Welcome to March, chapter leaders! Below are a few membership-related resources and updates that may come in handy. But first, SMPS HQ has a new staff member! Please help us welcome Isaiah Carpizo, coordinator of membership and chapter support, who joined SMPS in January. In his role, Isaiah will support members and chapter leaders with day-to-day membership and chapter operations.
Chapter Membership Activity: Have a new or reinstating member? As we speak, we are testing the new functionality where chapters will be notified within 24 hours of new and reinstated members joining. In addition, at the beginning of each month, chapters will receive a list of the members due to expire at the end of that same month, and a list of members who have 10 days remaining before being dropped (expiration date + 70-day grace period). In the interim, these members can be found within your chapter queries.
Foundation-donate: Now during the membership online renewal process, there’s an option to donate to the SMPS Foundation. Donations help the Foundation provide research, publications, and resources that drive industry growth and innovation for SMPS members and their firms.
2026 Membership Policy Changes and Clarifications: Membership Transfers and Refer a Member:
Membership Transfers
Transferring an SMPS membership, from one colleague to another, supports members whose role has changed. As a result, the remaining time of the current membership may be passed on to another person/colleague at no additional cost. Previously, SMPS was liberal in its transfer administration. However, due to select cases, we revisited the policy. Effective January 2026, a firm may only transfer a membership once per calendar year and/or renewal cycle.
To facilitate a transfer, please encourage the active/departing member to email membership@smps.org with the name, firm name, and email of the person who should receive the remaining membership time. In turn, HQ will conduct outreach and complete the transfer. For chapter leaders, the active member roster query denotes transferred-in members.
Refer a member
Active members are granted a three-month membership extension for referring a new member. To receive the extension, referred member must provide the name of the referrer within their smps.org account at the time of joining. Or, the referrer may share the same details by emailing membership@smps.org. Either action must take place within 30 days of the new member joining.
Group Membership discount: SMPS will offer firms that have a minimum of five new members, all joining at the same time, a 10% overall discount. Once a firm (or chapter) identifies the prospects, please email the list of names to membership@smps.org. HQ will instruct on next steps.
SMPS HQ Comp Membership: Each year, chapters are afforded one free membership ($449 value) to provide to a new or renewing member. For the new member with no previous history (or record), they would need to begin at smps.org, click “login” in the upper right-hand corner, and “create an account.” Once they’ve done this step, the chapter should email HQ at membership@smps.org so that we can apply the chapter comp membership accordingly.
Dropped (former) Member Survey Results: Below is a chart showing the results to a question from our dropped-member survey. You’ll see the top reason for not renewing is: I do not have the time to take advantage of membership. This information is valuable, and there may be some ways to address it at the chapter level and provide member value in various ways. For example:
- Has your chapter considered offering programming on the same day(s) each month?
- Does your chapter offer an events calendar in advance so your members can plan?
- Have you considered programming organized by experience level, city, etc., and replicating it throughout?
- Do you invite local AEC professionals to offer lunch and learn opportunities? The first 50 minutes could be educational and the remaining 10 could be used to pitch a company initiative.
That’s for this month’s Membership Corner. Thank you for your time and dedication as a chapter leader and volunteer! If you have any questions, please reach out to membership@smps.org.
