Annual renewal systems _may_ be fine for small organizations with few paid staff or volunteers to handle the day-to-day office tasks, but I tend to doubt it. Even if true, as the size of the organization increases, there comes a point where such a system breaks down. Imagine, if you can, receiving approximately 10,000 renewal checks all at once! It is impossible for a single membership secretary, or even two such people, to handle such a load in a timely manner. Checks go uncashed for weeks, acknowledgement letters are backed up for months, etc. Reasons for not adopting an annual renewal cycle include: 1. The difficulty of explaining how you are going to prorate a membership when people join at odd times in the year. 2. The time spent explaining this prorated system over and over again to each potential new member. Perhaps this time could be spent doing something more productive? 3. People generally like things clean and simple. Confuse them with nitty gritty details of a complicated system and they have an "excuse" not to join. Twelve months of membership benefits for $xx regardless of when I join is easy to understand. 4. There can be PR problems when a member realizes that if he had just waited an extra month (like his neighbor did) he could have gotten 18 months of membership benefits instead of only 12. 5. When the bulk of an organization's annual revenue comes in all at once, it _can_ (depending upon the group's unique circumstances) cause severe cash flow problems. If it is not already obvious, I firmly believe that a monthly anniversary cycle is best. With today's computers and inexpensive database programs, there is no reason for any organization _not_ to adopt a monthly rather than the annual cycle. Much of the paperwork involved in the sending of renewal notices, follow-up reminders, etc. can be automated. On a personal note, the county historical society I used to direct switched from the annual cycle to the monthly renewal cycle when our membership reached about 800. It was a good decision and we never looked back. The Indiana Historical Society did not switch to the monthly renewal cycle until the membership was in the range of 10,000 ... i.e. not until we had a major problem on our hands. Jmh ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John M. Harris [log in to unmask] Local History Services (317) 232-4591 (work) Indiana Historical Society (317) 233-3109 (FAX) ----------------------------------------------------------------------