Annual Report of the Membership Committee
July 2007

THE PAST YEAR:

Committee Members: Dale Sztejnberg (New York - 5 years remaining), Tom Allen (Oklahoma - 4 years remaining), John Causland (Michigan - 2 years remaining) committee secretary. Serving as adjunct committee members: Richard Omura (California) and Bernard Gingras (Ontario). Geri Johnson (Singapore) has resigned from the committee opening the 3 year term. Last July, Robert Bruyn ( Kansas ) was appointed to fill a vacated seat (Bob & I essentially swapped positions), however this appointment was never entered into the record.

Per; Article XI Section 11.4 and 11.2 - Vacancies in Committees and Term of Office: The Membership Chair submits for confirmation Paula Thompson to fill the 6 year term and Robert Bruyn fill the remaining 3 year term, to be confirmed by vote at the next regular General Council meeting.

Societies: No new groups have applied for chartering during the past year. Still, with ongoing encouragement of Bernard Gingras, The Ontario Society continues in its re-organizational process.

In April , a Goodwill Letter was mailed to each Society in an effort to encourage leadership to bring together their Societies in fellowship, in hopes to stimulate interest and eventual growth. For the record, a copy of the letter is attached to this report.

Members-At-Large (MAL): During the past twelve months, eight new members for MAL were approved: 1) Aurora Hill of Coeur d'Alene, ID and 2) Cristina Seaborn of Saint Cloud, MN (both 07/06), 3) Peter Heberer of Brookhaven, PA and 4) Ed Kuell of Del Ray Beach, FL (both 11/06), 5) Chris Avery of Troy, AL (01/07), 6) Charles Roberts of Ballston Spa, NY (04/07) and 7-8) Chris & Ellen Lepine of Newark, DE (06/07).

We had four Requests for information that were forwarded to Local Societies: 1) Anthony P. Daniels was sent to First Society (11/06), 2) Jim Longtin to Golden Gate (12/06), 3) Phillip Kio was sent on to New York (01/07) and 4) Gary from Texarkana, Texas was referred to North Texas. 5) Mr. Saligad Emeka Anazodo from Nigeria , (02/07) was referred to
International, while Paula sent MAL info to Mr. Anazodo and his wife.

Affiliate Organizations: No new groups have inquired about becoming a Fellowship Affiliate. This is not surprising since The Fellowship has little to provide international organizations other than what they are already receiving through our Internet services and the International
Fellowship Committee.

TDA: Schedule notices were repeatedly published on the SocAdmin list and in the MM announcing the re-convening of the '06 TDA.

Society Banner Project: Completed.

Web Presences: Information on how to join, the forms, Stationary, Cards, etc., are all available on the web. New-Member Kits are produced when needed.

Membership Growth: Last year, our data base revealed that a significant number of folks on our mailing list are not members. While the data base project awaited a format that Membership could work with, the committee began an on-line discussion about how to stimulate Membership growth. Two avenues were discussed, 1) in essence a quarterly phone call to each Society, just to say hi, while hopefully facilitating a relationship that will establish a personal link between the Societies and their interest; 2) distribution of data base names
that are within range of a Society but are not listed as Fellowship Members.

In general, the concept of a Membership Drive was discussed and was not found to be of interest to the committee as a whole, and no new approaches were generated. While on the surface this appears to be discouraging, it is very revealing about how we Urantians view the
importance of joining a "organization" and how we define being active members within our Urantia community. This committee represents a good cross section of Urantians from across the country, therefore the opinions are diverse and reflective of views of the council in general. The prevailing view seems to support the concept we should actively continue our passive approach to growth. Perhaps in other words, quality vs.quantity.

Aggressively increasing the membership does not seem to be a goal worthy of expending time and resources on. So I come to you with hat in hand and ask what are your expectations for the Committee with regards to increasing membership numbers?

THE COMING YEAR:

1. Continue on our efforts to find new ways to further our presences and
visibility.

2. Explore the creation of Service Recognition mementos.

Thank You,
Lenny Cowles on behalf of the Membership Committee