Member Recruitment

Refer a Friend Program
CMAA has created a "Refer a Friend" program!  The program is held at various times throughout the year.  Each time a member refers a friend for membership in CMAA and that individual joins, the referring member's name is entered into a drawing for prizes.  More information is available here.   This program should be promoted by chapters to their members!

Membership Categories
CMAA has several categories of membership, some are for corporations/firms and others are for individuals. You can view a grid that shows the various categories, the costs, and the additional memberships available within each category.  For further membership information, contact Angeles Cervantes at 703-677-3371 or Noelle Borman at 703-677-3368.  

A Large Owner Member category was established for organizations such as USACE and GSA.  You can review the benefits of this type of membership here. 

A Mega Member category was created for CM firms and Owner organizations.  This membership type bundles CMAA products and services together along with unlimited numbers of individual members.  You can review the benefits of this type of membership here.  The current Mega CM Members are AECOM, ARCADIS, CH2M HILL, HDR, Heery International, Inc., Hill International, Inc., HNTB Corporation, Jacobs, Parsons, Parsons Brinckerhoff, STV, and URS Corporation.  The Mega Owner Member is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  

Recruitment Materials
CMAA National is offering materials to make recruiting new members to your chapter easier! You can customize these materials to your chapter's needs and individualize them for your audience.  Other recruitment tools include CMAA's National Membership Brochure (online PDF) and the Membership Application (writeable PDF format).  Chapters may request a high resolution version of the Membership Brochure by contacting Martha Montague (336-492-6028).  A pocket-sized version of the Membership Brochure is also available.
-- Letter to send to individual (updated Feb 2012)
-- Letter to send to group (updated Feb 2012)
-- Letter to send to individual or group (updated Feb 2012)
-- Tips on a face to face interview (updated Feb 2012)

90-60-30/30-60-90, An Activation and Retention Program
One tool chapters can use applies to welcoming and activating new members as well as to contacting members up for renewal.  All members need to know their participation is valuable and appreciated by the chapter.  Contacting them to convey that message is important.

Basically, all new members should be contacted 30, 60 and 90 days after joining.  This process welcomes them, informs them of upcoming meetings/events, lets them know how they can participate, and generally makes them feel welcome in the chapter.  Even veteran members who've transferred into your chapter appreciate the welcome and invitation to become involved.

Then, as the dues renewal period begins, members should be contacted 90, 60, and 30 days prior to their renewal date.  Again, it shows the member the interest in them from the chapter.  Calls aren't made only when they don't renew, but instead calls are meant to illustrate the member's value to the chapter. 

Suspended  and terminated members should be contacted, too, as part of the retention program.  Hopefully, after the 90-60-30 calls, the member will renew and a suspension won't occur, but if it does, a friendly reminder can certainly help.  Terminated members can be contacted to determine the reason they are not renewing.

Student Recruitment
Encouraging students to join CMAA is another important aspect of membership recruitment.  Regional chapters are also encouraged to form student chapters at area universities/colleges with CM programs; the Student Chapter Manual provides formation information.  More information is available about student chapters online, including a list of the current CMAA student chapters.

Honorary Owner Membership
CMAA offers a special, one-year honorary membership to any owner practitioner who serves as a speaker at a chapter event. The owner cannot, however, have been a member of CMAA. When planning for the event, you should submit the Honorary Membership Application to CMAA's Member Services Department two weeks in advance so a Member Welcome Kit can be made available for presentation to the owner at the event.

Chapter Membership Committee and Chapter Administrators' Role
The Membership Committee in each chapter can play a significant role in the management and monitoring of the chapter's membership throughout the year.  The Chapter Administrators, designated by the chapter president, have online access to the chapter's member roster and usually the Membership Committee chair is one of the Administrators.  For record-keeping purposes, a membership roster should be downloaded at least monthly from CMAA's database and turned into an Excel file.  The Excel file can then be sorted by Original Join Date to determine the new members added.  Sorting the Excel file by Status allows a review of the members under suspension and the members who have been terminated.  A monthly accounting of the number of new members and terminated members should be maintained.  Training on how to interpret and use the roster can be provided by staff for any chapter that wishes; a PowerPoint presentation is available here.  Questions about the report arising throughout the year can be directed to Martha Montague or Angeles Cervantes.

It's a good practice to download the member roster prior to sending mail or emails to the chapter members.  This ensures all the members are included and includes any changes made to those members' records, i.e. email or mail address changes. 

All designated Chapter Administrators will receive emails whenever a new member joins the chapter, a current member renews his/her dues, a current member is suspended, or a current member is terminated.  These emails will be in "real time," giving the chapter the opportunity to respond quickly to these member status changes.   Contact with new members and welcoming them to the chapter is a great method for getting those new individuals involved in the chapter.  Follow up by the chapters with suspended and terminated members is an excellent way to retain those members.   

Allied Organizations
There is a list of the allied organizations with whom CMAA has established relationships.