Report Membership Research Study

Transcription

1 Report Membership Research Study California Retired Teachers Association

2 Report January 12, 2009 CRTA Membership Research Study Prepared for California Retired Teachers Association 800 Howe Avenue, #370 Sacramento, CA Prepared by David Keen Managing Director BBC Research & Consulting 3773 Cherry Creek N. Drive, Suite 850 Denver, Colorado fax and Dana Hines President and CEO Membership Consultants 3868 Russell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri fax

3 Table of Contents Summary Report Background... 1 Key Research Results... 3 Membership Recommendations... 8 Next Steps Appendices A. Demographic Analysis of Retired and Current Teachers in California Background and Limitations of Data... A 1 Results of Analysis... A 2 B. Length of CRTA Membership Results for all Members... B 1 Results for Areas... B 3 Results for Divisions... B 4 C. Results of Key Person Interviews Membership Overview... C 1 Community Relationship... C 2 Membership Cost and Benefit... C 2 Barriers to Increasing Membership... C 3 Interview Guide... C 4 D. Member and Non-Member Focus Groups Methodology... D 1 Demographics... D 1 Retirement... D 2 Getting and Sharing Information... D 6 Keeping in Touch... D 8 Substitute Teaching... D 9 Volunteering... D 12 Membership Organizations and Advocacy... D 12 Non-Member Awareness and Perceptions of CRTA... D 16 Current Member Paths to Joining CRTA... D 19 CRTA Membership Experience for Current Members... D 23 BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING i

4 Table of Contents E. Results of Telephone Survey Methodology... E 1 Survey Sampling and Data Collection... E 1 Telephone Survey Results... E 3 Telephone Survey Instrument... E 12 F. Results of Online Survey Methodology... F 1 Survey Sampling and Data Collection... F 1 Online Survey Results... F 3 Online Survey Instrument and Postcard... F 24 G. Differences Between Younger and Older Retirees Young-Old and Old-Old... G 1 Volunteerism and Joining Groups... G 1 Media Habits... G 2 BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING ii

5 SUMMARY REPORT Membership Consultants and BBC Research & Consulting (BBC) researched awareness, attitudes and needs of California retired educators to assist the California Retired Teachers Association (CRTA) address programming and marketing challenges. This Summary Report synthesizes the quantitative and qualitative research conducted in fall 2008; supporting appendices provide in-depth research results. Membership Consultants and BBC (the study team ) worked closely with CRTA management throughout this assignment. Background Teachers who have retired from California schools, their spouses and some soon-to-be retirees join CRTA to keep informed about their pension benefits from the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), have a collective voice in protecting those pensions, and gain access to other CRTA benefits. CRTA may also serve as a social network for some members. CRTA challenges. CRTA currently has nearly 51,000 members and is interested in gaining more members among the 200,000+ retired teachers in the state. As a first step, CRTA would like to better understand what would motivate newly-retired teachers to join CRTA. The motivations that led existing members to join may differ from those of newly-retired teachers. CRTA also faces several other challenges: Some existing members, especially among state-wide and local division CRTA leadership, perceive a disconnect between the needs, values and communication styles of newly-retiring educators and those of existing members. For example, do new retirees have the same willingness to commit time to an organization such as CRTA, a crucial feature of the organization s past success? Until relatively recently, retired educators received information on CRTA as an insert in a pension check mailing once per year (the blue card ). CalSTRS has discontinued that practice. It also does not disclose the list of retirees receiving pension payments. Marketing through the teachers union would also be a logical avenue for new CRTA membership. However, the California Teachers Association (CTA) does not provide a member roster to CRTA. (The CTA has its own retiree group that competes with CRTA.) These factors leave CRTA without a comprehensive list of retired teachers CRTA has had to use purchased lists for direct mailing and rely on word of mouth and periodical ads to reach potential members. In isolated cases, CRTA volunteers have been able to obtain names of retiring teachers from local school districts. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 1

6 Much of the marketing of CRTA to new retirees depends upon the initiative of a few committed members within each local division. Some divisions have been more successful than others in recruiting new members. Also, a traditional way of introducing CRTA to potential new members is to invite them to a local division meeting. Is the current recruitment system sustainable? CRTA competes with other membership organizations for retired educators, including the retiree arm of the California Teachers Association (CTA and CTAR), the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) and the National Education Association (NEA), as well as broader associations such as AARP. Teachers also directly interact with CalSTRS to assist with their transition to retirement. CalSTRS and CTA have direct access to teachers in schools across the state, which CRTA does not. Research objectives and components. The research results discussed in the Summary Report and supporting appendices provide a first step toward identifying new ways to market membership to newly retiring teachers in California. Study findings help CRTA understand what motivates new members to join the organization and what CRTA could do to attract additional newly-retired teachers. The study included the following: Compilation and analysis of U.S. Census data from 1990 through 2007 concerning demographic trends for recently retired teachers and working teachers in California (presented in Appendix A); Analysis of information on CRTA membership from an October 2008 member database (see Appendix B); Key person interviews at the outset of the study, including telephone interviews with a sample of CRTA members, membership chairs, state membership representatives and board members (discussed in Appendix C); Two focus groups with newly-joining members and two focus groups with newlyretired or soon-to-retire educators held in October in Sacramento and Orange County (Appendix D presents key results of the four 90-minute focus groups); In-depth telephone interviews with 105 members and non-members, completed in fall 2008 (see Appendix E); An online survey of more than 1,800 members and non-members, including individuals for whom CRTA had addresses and a sample of those without addresses (see Appendix F); and A review of the literature concerning attitudes and media habits of different generations of retirees (provided in Appendix G). BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 2

