Chapter Leaders

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  • 1.  How are other chapters trying to recover "Expired and in Grace" members?

    Posted 01-10-2023 01:44 PM

    Puget Sound (WA) Chapter now has 101 active members!  PSCSTA also has 36 "Expired and in Grace" members.   This list includes many members that members of the leadership team know personally and have interacted with regarding CS Education issues within the past year.

     

    I attempted to contact these 36 "Expired and in Grace" members in late December via the following Membernova e-mail:

     

    My name is Catherine Wyman and I am on the Puget Sound Computer Science Teachers Association leadership team. We are almost at 100 members - which is a pretty neat milestone. 

     I noticed that within the last year or so, your membership lapsed. We would love to have you back in the group - whether you opt for the FREE Basic membership or the $50/year CSTA+ membership. Just go to https://pugetsound.csteachers.org/ and click on Join. Select Join CSTA Puget Sound from the drop down menu.

     

    If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I hope we see you again in 2023!

     

    All the best,

    Catherine

    (personal contact e-mail omitted from this post)

     

    Despite my efforts, none of the "expired or in grace members" has rejoined or contacted me. So, I thought I would reach out to the wisdom of this community:

     

    • What are the policies around "Expired and in Grace?"   How do members fall into the "Expired and in Grace" category?   What do members need to do to prevent falling into this category?  What do members need to do to be reconsidered as Active?   Do members ever fall out of the "Expired and in Grace" category and are lost altogether?

     

    • What outreach does CSTA HQ do to reach "Expired and in Grace" members?   What information and opportunities do active members receive that "Expired and in Grace" members do not?

     

    • Do other chapters experience problems with Membernova e-mails being routed to Junk mail?  

     

    • What are other chapters doing to recover "Active and in Grace" memberships?

     

      Any insights and ideas you could provide through this community forum would be most helpful.

    Gratefully,

    Catherine



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    Catherine Wyman
    Skagit Valley College
    Mount Vernon, WA
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  • 2.  RE: How are other chapters trying to recover "Expired and in Grace" members?

    Posted 02-16-2023 10:53 PM

    A related question that I have is how do other chapters welcome new members?  Puget Sound (WA) sometimes gets members joining with no recruiting attempt by officers. 

    I am thinking of reaching out to these new members to find out what they are interested and provide them with some info.   I remembered that there used to be new member orientation sessions and even found one from 2020 on YouTube CSTA New Member Orientation: October 2020 - YouTube.   However, I can't find any new member orientation information on the current csteachers.org site.  Does anyone have any updated information to help new members or help chapters help new members get the most benefit out of their CSTA and chapter memberships?



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    Lawrence Tanimoto
    Treasurer, CSTA Puget Sound (WA)
    Bellevue, WA
    K-12 Teacher (retired)
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  • 3.  RE: How are other chapters trying to recover "Expired and in Grace" members?

    Posted 02-17-2023 10:59 AM
    Edited by Jason W. Bohrer 02-17-2023 11:01 AM

    Hi @Lawrence Tanimoto

    The following is from the CSTA+ Newsletter that went out this week:

    " NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION
    If you recently joined the CSTA+ community but missed December's New Member Orientation, you're in luck! Our Regional Chapter Support Coordinators will be hosting TWO New Member Orientation sessions tailored to your region!
    You can register based on your region below:
    While the content of these sessions will include information specific to members in their designated regions, all new members are welcome and will find value! "

    We'd love to have you and/or any of your new members join us the week after next, 

    ~ Jason

    ------------------------------
    Jason W. Bohrer | Chapter Relations Lead
    Computer Science Teachers Association | @csteachersorg
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  • 4.  RE: How are other chapters trying to recover "Expired and in Grace" members?

    Posted 02-20-2023 11:02 AM

    Thank you for the information, Jason   Sorry, I missed the information on csteachers.org.   I couldn't find it in search, but now notice that it is on the home page on the bottom.

    I signed up for the early orientation meeting on Feb 28 to see what is involved and how we might want to customize the info for new PSCSTA members.   Also I'd like to use the info as a basis of recruiting new members. 



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    Lawrence Tanimoto
    Treasurer, CSTA Puget Sound (WA)
    Bellevue, WA
    K-12 Teacher (retired)
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: How are other chapters trying to recover "Expired and in Grace" members?

    Posted 02-17-2023 11:22 AM
    Edited by Jason W. Bohrer 02-17-2023 11:22 AM

    Hi @Catherine Wyman

    Unfortunately, CSTA members failing to renew memberships is a problem for many chapters. This often happens when members receive free memberships through various programs but then fail to engage with CSTA and their memberships inevitably expire. I'm happy to answer your questions below:

    • What are the policies around "Expired and in Grace?"   How do members fall into the "Expired and in Grace" category?   What do members need to do to prevent falling into this category?  What do members need to do to be reconsidered as Active?   Do members ever fall out of the "Expired and in Grace" category and are lost altogether?
      • CSTA membership requires annual renewal based on the date the member originally joined. Grace status is for the first month a member is expired, and then the status switches to Expired. Members receive various emails reminding them about renewal, at least 3-4, but members whose national membership has expired remain in chapters so that once they renew, they don't have to then rejoin the chapter (and this also gives chapters the chance to reach out and inquire about renewal). All a member needs to do to rejoin Active Status is to renew their membership. 
    • What outreach does CSTA HQ do to reach "Expired and in Grace" members?   What information and opportunities do active members receive that "Expired and in Grace" members do not?
      • There are a series of automated emails that go out to members as their renewal date approaches and continuing once they've expired. We also run renewal campaigns for expired members once or twice a year to try and bring people back. 
    • Do other chapters experience problems with Membernova e-mails being routed to Junk mail?  
      • I believe that the issue here is that many school district firewalls are set with extremely high-security measures and many of our members use their work emails for their accounts. When possible, I advise members to use a personal email for their account as their home firewall will likely not black MemberNova. Aside from that, I remind people to always check their junk/spam folders and to add the email address(es) from which chapter correspondence is sent to their approved list. 
    • What are other chapters doing to recover "Active and in Grace" memberships?
      • We've sent out the guidance below to help Chapter Leaders reach out to expired members, but I'd love to hear how other chapters are doing this. @Corey Rogers, any thoughts here or on Lawrence's question about reaching out to new members?

    " Did you know that all chapter lists in MemberNova reflect active, in grace, and expired members separately?
     
      • Active: This member has an active membership, and no action is needed.
      • Active (grace): This member is past their subscription date, hasn't renewed, and has 30 days to renew before expiring. 
      • Expired: This member did not renew within the 30 day grace period.
    This means that you can send targeted emails to members in Grace or Expired statuses.
     
    We've created the following guidance to assist you in encouraging your members to renew and stay active in their chapter membership:  


    I hope this helps,

    ~ Jason

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    Jason W. Bohrer | Chapter Relations Lead
    Computer Science Teachers Association | @csteachersorg
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