Editor: Post funds can aid membership

People talk about “virtue signaling.” It’s when people say or do something often to appear righteous or true, but others see right through them because the action has a shimmer of insincerity. They only did it or said it to show off a virtue.

I think some of our members virtue signal at post meetings when they talk about post finances. They tell others to save every penny, spend nothing, put it all into an investment account for the future. They are signaling saving skills, not best interest.

They let the membership dues continue to cover all the costs of membership efforts because, well, they’ve always done it that way. They won’t touch the post’s main piggy bank.

Meanwhile, the post experiences declining membership. There were 800 members at one time. Then 600. Then 400. Now it’s 200. Now it’s 100. There is a lot less dough from dues to fund membership growth.

But, gosh, they sure have lots of money in the investment account. They have some more in a side CD account. There is some in the ATM account, and some more in the house account. They will just keep hording it until they are all dead and no one is around except the last man to spend it.

Stop the virtue signaling.

Put a share of the dividends and interest into membership efforts. Ensure the future existence of your post. What harm would it do to spend, say, $2,500 in dividends on membership efforts this winter and spring?

Your post’s reputation for virtue is much better as an organization that is growing its members than one that is saving for a future it might not possess.

I say all this because I know some posts are doing the right thing. They are dipping into dividends to bolster their membership drives, and it’s working.

Some posts are paying dues for the first year when a new member signs up. Others say that if the new member fronts the money for the first year that the post will pay the second year.

Some posts spend gambling money or their ATM revenue or investment earnings on scholarships. Many young veterans have children who will go to college or tech school. Providing scholarships shows a direct response to the age-old “What’s in it for me?” question.

Some posts provide additional incentives for membership recruitment. Example: Sign up 20 new members, and at the end of the Legion year, you get a reward. Perhaps it is a rifle or a one-night stay at a fishing cabin up north or a steak dinner. Think up the kind of prizes that really move people, not just some certificate.

Where do you find new members? My advice: Seek out “joiners.” Joiners are people who already have joined something. It means they are more likely to join us, too. Find them in other organizations: VFW, DAV, Eagles, Elks, Moose, Rotary and Kiwanis. Stop at the local armory, too, and sign up your local servicemembers.

There are veterans and servicemembers who simply don’t know what the Legion is. Show them our charitable and giving ways.

Buy some ads. We are more than drinking and a bar. Come to a meeting and see what we really do. Have a booth at the fair.

When you get a new member, see if there is a role they might be interested in. If they don’t want to, lay off. Be glad they joined.

Whatever you do, don’t dwindle away until your post has no members left while leaving heaps of money behind. What good is the money without members to shepherd it? Do you know who gets that money if your post turns in its charter? It goes to the American Legion Department of Minnesota.

Thanks, but the department would rather you exist as a post.

Tim Engstrom is the communications director for the American Legion Department of Minnesota. He also is a gambling manager for Bloomington Post 550.