A
Message from Archie Griffin November 2008
That vision contains two specific challenges. Being the best is something our staff aspires to each and
every day. It is a charge to seek ways to change, innovate, and expand. I
want my staff to challenge assumptions and never accept that the way that
we’ve always done things is the way that we should always do them. I think that we’ve lived up to this challenge. Today, we
offer more programs, raise more scholarship money, and have a better view of
our members than ever before. When we can directly affect and improve the
worth of a membership in the Association, we live up to this challenge. The second part of our vision is being the biggest. Simply
put, we want to have more dues-paying members than anyone else. The
Association draws a great deal of its operating resources from membership
revenue, so the more members we have, the better and richer benefits we are
able to offer. The value of a membership is something that we talk about
every day in our organization. In fact, our third strategic goal speaks
directly to this conversation. It reads: We will become the biggest
dues-supported alumni association by demonstrating exceptional service and
indispensable value. Those last two phrases are very important to me. They
suggest that we won’t become the biggest by happenstance. Rather, we offer so
many valuable benefits that you’d be selling yourself short by not joining. We hope that all alumni view membership in the Association
as a valued part of their complete Buckeye experience. And I have no doubt
that many do feel this way. I have heard from countless members who’ve joined
because they feel indebted to For others, it is not quite as easy. In these difficult
economic times, budgets are tight and many people are looking for value when
they plunk down the money to join an organization. Although it may not be
quite as straight forward as an out-and-out quid pro quo, many members want to know that their $65 will bring
them at least that much in return. This is understandable. If it is indeed
our goal to offer exceptional service and indispensable value, reaching that
$65 benchmark should not be that difficult. So I decided to take a closer look at our benefits of
membership to see what is included. Are we providing the dollar-for-dollar
value that makes it a no-brainer for someone to join? What I did is look at four benefits that a member could
potentially use. If I bought $100-worth of merchandise at Buckeye Corner, my
membership would get me a $10 rebate. If I wanted to wear that new gear to a
Blue Jackets game, my membership would get me 20 percent off of two tickets,
a savings of $20 for some pretty good seats. If I used our 20 percent
discount at Brooks Brothers on a $100 purchase, I’d save another $20. And if
after these purchases I decided to take a Spanish course through On those four purchases combined, I would have saved $68,
which would exceed the $65 cost of an annual membership. And this only takes
into account four of the more than 40 benefits we have listed on our site. It
also doesn’t take into account the fact that members receive six copies of Ohio State Alumni Magazine each year,
and subscriptions to a bi-monthly magazine can cost between $15 and $25. As you can see, I believe we can make a strong case that a
membership in our Association is worth each and every penny. When you pile
the intangibles on top of it and factor in the work we do to make your
university stronger, I frankly think that joining is a no-brainer. Of course, this does not mean we are ready to rest on our
laurels. As I mentioned early on, being the best means you are constantly
striving for ways to improve. To that end, our staff continues to seek ways
to add value to a membership. We have some very good ideas about how we can
improve and grow in the next few years and we’re working diligently to bring
those benefits to reality. I am truly excited about the way our organization is
positioned for the future. There is no doubt in my mind that we have some
fruitful and bright days ahead.
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