Why Members Leave - a Past Survey Reveals...
20 years ago, in August 1986, Jack B. ReVelle, Ph.D. and Brenda L. ReVelle conducted a survey for American Mensa. They are reproduced with permission here.In April 1986, questionnaires were mailed to 900 former and 500 present members. A total of 355 former members and 280 present members returned their surveys for response rates of 39 and 56 percent, respectively.
From the Survey report "The majority of present members have been in Mensa for over three years and are over 40 years of age. Most are married, salaried professionals with a graduate degree. Just over half of present members are male. Members learned about Mensa primarily from a published article. Most frequently cited reasons for joining are (in order): intellectual stimulation, to prove they could qualify, to meet others with similar interests, and to seek friends. "
For the most part, these factors centered around three issues: low perceived value for dues, feelings of social isolation, and low regard for meetings/social activities.
% of Sample who cited this as a factor
- High dues - 40%
- Felt isolation - 36%
- Low perceived value of dues - 34%
- Few significant friendships - - 26%
- No involvement in SlGs - 24%
- Dull/juvenile meetings - 18%
- Lack of SlGs of interest - 18%
- Inconvenient meetings - 13%
- Poor newsletter - 13%
Other reasons given included Poor Bulletin, Local politics, Unfair elections, Lack of information on issues , Negative family-reaction, National politics, Negative friends-reaction, International politics , High fees for Meetings but of all these were factors on 10% or less of respondents.
20 years on I suspect these are still relevant.
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