Time for Membership Renewals and Membership Matters

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS START MID-APRIL By Sharon Anderson and Liz Jordan

From Sharon Anderson, Membership Treasurer, and Liz Jordan, Finance Director:

Renewal forms for 2021-2022 membership will be mailed out by USPS in mid-April.  The deadline for returning dues and paperwork is June 1, 2021.

The process is the same as last year’s process, and it is very easy for first-timers.

Please remember, we have the opportunity to pay our dues, plus any donation to any of National’s Funds, online in the Membership Payment Program (MPP).

  1. The renewing member receives an email from an AAUW email address.
  2. With your credit card handy, fill in the required blanks and click “submit.”
  3. You don’t have to request this renewal email; Membership Treasurer Sharon Anderson, will send an email dues invoice to each and every member with an email address on file.

We anticipate members will increase their use of National’s MPP for paying dues because it is so easy.  Many more members used MPP last year, which is a tremendous help to the branch.

Calls for assistance are welcome!

1st Reminder: any donations to our branch programs can be made by check, made out to AAUW Sacramento, and returned with your renewal application.

2nd Reminder: Dues for 2021-2022 will increase by $3 because the National dues are going up from $59 to $62.  Your total renewal fee (except for life members) will be $102.

AAUW MEMBERSHIP MATTERS BY Bonnie Penix and Jan Stuter

50-YEAR MEMBERS

This month our membership treasurer, Sharon Anderson, has submitted the names of three of

Janice Stuter

our branch members to be considered for Honorary Life Membership in AAUW. Each of them has been an AAUW member for 50 years! They are Susan McLearan, Elaine Moody and Gloria Yost.  They richly deserve recognition for their many years of helping to advance equity and opportunities for women and girls in many facets of our lives. We will be honoring them at our May meeting, still on Zoom, and hope you will attend.

ON OUR RADAR

Once again, members of AAUW will be asked, in a national organization election, to eliminate the degree requirement as a condition for membership. Neither of us agrees that taking this step is necessary for us to show our dedication to inclusion. There are organizations, such as NOW, founded in 1966, that are open to any woman wishing to improve women’s life situations. Our organization recruits individuals who have acquired formally awarded degrees of two, four

Bonnie Penix

or more years; have a sincere interest in providing equal opportunity for women and girls in all phases of life; and are committed to nurturing their own ongoing personal growth, culturally, politically and socially.

We both attended the recent webinar on this issue and remain unconvinced that removing the membership requirements will result in a substantial improvement in attaining our goals or improving our membership numbers. We would much rather see adding a new area of eligibility, equal to full membership, for those exceptional individuals who have through their actions contributed substantially to the positive programs and opportunities available for women and girls.

NEW MEMBERS

We want to welcome two new members to our branch: Elaine Ellers and Rosemary Howard.

Elaine lives in Fair Oaks. She has a BA in international relations from Monterey Institute of International Studies and an MA in social work from UC Berkeley. She works as manager of the Sutter Teen Programs. She is interested in Film Fans, Great Decisions and Scrabble. Elaine would like to assist with our Speech Trek program. Elaine was referred by Arlene Cullum. Thank you, Arlene.

Rosemary lives in Carmichael. She has a BS in biochemistry from UC Davis and an MBA from CSUS. Rosemary is retired and is interested in Arts & Architecture, Film Fans and Great Decisions. She also is interested in Speech Trek outreach.