| DECEMBER 15, 2012 -- Last month, at the 146th annual session of the National Grange in Boise, Idaho, I shared membership highlights with the delegate body. I want to share this information with each of you in this newsletter.
Hearty thanks and kudos for the hard, steady work of our State Masters and Membership Directors. As a result of their efforts, nine states realized net gains in membership this year! Oklahoma topped the list with a net gain of 272 new members and a percentage growth of 15.9 percent. Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia also had net gains in membership.
We have 2,048 local Granges as of the second quarter of 2011. Of that total, 461 local Granges realized net gains in membership. Another 489 Granges held steady; that is, they neither gained nor lost members last year. Of our local Granges, 46 percent are holding steady or growing.
We have 75,320 Fraternal Members, 86,135 Supportive Members, 2,193 Associate Members and 45 E-members for a total membership of 163,693 as of the second quarter of 2012.
At the local level, kudos to Feather River No. 440 in California with the highest net gain in the nation of 85 new members. Their Grange grew from 48 to 133 members in the past year. Springfield Grange No. 523 in California had the highest percentage gain at 222 percent. They grew from 37 to 119 members. Chester Royal Grange No. 2181 in Iowa had a 218 percent percentage gain. They grew from 11 to 35 members. Nationally, 461 Granges had net gains in membership totaling 2,979 net new members, and we know many more members joined our 2,048 Community Granges. |
