Viking Magazine - July 2014 - 32

Fraternal Review
As you may have noticed, Sons
of Norway continued to place an
increased importance on the subjects
of volunteerism and community
involvement in 2013 via the
Recruitment & Retention e-newsletter
and programs, like Spotlight on
Volunteerism. Volunteerism and lodge
involvement within Sons of Norway
communities are important topics
because they directly relate to the
definition of a Fraternal Life Insurance
company. In looking at the activity from
last year, saying that I was impressed
is an understatement. Lodges and
groups of members were involved
with some truly inspiring projects that
made a tangible and positive difference
in communities throughout North
America and Norway.
Throughout 2013 Sons of Norway members played a meaningful role in their
communities by giving of themselves, their time and their financial support.
Last year they participated in nearly 20,000 lodge-sponsored community events.
What makes this number even more impressive is when you look at it from the
local lodge level-during 2013 more than 50 Sons of Norway lodges participated
in a community event every single day. I believe that providing the support
and resources needed to continue this trend is of the utmost importance and I
congratulate lodges on their continuing efforts.
The great news doesn't stop there, though. In 2013 our members gave of
themselves by contributing nearly 400,000 hours of community volunteer
service. This translates into every adult member doing at least 8 hours of
volunteer service to improve their community in some way. In addition, our
members also stood as a shining example for all fraternal organizations when you
consider the financial support they provided to their communities in 2013. Last
year our members gave more than $1 million to Sons of Norway communities
throughout North America and Norway.
With all this great news, it might be easy to turn a blind eye to areas where Sons
of Norway still faces challenges. Membership recruitment and retention are two
of the biggest issues we continue to deal with. We must be intensely vigilant on
these fronts, and in recent years we have instituted new initiatives to address
them, like the 2013 Recruitment Challenge. It should also be pointed out that
our Financial Benefits Counselors played a huge role in recruitment last year,
having recruited 23 percent of all new members. On the membership retention
side we also saw marked progress with Sons of Norway experiencing a 15 percent
increase in retention rates over the previous 5 year average.
15
23
% INCREASE in
member retention
over previous 5 year average.
% of all NEW members
are recruited by
Financial Benefits Counselors.
From left: Jotunheimen 4-499, Billings,
MT-Members donate and deliver blankets
to aid homeless pets; Varden 7-19, New
Westminster, BC-Children learn the art of
lefse making; Hvite Fjell 6-151, Reno, NV-
District 6 Skogforden scholarship recipient
Nick Root.
32 VIKING JULY 2014 sonsofnorway.com
00 VIKING JULY 2014
sonsofnorway.com
When you put all this information together I believe it tells us that in spite of our
membership challenges 2013 was a very good year for the fraternal operations.
This is due to the combined efforts of our FBCs, lodge members, elected leaders
and Sons of Norway Headquarters staff. Each deserves a sincere congratulations
for their contributions and ought to be proud of all they accomplished last year.
http://www.sonsofnorway.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - July 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - July 2014
