Growth is a habit, not an event
Fellow Knight here. Most councils treat recruiting as a once-a-year membership drive, get a handful of new men, and coast. The councils that actually grow do something quieter: they ask, all year, one man at a time — and they make joining frictionless when he says yes.
Two things have made that easier than it used to be: the single exemplification (one ~25-minute ceremony, not three degrees) and online membership.
A man can join the traditional way — through your council, completing the exemplification locally — or online, through the Order's website, after which he's recorded as an e-member and can affiliate with a local council. Either way, the enrollment lands in Supreme's Member Management, and the council picks him up from there.
The ask is the whole game
The best prospects are already around you — at Mass, in the parish, at council events. A personal invitation from a Brother converts far better than a flyer.
Have the path ready: when to join, what it costs, how the ceremony works. A prospect who says yes and then waits three weeks for next steps cools off.
For a man who's interested but can't make a local ceremony soon, online membership lets him join now and affiliate with your council — momentum kept instead of lost.
Online / e-membership
Online membership lets a man join the Order through its website rather than waiting for a local ceremony. Once enrolled, he's an e-member in Member Management, and he can affiliate with a local council — yours, ideally. From the Financial Secretary's side, e-members and transfers are input directly into Member Management; the old paper-heavy process has largely moved online.
An e-member who never connects with a real council drifts as fast as he joined. The win is converting an online join into an engaged local member — get him to a meeting, onto the communications list, and into a program. The specific online-membership offers and promo codes change; confirm current details at the Order's site before you quote them verify.
Enrolling a new member
However he joins, the council records him through Supreme's Member Management (the Form #100 Membership Document backs the change, though direct online entry has reduced paper filing). Get the member type right at enrollment — it drives how he's billed — and remember a new member starts current, never delinquent.
Common mistakes
A single annual drive caps your growth at whoever shows up that night. Asking year-round compounds.
The fastest way to lose a prospect is to make him wait. Have the enrollment path ready before you ask.
An e-member is a real recruiting opportunity. If nobody welcomes him into council life, the join was just a statistic.
Promo terms change. Check the Order's current offer before you put a number in front of a prospect.
How DuesSync handles this
DuesSync picks up where enrollment leaves off: a new member lands in the roster as current with the right billing class, and the engagement tools — broadcasts, milestone messages, event reminders — turn a fresh join into an active Brother instead of a name on a list. Recruiting fills the top of the funnel; the platform keeps it from leaking out the bottom.
Built by a Financial Secretary
Stop running this by hand.
DuesSync runs your council's dues collection end to end — online payments, automatic notices, reconciliation, and the audit trail.
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