Annual Report 2023-2024

an upward trajectory for Membership Referral systems help temples foster recruitment

It was a big year for membership, as recruitment improved compared to other recent years, new Shrine clubs formed and young leaders continued to step up in their temples. In the first half of 2023, 85 temples had positive growth. During those six months, the fraternity's net membership increased by 231 members. Some of that growth cooled in the second half of the year. But still, at the end of 2023, 22 temples had positive growth and another 60 temples had lost just a few members. Overall, for the organization as a whole, this past year had the smallest decline in membership in 20 years, roughly 4%. The most telling figure, according to Bryan Harrison, chief membership development officer for the fraternity, is that 2023 almost exceeded the number of new members when compared to 2019. The key difference is, there were about 40,000 more members back in 2019. Traditionally, recruitment has been bigger when the fraternity is bigger. So, the recruitment this past year has been unprecedented, Harrison said. “We’ve never seen that before. Until now, when our membership went down, the total number of members recruited went down.” The reason for this turnabout is likely because the chapters have been better using tools such as beashrinernow.com and the e-petition.

“The big difference is that our local temples have been using the newer systems set up to foster more recruitment,” Harrison said. Region 15, the international region, contributed significantly to the improved recruitment figures this year, with 11 of the 12 temples in the region seeing growth. Membership in the international chapters grew by 42% last year. It grew by 22% in 2022. The international growth has been particularly impressive in Brazil and Mexico, where all six of the chapters in those two countries had growth above, or close to, 10% in 2023. But those aren’t the only places outside the United States where there is growth. A new chapter was chartered in Lebanon and new regional clubs were formed in South Africa and Japan. Younger members lead to growth, as demonstrated in Region 15. In the international region, more than 40% of Shriners are younger than 51, and in the fraternity overall, there are about 400 new leaders who are under 45. Will this improved recruitment gain momentum in the next year and beyond? Only time will tell – and, perhaps there will be continued effort to use the recruitment systems. But, either way, Harrison is encouraged. “This was a foundational year for us to result in membership growth in ensuing years,” he said.

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