What Difference is the NAA Making for Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma? by Dale Croston Chair, NAA Board of Directors
O
ver the last few years I have been asked questions such as: • What is the NAA doing? • Where is my money going? • Will my membership make a difference nation- ally or will it be better served locally?
These are all valid and good questions which I’ll try to answer. The NAA was formed to provide an avenue for our members to keep their ties to Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. As alumni, moving away from your local chapter, it is hard to keep in touch and involved. Ninety percent of the NAA members are members who want to continue supporting Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma nationally even though they have lost ties to their chapter. The other 10% of the NAA membership are still very active in local Alumni Associations supporting their chapter, district, or community band programs. The questions I hear most often are: “Why should I pay dues to both a national alumni association and a local association? Wouldn’t my money be better off just staying with my local association?” That’s hard to answer; it’s all about personal feelings and preferences. I myself see the value for both. I pay national and local dues just like when I was an active member. As an Active, part of my chapter fee went to the National Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi and part was added on for my chapter to function with. I will always support my chapter and I will always support Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. It’s hard to see what impact the alumni make because most of us only know the chapter level of our organizations. We never see the big picture and how it makes a difference. Let’s look at some examples of the impact the NAA is having and what impact it could have on Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma: • Local Alumni chapters went from 4-5 before the NAA to around 19. As the NAA promotes and helps people to create local alumni associations, more are sure to develop.
• The number of individual subscriptions to The PODIUM is up, and this is helping cover the cost of production for the Chapters. Most individual subscribers are NAA members who pay $10.00 per year to get The PODIUM and stay up with the organizations. • Life Memberships and their impact on the trusts have grown every year since the NAA started promoting the program, totally revitalizing the program into a money maker. • With the increase of Alumni participation and the NAA at National Convention, the convention fees collected covered the costs for the first time. Again, alumni helped to reducing the costs for the National Chapters who in the past have had to eat any extra expenses. • Chapters who incorporate the NAA into their candidate programs encourage retention in their ranks from the start, which will help keep members active until graduation, helping to solve the ever-present retention problem. • With the NAA’s help in promoting them, national campaigns such as the Walk of Honor (bricks), Trustees’ Gift programs, and the S.O.S. capital improvement program all have generated additional funds. However, these are only some of the bonuses for having the NAA around. Let’s look at the current programs and projects of the NAA itself: • Our oldest program is the Chapter Delegate Assistance Fund. This covers the registration cost for some delegates who need help getting to National Convention. • The SPAF (Special Project Assistance Fund) helps active chapters OR alumni associations with the costs of projects they are trying to get off the ground. • The district allotment sends $5 of every NAA member’s dues to the district of their choice to help that district’s budget. • A web site is maintained for NAA information and events. • An alumni listserve was created for alumni to keep in contact with each other and share ideas. • Creation of guidelines and an idea packet for new alumni associations. • The NAA also created the Encore, a publication to feature alumni news (you’re reading it now!).
The PODIUM, Spring 2003—35
