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Thursday, August 31, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
KU alumni membership increases
By Angela Baughman Kansan staff writer
Rapid growth of the University of Kansas Alumni Association in the 1980s is a situation Loren Taylor doesn't mind dealing with.
Taylor, director of membership development of the Alumni Association, said it had seen approximately a 35 percent increase in alumni membership since 1983. The Alumni Association now has 43,000 members.
"That's more, by far, than any other institution in the Big Eight has of paid memberships," he said. "We are rated second in the country among all public institutions for the highest, paid memberships. More specifically, that means 41 percent of all (living) KU graduates are paid members of the Alumni Association."
The situation that has arisen because of this growth is how the Alumni Association will support the increasing number of members.
"The amount of revenue that we've taken in from memberships has not been adequate to keep up with the growth of benefits and services," Taylor said.
Taylor said the situation was two-fold, and that the Alumni Association had done and was doing something to counteract it.
"One problem has existed for many, many years because of the incredible loyalty that KU alumni have to this institution," he said.
Taylor said there was a special
feeling that went with being a lifetime member, and that many alums chose that route instead of renewing membership annually.
"Nineteen years ago we had a ratio of life members to annual members of two to one," he said. "In 1970, life memberships were about $125. That's a one-time fee, and once that's covered no more annual revenue coming in."
Taylor said such fees didn't usually last to support services for the rest of the members' lives.
"There's been no set formula as to how to determine what is the proper amount to charge for a life membership," he said. "Obviously inflation's had an effect the last 15 years. Nonetheless, if you get out of school next year and join at our current rate of $750, we don't know if that will be adequate to provide a lifetime worth of services to you."
To increase annual revenues, Taylor said the Alumni Association was encouraging annual membership by making fees low and as reasonable as possible.
"Currently we have a ratio of one to one - 50 percent life members and 50 percent annual members," he said.
Taylor said the other half of the problem was that the Alumni Association had not raised annual dues since 1983.
"We established a membership task force last fall to review and evaluate our rates," he said. "They determined that they were not adequate to cover the costs of providing
Source: University of Kansas Alumni Association
KANSAN Graphic
services, so we increased our rates effective April 1 of this year.
"We are a not-for-profit operation, so when we increase our rates, all we have done is raised our rates to meet what it costs to operate."
The membership rates are now $25 for a single membership or $30 for a joint membership each year for the first three years after graduation; $35 single/$40 joint annually after the third three years; $55 single/$40 joint for both members and $75 single/$1,000 joint for a lifetime membership.
Taylor said the rapid rise in membership could generally be attributed to three services the Alumni Association established in the last three years.
"1987 was the first time that we did our director's program," he said.
our directory program, he said.
Taylor said the Alumni Association also started the Jayhawk bank card program.
In addition, Taylor said the Alumni Association created a program in conjunction with KU's 1988 National Basketball Championship.
"We had nearly 1,800 people join just so they could receive those two items," Taylor said.
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