 1 spot)
7. Milwaukee - president, Carmen Giles (up 3 spots)
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney (down 2 spots)
9. Southern Minnesota - president, Will Smith
   
10. Indianapolis - president, Terry Morris (down 2 spots)

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Only three chapters remain in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Chicago and Cincinnati and Detroit each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

Our national president recently announced that BDPA is offering complimentary renewal for any former BDPA member.   Just come to the website and use the membership code - juneonly.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?