WWW.ALOA.ORG JULY/AUGUST 2023 KEYNOTES 37 End 2: Membership The ALOA Board has specified in the governance policy that we have sustained membership retention and growth as the recognized industry leader in providing education, training and a voice for lock- smith security professionals. In-person training sessions were not possible for a brief period in 2021 and the entire year of 2022. This allowed the association to provide valuable training online and enroll new members. In keeping with our governance, high ethical standards and the best interests of our membership at large, we’ve taken the actions that follow in support of the governance goals. 1) Determining why some locksmiths won’t join ALOA and why current mem- bers don’t renew. These questions are not just ALOA’s, but that of most membership organizations. To discover answers, the president of ALOA appointed a special committee to research and develop strategies that may be acted upon quickly. The specially ap- pointed committee is headed by current Southwest Director Mark Dawson. The first step has been to survey the member- ship rolls of ALOA SPAI, which includes all the divisions. The first survey occurred at SAFETECH 2022 convention in Lex- ington, KY. Students were surveyed, with a good response. Attendees at the 2022 ALOA Convention in Las Vegas were also surveyed. The results were gathered and controlled by the committee, and they plan to use it to define specific wants and needs of the membership. The commit- tee will be rolling out new programs and incentives this year. 2) Another step that is being taken this year, as in every year, is to invite non- member convention attendees and pros- pects from purchased mailing lists and license boards to join with discounted membership and waiving of application fee. This has worked well in the past, but the absence of conventions has also hin- dered the results of those offerings. The return of annual conventions has been very limited; therefore, this tactic has unfortunately had very little impact. 3) Membership drives, campaigns or other targeted initiatives aimed at acquisi- tion and/or retention of members are care- fully crafted and implemented. In 2021 and 2022, we had the ability to reach out to past members, offering them a discount on the following year’s membership renewal if they reinstated, without any penalty. This offer also included the waiving of admin- istrative fees and maintaining their origi- nal member number and joined date. An average of 60 past members in each of the past two years were reinstated. This was an initiative that could be offered without much expense, yet resulted in a substantial savings to the individual. Although the pandemic of the century has been a part of our lives for the past three-plus years, proper vetting and other actions (such as background checks) are still very much a part of the screening of new member applicants. This is done to prevent illegitimate and/or unqualified applicants from becoming members of the organization and violating our code of conduct/ethics. In 2022, 361 applicants were approved for ALOA, AIL, IAIL and IAAL, and 72 were approved for SAVTA. 2022 2023 ALOA 3320 ALOA 3236 AIL 228 AIL 267 IAIL 221 IAIL 224 ALOA/ ALOA/ Assoc./Co 176 Assoc./Co 176 SAVTA 1288 SAVTA 1251 SAVTA/Assoc. 16 SAVTA/Assoc. 16 IAAL 11 IAAL 83 Total 5,039 Total 5,029 “The past few years have required that the association develop and produce alternative methods to deliver education yet still maintain high ethical standards and the best interests of our membership.” ALOA ALOA Security Professionals Association, Inc. Membership Application CANDIDATE PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT Name: Mr. Mrs. Ms. First_________________________ Last_______________________________ MI_____ Designation _________ Business Name _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mailing Address ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City_______________________________________ State_________ Zip Code_________________ Country _________________________________ Work Phone_______________________________ Home Phone______________________________ Fax ____________________________________ Email Address_________________________________________________ Website __________________________________________________ Date of Birth (required)__________________ Place of Birth__________________ Social Security # (required) __________________________ US Citizen? Yes No If No, citizen of what country? ___________________________________________________________________ ALOA occasionally makes its members’ addresses (excluding phone numbers and email addresses) available to vendors who provide products and services to the industry. If you prefer not to be included in these lists, please check here: o ALOA continues to survey current and past members to find ways to better recruit and retain members. There were 361 applicants in 2022 for ALOA, AIL, IAIL and IAAL.
