Chapter Member Survey Distributed
By David Leiting Jr., EAA Lifetime 579157, EAA Chapter Outreach Specialist
July 2017 - This spring, EAA conducted its first-ever chapter member survey, with the intent of providing chapter leaders with direct insight into the feelings of their members. Questions pertaining to chapter satisfaction, activities, recommendations, and much more were included.
In total, a little more than 10,000 members replied to the survey. However, only about two-thirds of the respondents were chapter members. The other 3,700 respondents had either never visited an EAA chapter or were no longer chapter members.
While reviewing the responses, we separated the open-ended responses into three categories: those who were in a chapter, previously in a chapter, and had never been in a chapter.
For those currently in a chapter, the survey revealed why these members would recommend their chapter, but also why some members would not recommend their chapter. In addition, the survey provided a great deal of insight into how members heard about their chapter and why they joined. Members also had the opportunity to provide feedback on what changes they would like to see within the chapter.
In addition to the open-ended feedback, there were also questions that required a response that rated aspects of the chapter on a sliding scale. Chapters can review these responses and how they stacked up against the rest of the chapter network.
Chapters will also have the opportunity to review the responses from members who are no longer a part of their chapter. Why members left and open-ended feedback about the chapter are included from former members.
In addition to those who have been a part of a chapter, the survey summary also discusses why some EAA members have never joined an EAA chapter. Surprisingly, only about 25 percent of EAA members are part of a local chapter, and this survey was a great chance to see why that number is so low. Chapters are encouraged to review these responses and adjust their membership recruitment accordingly.
I, along with other EAA staff members, looked over the entire survey, and to say we learned more about the chapter network would be an understatement. Never before have we gained this depth of information directly from our chapter members. Chapters are sure to learn more than their fair share about their membership and how they can improve.
If you have any questions while reviewing your chapter’s survey, please feel free to e-mail me at dleiting@eaa.org.
