Membership Retention: A Matter of Value
FIGURE 2 represents the retention rates of the three categories. Only 33% of those made a member through a oneday class are still members of our Fraternity. This is compared to 51% of those taking the standard path. These are far from the same. While 33% is abysmal, 51% is nothing to be proud of. I was shocked that the numbers were so low. We lose half of the men that we make Masons. 50% of the people who became Master Masons in Kansas in the last 25 years have left what we consider the greatest Fraternity the world has ever known. 50% or 17,000 men have left Masonry in Kansas. We only have about 13,000 members. 13,000 are still here, and 17,000 chose to go; we are doing something wrong.
Mikel J Stoops, Grand Master of Masons in Kansas 2021-2022
Let us consider the initiatic process by which we become a Mason. We are an initiatic fraternity based on a system of self-knowledge, with lessons in philosophy, spirituality, and morality. Our approach is based on the apprenticeship structure of the operative stonemason’s guilds. It is a proven system that dates back more than five centuries. Still, there are many proponents of shortening our initiation process through One-Day classes or Chance To Advance events. Those who believe this tout that the retention rates of members brought in through these methods are the same as those brought in through the standard means. (Standard being one degree at a time with proficiency requirements between degrees.) Those proponents provide this insight with only anecdotal stories to back it up. I wanted to see the actual data to make an informed decision about such “short-cuts.” To that end, I pulled the membership records of all Master Masons raised in Kansas since January 1st, 1996. Why 1996? It is roughly 25 years of data, and 1997 was the first year we had one-day classes in Kansas.
We have just over 35,000 records from Master Masons during those 25 years. Two-thirds of them did not contain the information I needed for the study. They were missing the dates for the initiating, passing, or raising. This left a sample of just a few under 11,000 raised during the last 25 years. For clarity of the information, “One-Day Classes” (One-Day) are those candidates who receive all three of their degrees in one day, and “Chance to Advance” (C2A) are those who received two of their degrees in one day. Both oneday and chance to advance are usually performed in a group setting. “Standard Path” (Standard) are those candidates who receive their three degrees on separate days. Looking at FIGURE 1, the blue lines represent the total number raised, and the orange lines are those who are no longer affiliated through either dimit, suspension for non-payment of dues, or suspension for un-masonic conduct. When we study the numbers raise versus the numbers that are now unaffiliated, it is clear that all things are not equal.
FIGURE 3 illustrates the dropout percentage based on years of service. Studying this curve, we see a significant spike at year three through year four. So, based on this, it is imperative that we engage new members within the first thirty-six months. If we do not, there is a high likelihood they will be gone. This is independent of whether they went through the standard path or the one-day courses. That being said, the one-day class still has a higher dropout rate than the standard path.
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