Stuff Hitting the Fan at the American Psychological Association (and APAPO)

The swirling drain of APA & APAPO membership dues (down 36.4% & 37.1% from 2005-2015)

According to a 2/20/2016 PowerPoint presentation from Dr. Katherine Nordal, “2016 APAPO annual report to the APA Council,” things haven’t really been getting better on the membership front for the American Psychological Association or the American Psychological Association Practice Organization.

Based on estimates for 2015, dues revenue at APA appears to have been down over the 10 year period from 2005 to 2015 by 36.4%. Over that same time period, membership dues revenue at APAPO appears to have been down 37.1%. That echoes what we know so far from the downward flushing spiral of APA membership trends. In 2007 membership dues revenue at APA was $15 million and at APAPO it was $5 million. The estimates for APA membership dues revenue in 2015 was $9 million and at APAPO only $3 million.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting to hear about how many people have or have not paid their dues for this year (2016), following the release of the Hoffman Report. These numbers tend to trickle out later.

Many people have been leaving APA and APAPO due to dissatisfaction with APA and APAPO. Dues revenue is also decreasing due to the aging of APA members (much like the psychology workforce in general), as older APA members move to life member status and pay very little for APA membership.

One positive: it was noted that APAPO may start an APAPO member listserv for the practice community which I believe, if done right, could be beneficial to members. It will be interesting to see how heavy-handed the moderators might be given that there could end up being something like 20,000 disgruntled psychologists on the list. I fully support an email list serv for APAPO members that allows members to engage in a free-flowing discussion without heavy-handed moderation (such as a moderator review of each message before it is posted).

Thanks,

Todd

P.S.
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