[Lnc-business] Membership trends

Sun Jul 5 13:47:52 EDT 2015

I thank Dr. Phillies for doing the research to dig up the numbers that he
posted below to the State Chairs e-mail list.

I have replied here since we are in a much better position to affect those
numbers, as opposed to our affiliates trying to increase 

National LP membership.

The 1988 membership number is just 2 months after the election in which Ron
Paul was the Libertarian Presidential Nominee.  That is a LONG time ago.

Using one of the compound interest calculators on the Internet, over the 27
years since 1988, the annual increase in our membership has been 2.3% per
year.  If I was even slightly devious, I would have used the 1992 number,

since annual membership growth in the 23 years since 1992 has been a
shockingly low 0.1% per year!

If we had as many registrants as the Republicans and Democrats back in 1988
then 2.3% annual growth would be quite reasonable.

But when you start out with only 6300 dues paying members and probably fewer
than 100,000 registered Libertarians nationwide, our performance on
membership metrics has been HORRIBLE over the past quarter century.

I vaguely remember the number of elected Libertarians being in the 100 or so
range back in the 1980's.

I know that correlation does not equal causation.  

Nevertheless, I have to wonder if the behavior of the LNC's during that
quarter-century in not requiring or even cajoling our affiliates into
getting their members elected to public office, and not demanding that our
affiliates do whatever it took to maintain semi-permanent major-party ballot
status has caused American voters to view the Libertarian Party

as a washed-up Advocacy Organization, rather than as a dynamic and growing
political party.

The longer the LNC ignores this problem, the longer it will be before the
Libertarian Party becomes a Real Political PartyT.  

Even as a card-carrying right-libertarian, I have no problem looking to an
article in the Huffington Post for guidance:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alice-korngold/the-role-of-the-nonprofit_b_186
7740.html

"Sophisticated and experienced NGO/nonprofit board members and CEOs
routinely ask me to explain the role of the board. It's not surprising and
I'm glad they do. So let me share my four essentials for effective
governance.

1. Achievement: The role of the board is to achieve the organization's
greater potential as well as its mission.

The role of the board must be crafted specifically for each and every
organization. The role is determined based on what you seek to achieve in
terms of the mission - the organization's compelling purpose, and the vision
- what you imagine to be your organization's greater potential in the next
few years. And while the mission is usually set, many boards don't discuss
the vision. Taking the time out to create the vision is fundamental to
establishing the role of the board.

If you wonder why not simply maintain the organization's status quo, I'd
point to the Nonprofit Finance Fund State of the Sector 2012
<http://www.fastcompany.com/1826938/nonprofit-finance-fund-state-sector-2012
-system-under-pressure> , which shows the extreme financial distress under
which so many nonprofits operate. In today's environment, the nonprofits
that survive and thrive are the ones whose boards and CEOs are highly
strategic and effective in identifying opportunities to pursue their
missions in improving communities and the world.

Additionally, if you are passionate about the mission, as one should be when
you join a board, then the status quo is not sufficient when you know that
the organization's work can be further enhanced or expanded to improve more
lives, or do some greater good."

   Scott Lieberman

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

-----Original Message-----
From: Statechairs [mailto:statechairs-bounces at hq.lp.org] 

On Behalf Of George Phillies

Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2015 10:11 AM
To: State Chairs Libertarian
Subject: [Statechairs] Membership trends

I dug up the membership numbers going back into the past. The number is 

for the end of the indicated year, except 2015, where the indicated 

number is the end of June 2015.

You will see that 1992 brought in a lot of people, 1996 brought in a lot 

of people, 2000 lost ground, 2004 brought in 873 people, 2008 brought in 

1177 people, and 2012 brought in 281 people.

Remember that the Presidential campaign is not everything in terms of 

member recruitment, but it can help. The the extent we credit the 

Presidential campaign:  Note that Barr was more effective than Badnarik 

or Johnson at bringing in people, and Badnarik was more effective than 

Johnson, but all of them were more effective than the second Browne 

campaign.

For 2009 and after, there are three columns.  The second column counts 

people who signed the oath and sent us some money during the year (or 

are life members), while the third column lists "sustaining members" as 

defined in the Bylaws.  2006 is an anomaly because dues changed several 

times in different directions.

1988 - 6253 

1989 - 8211 

1990 - 9130

1991 - 9162 

1992 - 11416      

1993 - 9539 

1994 - 10641      

1995 - 13658      

1996 - 21580      

1997 - 23345      

1998 - 30007

1999 - 33007      

2000 - 32922      

2001 - 27731      

2002 - 22871

2003 - 19410

2004 - 20283

2005 - 15575

2006 - 11014

2007 - 14181

2008 - 15358

2009 - 14076 - 14096

2010 - 14077 - 14309

2011 - 13468 - 13589

2012 - 13749 - 13824

2013 - 13670 - 13869

2014 - 12053 - 12526

2015 - 11640 - 11723 (June)

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