Membership Services

White River Productions provides a variety of services for railroad historical societies including publishing, retail sales, membership services and mailing. This is a typical proposal for White River Productions (WRP) to assume the responsibility of maintaining the membership roster for any historical society.

Duties Performed
1)WRP maintains the society's membership in a Microsoft Access 2003 database.

2)WRP receives the membership applications and dues renewals at a Bucklin, Missouri post office box and picks up the mail every business day.

3)WRP processes the membership applications or dues renewals by updating the database with the required information, adding an entry to the check register, and stamping the check or money order with the society's check cancellation stamp (for the society's bank). The check register includes a line for each check or money order with the following fields: name as it appears on the check, date processed, check or money order number, amount received, membership type, dues amount, contribution amount, other amount, and notes.

4)WRP bundles the payments with the hard copy of the check register and forwards the package (usually in a USPS priority envelope) to the treasurer on a periodic basis to be determined by the society. The society can designate additional electronic copies of the check register in pdf format to be sent elsewhere via email.

5)WRP generates and mails material to new or renewing members according to the society's policy.

6)WRP provides a periodic statistical report to designated officers or board members of the society. The report will include the numbers of members by the various membership types.

7)WRP provides the master database to designated officers or board members upon request. The database can be in either Microsoft Excel 97 or Access 2003 format.

8)WRP mails a renewal notice to members whose membership has expired on a periodic basis to be determined by the society, normally quarterly. See the "Fees" section.

9)WRP will provide mailing labels to designated individuals upon request. A notification from the designated officer or board member is required.

10)In the event that monies arrive for items other than dues, WRP logs the check or money order in the check register in the "other" category and forwards the order to the designated society representative (typically the person that does the fulfillment function for the society). WRP can send back issues of magazines if they are in stock if the society so desires.

11)WRP will mail missing and bad address magazine issues to members according society policy.

12)WRP prints a renewal application form on the back side of the address face sheet that is included in the polybag with the magazine.

13)WRP performs weekly backups of the membership database and keeps at least one current copy off-site from WRP's main office.

Responsibilities

Society Responsibilities
1)The society provides a check cancellation stamp to WRP for check processing. WRP is not responsible for checks or money orders that are lost in the mail after leaving WRP's office.

2)The society determines if WRP will mail renewal notices automatically or on request of the society and the frequency of the mailings.

3)The society will provide a current membership policy, dues structure, and a current membership application. The society will notify WRP of any changes in policy, dues structures and dues fees immediately after they occur.

4)A single contact person should be designated for providing information, giving direction to WRP, and authorizing label requests.

5)Occasionally, WRP will receive misdirected monies for products that are sold by the society. The society will designate a point person to receive the forwarded orders for products. The monies will be forwarded to the treasurer by WRP as if they were processed as dues payments.

6)The society will forward renewals and applications that come from meets and various other sources to WRP. This material should arrive intact with an application, payment and clearly marked "YourHS" or "Your Historical Society." WRP will process them as if they came through the mail.

7)Membership applications and other society literature will need to be updated to WRP's post office box address.

8)The society will designate a person that can answer the various questions about the Railroad(s) of interest. WRP will forward these stray questions to the designee when they are received (often with memberships and renewals).

WRP Responsibilities
1)WRP bills the society via invoice every quarter for the membership records updated during the previous quarter.

2)WRP will publish an email address where inquiries about membership status or society information can be answered. WRP will not provide a phone number for such inquiries. WRP will attempt to answer emails within two business days of receipt.

3)WRP provides the pertinent information for the masthead to the production team of the society's magazine for updating.

4)WRP will not be the representative membership officer on the board of directors. WRP is only providing a membership maintenance service to the society.

Turnover Procedure
The turnover procedure is relatively simple. WRP realizes that processing memberships is an ongoing process. The society will need to pick a point in time to make the shift to WRP. It is WRP's experience that right before the membership period ends or after a quarterly publication mailing are the best times. If the current membership roster is not in a Microsoft product, it is best to seek out a way to convert the database before sending it to WRP. WRP can accept data in the latest Microsoft Excel, Access, or Word formats or a text delimited format. The society should provide all data records including the noncurrent members. WRP will do whatever data clean-up is necessary to arrive at a workable format. The society should send the data via email, on a CD, or DVD data disk. A hard copy list is always beneficial as a back up to the data file.

Fees

Membership Services
The fee for membership services is typically in the range of $2 to $3 per record updated, billed quarterly, but is dependent on a number of factors, including, for example, whether WRP puts together and mail membership packets.

Postage
The society will be billed for actual postage incurred on scheduled mailings including but not limited to renewal notices, new member packets, and bad address/missing issues.

Renewal Notices
A service that WRP is able to provide is mailing renewal notices every quarter (or other specified frequency) to members whose membership has expired. The envelope consists of a membership application attached to a return envelope addressed to the WRP post office box. The cost of the materials and printing of the renewal envelope is 24 cents per piece. The cost of the postage is currently approximately 23 cents per piece under WRP's bulk mail permit. A minimum of 200 pieces is required by the post office to mail under WRP's postal permit. Otherwise first class mail is required. WRP frequently combines renewal mailings of multiple societies to meet the 200 piece minimum requirement. Renewal notice charges will be billed on the next quarterly invoice after the mailing is complete.

Mailing Labels
The fee for the material and printing of 1-inch mailing labels is 5 cents per label. The address labels can be selected by any of the fields available in the database. For example, the zip code field can be used for a geographically targeted mailing.

Policy Questions and Answers
What happens in the event someone sends in dues with an incorrect amount?
Most societies send back short dues payments. If too much money is sent, the term of the membership is usually prorated.

Is a membership in the society by the year (annual) or next 4 issues of the publication? If the membership policy is annual, what is the cutoff point for applications close to the end of the period?
Memberships are basically in two types: One is a membership covers a specific membership year, such as corresponding to a Volume of the magazine; the other is a rolling membership where a membership year starts whenever the member joins.

Does the society have a line on the application in the renewal notice to donate a dollar to the archives or other society operation?
This is often the case for societies with Archives.

Other Services

Web Site Credit Card Processing
WRP has the ability to process dues payments paid by credit card on the society's web site. WRP would log on to the specified web site and perform the necessary processing. Contact WRP for more information.

Publishing and Mailing Meet Packets
WRP can design, print and mail annual meet packets that can include registration forms, information sheets, ballots, etc. Packets are usually mailed in 6 x 9 inch envelopes and mailed using the WRP mailing permit.

Check Reader Direct Deposit
WRP has the ability to process checks electronically and make direct deposits into the society's bank account, thus bypassing the need to mail checks to the treasurer. Check with your bank to determine the feasibility of automatic deposits using a check reader.

For questions regarding membership services for your society, contact Kevin EuDaly by phone at 877-787-2467 or by email at keudaly@whiteriverproductions.com or Dan Hansen by phone 866-451-7234 or by email at wrp64631@yahoo.com.