Co-Chairs: Clare Willis and Jessie LeMar
Committee Members: Chris Chang and Sara Baseggio
June 26, 2026
The Membership Committee had a very active and successful year! We made some important improvements to the membership renewal process and investigated other possible improvements. We also created a new procedure to make sure that the CALL listserv is a benefit limited only to current members of CALL. We did not get to all our possible goals for the year, however, and have some suggestions for next year’s Committee to consider.
Improvements to renewal process
At the Board’s request, the Committee investigated rolling renewal periods or prorated membership cost. Currently, the CALL year runs from June 1 to May 31 for all things including memberships. This has meant that a partial year membership costs the same as a full year. The Committee learned that this membership policy would be possible to administer using Neon, our membership management software. However, the Committee also agreed that changing the membership policy in these ways would require too much administration for a small, volunteer-run organization. The Committee also considered and rejected a suggestion to offer a lifetime membership for similar reasons.
On the other hand, the Committee did make some other improvements to the renewal process through better messaging to members. We changed the wording of the message to emphasize that those changing membership types, typically students or retirees, did not need to create a new account. We also tried to boost renewals by including some language in the renewal message about the value of CALL membership. This language was drafted with the help of the Board.
Listserv Audit
The CALL listserv is a benefit of membership, but limiting access to members has always been a challenge. The CALL listserv is hosted by the University of Chicago separately from Neon and, as a result, access to the listerv has never come automatically with CALL membership. Lacking a way to ensure that only CALL members have access to the CALL listserv creates a free rider problem, and a disincentive to renewal CALL membership.
To solve this, the Committee performed an audit comparing the CALL membership list to the listserv membership list. As a first step, in March 2026, Clare Willis pulled a list of current CALL members. Britnee Cole, listserv administrator, pulled a list of listserv subscribers and their email addresses. Chris Chang compared the member list from Neon with the listserv list and was able to show who was on one list, but not the other. The fourteen members who were not on the listserv were simply added to the listserv! Eleven email addresses were updated to preferred accounts for better communication. Seven members renewed their Neon memberships ahead of the renewal period. Eight members were identified as having left CALL. Only three members on the list of non-members with access to the listserv remain unresolved.
The first step was timed to occur before renewals are due at the end of May. The intention was to add CALL members to the listserv and update email addresses as necessary. A second step will take place in July when the Committee deletes non-members from the listserv. We anticipate only having to remove three members from the listserv. This means a net of 19 CALL members with access to the listserv.
The Committee proposes that the CALL Handbook should be revised to call for a listserv audit at least once per year. The purpose of this audit is to ensure that new members are added to the listserv and to ensure that listserv membership remains a benefit of active membership. We believe the timing of this audit should be flexible to acknowledge that CALL committees may take time to form and get started with their work. Thus, we suggest October as a good time to perform the membership audit while noting that any time after the renewal grace period has ended would suit these purposes. We also note that a better onboarding process would obviate the need to add new members through this audit.
Ideas for next CALL year
The Committee is proud of its active and productive year and acknowledges two goals that were not achieved and could be good ideas for next year’s committee. First, we hoped to reach out to lapsed members. We believe September would be a good time for this outreach because we could invite them to the September meeting and we might catch people who had trouble renewing over the summer. Second, we would like to see an improved onboarding process for new members. New members should be added to the listserv and receive clear and helpful communication about volunteer opportunities as soon as possible upon joining the organization. There is also some confusion especially leading up to meetings about who the new members are and who is supposed to tell who about these new members. Clear communication would engage our new members, and a set process would help different CALL constituencies get information about new members.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve CALL!
-2025-2026 CALL Membership Committee
Clare Willis, Jessie LeMar (co-chairs)
Chris Chang, Sara Baseggio