Joseph E. Boling:   The same things it does to encourage membership among non-club-affiliated collectors – make the benefits of ANA membership too attractive to ignore.

Michael L. Ellis:   Several things. I believe a short training course should be offered to local, state, regional and national specialty club officials emphasizing what the ANA can do for the club and its membership. Perhaps we should offer a discount, first year membership and discount it even more for being a member of an ANA member club. And I have many other suggestions for growth.

Brian E. Fanton: Open up the communications line to the ANA through its members, clubs and offer discounts on memberships if you join for more than one year, show what we can offer you by making you part of our family. Give family rates if all the same family joins. There are a lot of ways to enforce more if we try new and different options.

Patricia Jagger Finner: Our Club Representative program is working on this with some new enticements for individuals to help their clubs.  We have to do a better job of member benefit values.

Jeff C. Garrett: Some see local coin clubs as dying. I disagree, and I feel they are extremely important to the long term health of numismatics.  The ANA should do more to ensure the success of local clubs.  This can be done in the form of marketing assistance, traveling educational programs, and online resources.  Area coin dealers can also be tapped to sponsor first year memberships for local club members.   This has been very successful in our Lexington, KY Bluegrass Coin Club.  I would also like to see a change of perception that ANA membership is only for serious collectors.  Many feel their one day a month interest in numismatics does not warrant membership in a national organization.  More needs to be done to attract the beginner collector.  The new lower tier membership with the online option is a good start.  Another idea worth exploring would be an introductory membership that would be inexpensive for the first year only. 

Thomas G. Hallenbeck: The recent change in membership levels, including discounts to the clubs depending on how many of their members are also members of the ANA should help. By having our members (including Board members) attend and contribute to local clubs, and encourage membership among dealers including a sponsorship program should also help. Most importantly, the club members should look to the ANA and recognize its value, and want to join their ANA.

Alan Herbert:   Some incentives are already in place. Programs to get member clubs involved and active add to the pressure to build ANA memberships.

Paul Hollis:   Competition can be very effective with encouraging new memberships.  ANA clubs should have similar incentives and rewards for increasing participation.  Also, the ANA should provide more services to the clubs with the highest tiers of participation.  The airlines and hotels have worked wonders by promoting their best clients with silver, gold, and platinum membership levels with different benefits for each tier. 

Chester L. Krause:   Leave it alone.

J.P. Martin: ANA is selling a product - that product is membership.  It does not matter whether you are in a club or not.  I believe less than 5% of members seek out ANA services made available to them.  Most die-hard members join to "support the hobby." We have to offer up and maintain a positive image. The more casual members get the annual dues notice and ask, “Was the ANA product I received over the last year worth my dues?” Our mission will be to make them say, “Absolutely!”

Clifford Mishler:   A better question would be: What can the ANA do to pull all local clubs under its umbrella with maximized integration of their memberships into the ANA? That's the $64,000 question. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? There need to be identifiable valuable services offered that are not otherwise available, but that do not broadcast an image of haughtiness.

Walter A. Ostromecki, Jr.:   It's everyone's responsibility to foster membership, dedication and service to the Association. A large part of this responsibility rests with the volunteers who serve the Club Rep Program as District and Club delegates. This was, during my tenure as National Coordinator, one of the primary functions of the program and it's Regional Coordinators. Many attended regional, state and local conventions where they volunteered to staff ANA information tables and pushed the pride and ownership in joining the organization. Now this can be at a reduced cost for an online subscription to The Numismatist.

Everyone, including club reps needs to stand up reach out and stress the importance of individual ANA membership -- and all its bigger mutual benefit picture. Non ANA members through a club membership have received the same free benefits and value as paying members. That doesn't seem fair to me.

Thomas A. Palmer, Jr.:   The reduction of club dues according to ANA membership is good, but the strength of the Club Representative program is key.  Club reps should talk at most club meetings, telling attendees about activities at ANA.  Clubs should be offered speakers and library programs.  Visibility, encouragement, and our club rep’s pride in ANA are important to make club members want to join us.

Scott Rottinghaus:   The ANA needs better outreach to demonstrate its relevance to average collectors.  The ANA Representative Program provides one way to reach these collectors.  District Delegates should visit their clubs regularly and promote the ANA as a visible and integral partner in numismatics at the local level.   Updated slide sets and educational materials for club use will also increase the ANA’s relevance to club members.

Jeffrey Swindling:   The ANA should work to provide rewards for clubs with higher membership percentages. The excellent Club Representative and District Representative Programs should be highlighted and continually supported and developed for this purpose. We should communicate with member clubs to find out which needs we are not currently providing or fulfilling for their members who do not also belong to the ANA.

Michael S. Turrini: Again, this should be one of the imperative functions of the Representative Program: that link between the national Association and the ‘grass-roots’ of our hobby. This Program must be given ‘the tools’ and encouragement to entice local coin club members to join the ANA. In addition, enticement might be considered for a local coin club member to join the ANA, like the existing ‘Bonus Bucks’.

Wendell A. Wolka:   The $5 club dues credit for each club member who’s an individual member is a start. But it boils down to the perceived value that ANA either does or does not offer to collectors. “If you offer a superior value, they will come.”