7 Key Research Results The combined research offers a number of key findings for CRTA. Large number of future retirees. BBC s analysis of U.S. Bureau of the Census data for California found substantial shifts in the age distribution of working teachers over the past two decades. Working teachers in California are older, on average, than teachers in the U.S. as a whole, and much older than the overall California workforce. Teachers over 50 years of age now comprise one-third of working teachers in the state. There will be a large and consistent flow of new retirees from California public schools in the coming years, perhaps more than 10,000 new retirees per year which presents a prime opportunity to increase CRTA membership. Demographic characteristics of teachers in the coming decade will be similar to those of teachers who have recently retired in California. Over the long-term, there will be a large shift in the race/ethnicity of retiring teachers, with one-half of retirees coming from groups other than non-hispanic whites. Many more new teachers today are Hispanic Americans and Asian-Pacific Americans than in previous generations. (See Appendix A for additional analysis of demographic trends.) Implications for the future: The coming years will offer an ideal opportunity to increase CRTA membership. There may be additional interest and need for retiring teachers to continue to teach part-time or substitute teach, which present new needs that CRTA should address. Recognition and value for traditional role for CRTA, with some communication challenges. Through different research techniques, the study team examined the perceived value of different benefits and services currently or potentially offered by CRTA and other membership organizations. Newly-joined CRTA members as well as non-members consistently rated as high value activities related to teachers pensions, such as political clout in protecting teachers pensions, lobbying in Sacramento to improve teachers pensions and getting news about what s affecting teachers pensions. In addition, many respondents also identified health care reform and changes to Social Security rules as key issues. Focus group participants talked about strength in numbers as a reason that retiring teachers should join CRTA. CRTA also appears to be avoiding the perception of being too political, which emerged as a negative perception for some when participants discussed CTA or CTAR. Many members and non-members seemed to believe that their pensions were very secure and did not express any worry over whether money would be there in the future. Although newly-retiring and soon-to-retire teachers express some fear about their financial futures, they did not seem to fear for their pensions. They placed a great deal of trust in CalSTRS, especially because CalSTRS representatives were one of their few sources of retirement advice that they viewed as looking out for them (rather than having their own agenda). From the focus groups: STRS sent us an . I got it a couple of days ago, saying don t worry about your retirement, you re in good hands. And that was so reassuring. There does not appear to be an us against them attitude among new retirees, which has been important to CRTA s past success. In some ways, CRTA s recruitment challenges today are a result of its past success in securing teacher pensions to a degree that retired teachers no longer worry about the security of their pensions. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 3

8 Implications for the future: CRTA past and recent successes in securing future pensions are still important to current and future members. The organization should more aggressively communicate to retiring educators that the security of their pensions is not guaranteed and that they still need CRTA to advocate for them in Sacramento. CRTA should position itself as an organization that continues to make things better for retired educators. Its advocacy should encompass broad areas of interest to retired educators, including health care and Social Security (and CRTA should communicate to prospective members its role in those areas). Need for help in transitioning to retirement. The study team s research, especially the focus groups discussions, found that many retiring educators admitted that they were ill-prepared for making the transition to retirement and that they had started seriously thinking about retirement too late in their teaching careers. They wished they had better advice before and after retiring. Common expressions of preparation for retirement included naïve, and it was the last thing on my mind. Some teachers said that they made the decision to retire suddenly, often for reasons outside their control. Teachers also explained that there are many disadvantages associated with early announcing planned retirement to school administrators, contributing to a maybe this year, maybe next year mentality about a retirement date. (The uncertainty in retirement dates also presents a challenge for CRTA when attempting to identify soon-to-retire teachers.) When the study team examined the perceived value of possible services of a membership organization for retired teachers, services such as information on how to plan for a successful retirement were of some interest to current and potential CRTA members. Information to help navigate getting Social Security and Medicare was also rated as highly valuable (see Appendix E and F for quantitative survey results). Implications for the future: CRTA can position itself to be a key source of unbiased, clear advice to educators before and after they retire (about half of members and non-members believe CRTA already does this). Becoming a better source of retirement advice may require a new focus in marketing and development of new materials for members, including an upgrade of the existing CRTA website. It also means that CRTA should market itself to teachers before they retire. There appear to be opportunities for CRTA to assist retired teachers wishing to substitute teach. Many teachers were unaware of the hurdles associated with substitute teaching, especially if they did not substitute teach immediately after retirement. There was some interest among members and non-members in CRTA providing liability insurance for substitute teachers (but less interest for job-postings). The advantage of emphasizing such personalized retirement services is that retirees can see how they would individually benefit from CRTA membership. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 4

