Grassroots dentist volunteers now get membership audit, incentives

The volunteer dentists who dedicate themselves to recruiting new members have been strengthening the tripartite for many years. Now those who contribute so much to organized dentistry will receive an added bonus for their efforts.

Members who recruit dentists that do not yet belong to the ADA are now eligible to participate in a new recognition program that provides a comprehensive overview of a society’s recruitment and retention efforts, shared goal setting and a $10 Visa gift card for every member recruited. The program is known as the ADA Membership Academy, which was launched by the Council on Membership as a new element of the Tripartite Grassroots Membership Initiative.

The TGMI would not succeed without the contributions from volunteers, said ADA Council on Membership Chair Pamela Z. Baldassarre.

“It is important to recognize the efforts of our volunteers who take time from their professional and personal lives to strengthen the profession of dentistry by working to build membership,” said Dr. Baldassarre. “Recognition lets volunteers know that they are needed and appreciated for the contributions they make.”

The Membership Academy is part of an overall council effort to reinvigorate the TGMI and measure outreach effectiveness.

“The ADA has an excellent market share for an organization of its size but we want to do better,” said Dr. Baldassarre. In February, the council approved newly adjusted constituent goals for 2008, which aim for a net gain of 4,300 active licensed members to achieve a 72 percent market share. At the end of 2007, the ADA had a membership market share of 71 percent.

In collaboration with constituent and component societies, the Tripartite Grassroots Membership Initiative provides resources and training for volunteer dentists who serve as points-of-contact for dentists who have not yet joined the ADA. Typically, volunteers call dentists, invite them to a meeting, a continuing education program or lunch, etc., discuss local issues of interest and promote the value of organized dentistry and the benefits of membership.

Such grassroots volunteer outreach efforts have been going on for years, well before the TGMI was implemented in 2001, said Dr. Baldassarre. More than 200 TGMI volunteers have reported recruiting new members since the Membership Academy began.

Through the Membership Academy, the ADA works with constituent and component societies on goals and objectives and develops an action plan to achieve those goals. A review of membership activities is also conducted so that societies can share best practices to help others increase membership.

“The intent is to work with the states to help them examine their recruitment and retention programs and set individualized goals for the specific state, encourage more training of volunteers, build enthusiasm for recruitment by increased recognition of volunteers and encourage the use of the Member Awards incentive as a way to recognize volunteers,” said Dr. Baldassarre.

“The hope is that states take advantage of the assistance and support that the ADA can give them in offering new tools to use for evaluating their programs so that there are shared goals and recognition for all when accomplishing the goals,” she said.

Recognition also raises the profile of the TGMI’s most valued asset鈥攖he grassroots members who reach out to dentists who have not joined the tripartite鈥攁nd perhaps even lead to more volunteerism.

“Besides reinforcing to our volunteers how important they are, this recognition lets other members know about the contributions made by volunteers,” said Dr. Baldassarre. “Other members may realize that they, too, can contribute by volunteering on some level.”

The reasons why volunteers participate in recruitment efforts vary. Many do so simply to share the benefits of membership they also enjoy, while others do so out of a sense of duty. For many dentists, it’s a matter of personal satisfaction.

“Dentists who recruit on behalf of the ADA do not do so in order to receive recognition,” said Dr. Gretchen Henson, chair of the Arizona Dental Association’s Council on Membership, who received a Membership Academy award at the 2008 ADA Annual Conference on Membership Recruitment and Retention.

Dentist members are the most well-suited for initiating contact with nonmembers to invite them to join organized dentistry, Dr. Henson added.

“No one understands the wants and needs of a dentist more than another dentist,” she said. “As a volunteer for the American Dental Association and Arizona Dental Association, it is important that prospective members realize that my intentions come from the heart.”

For members like Marysol Realon of the California Dental Association, simply picking up the phone and calling a colleague led that dentist to join.

“It is simple for me, so that’s what I told her,” said Dr. Realon of Lathrop, Calif. “I wanted her to know about the valuable benefits I got and that she should get them, too.”