12 days of membership renewal

Samuel Johnson, 1st District commander for the American Legion Department of Iowa, was listening to the radio last December when the “12 Days of Christmas” song came on. The song inspired a membership idea – 12 days of renewal. 

Johnson created the membership renewal initiative with a 12-day Facebook campaign that started Dec. 20 to encourage members to renew before their membership expired after Dec. 31. And he used The American Legion’s monthly Membership Impact Report to help. 

“I wanted to bring awareness to what The American Legion is actually doing (through the Membership Impact Report) and bring awareness to membership. I thought, if  we can get the word out that your membership is going to expire in 12 days, it might make one person go, ‘I  guess I better renew today’,” Johnson said. 

Johnson took numbers from the Membership Impact Report to highlight the good of the Legion in Iowa and nationwide, and provided website links for more information about the Legion program discussed.  

For example, on Day 5 of the renewal campaign, he wrote, “If you haven’t renewed your membership you have seven days before it expires. Seven, that is the number of Operation Comfort Warrior grants given in November totaling $14,326. This includes providing an elliptical strider bike to an Army veteran here in Iowa who otherwise could not exercise by running or biking. Please learn more about Operation Comfort Warriors as it goes to help vets everywhere.”