9 Challenges of providing benefits that are only available to members. Any organization like CRTA struggles with the fact that the core benefits of the organization accrue to its constituents whether or not they pay to be members. That is, CRTA does not just advocate for its members, it represents retired educators in general. If CRTA expands its services to further emphasize advice to retirees, non-members can also take advantage of such membership benefits (e.g., advice on the CRTA website would be available to all members unless it appeared on members-only pages). Implications for the future: Although not the primary reasons to join, members-only benefits such as discounts on prescriptions and health insurance, travel and other services will still be an important part of CRTA membership. (These types of benefits were rated as valuable by up to one-half of CRTA members and non-members, as discussed in Appendices E and F). Personalized advice (e.g., a members-only telephone or hot line for retirement transition advice) could be a very important reason for non-members to join. Long average length of membership and retention of current members. The study team analyzed available data on current CRTA membership based on a member database from October Average length of membership is 12.4 years (median length of membership is 11 years), suggesting that CRTA retains its members often until the member passes away. In addition, discussions with CRTA leadership also indicated that retention of members was not an issue for the organization. As of October 2008, 18 percent of the membership base had joined since the beginning of Implications for the future: The focus for CRTA should be programming and recruitment strategies that are attractive to newly-retiring teachers. The study team s research found a great deal of agreement between new services that would be attractive to newly-retiring teachers and those that would be attractive to older retirees. In other words, a greater focus on the needs of new retirees will help existing members as well. Large division-by-division differences in recruitment of new members. CRTA is geographically organized into 12 areas and 88 local divisions, and much of the recruitment activity takes place at the local level. New members as a share of area and division membership varies considerably across the state for one division, 38 percent of members are retirees who joined since the beginning of 2005, whereas only 9 percent of another division s members are new. (Appendix B analyzes length of membership and relative shares of new members across the state.) Implications for the future: CRTA needs to consider a better balance between the recruitment burden placed on local divisions and its statewide efforts, and also encourage the adoption of best recruitment practices across its divisions. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 5

10 Important differences between newly retiring teachers and older retirees. The study team s initial key person interviews at the outset of the study included telephone interviews with a sample of CRTA members, membership chairs, state membership representatives and board members. Our interviews found that current CRTA members are concerned that newly retiring teachers are fundamentally different in attitudes, media habits and willingness to join and commit time to membership organizations. The study team s in-depth telephone interviews, focus groups and online survey of current and potential members, as well as a literature review of the generational differences in retirees, found some truth to this concern. For example, new retirees are more willing to use and the Internet than the previous generation. They also may be less interested in committing to membership groups of any kind. As previously mentioned, few new retirees seem to worry that their pensions are at risk. However, the study team concludes that every new generation of retirees at least sees itself as different from older retirees. It is important to retirees in their 50s to minimize what they have in common with retirees in their 70s or 80s. Implications for the future: CRTA will not be successful recruiting new retirees if joining means becoming part of a social group of 70- and 80-year-olds. (Other social aspects of CRTA membership are discussed later in the report.) Asking a potential member to come to a local division meeting is a turn-off to many newly-retired teachers. CRTA will not be successful recruiting new retirees if joining means committing time to local divisions or other parts of the organization. The face of CRTA for new retirees must be teachers who have just retired. That fact presents a catch-22 for the organization, as many of the local CRTA leaders willing to commit time to personally recruiting new members are older retirees. Key messages for new retirees should include how CRTA can help them with day-today issues of retirement. Media for reaching new retirees is actually very similar to what works for older retirees new retirees still prefer to be able to hold what they are reading (such as a CRTA recruitment mailing), especially if they need to make a decision based on that material. New retirees and older retirees comprise two groups that still read newspapers and watch news on television. These traditional media can be supported by and a CRTA website. Perceived value price of CRTA membership. Study team research suggests that annual membership cost does not pose a significant barrier to new membership. Some current and potential members suggested that $39 or $42 annual membership dues could be increased and that the present levels conveyed a lack of organization value (see results in Appendices C and D). Furthermore, the study team found evidence that some non-members may perceive the cost of CRTA membership to be considerably higher (e.g., $200 or more per year) than the actual current cost. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 6

11 Implications for the future: The study team believes CRTA has some room to further increase its membership dues, if necessary, but the research did not specifically test price resistance. It is clear that other barriers to obtaining new members are currently more important than the cost of joining, and some potential members misjudge the cost of CRTA membership. Clearly stating CRTA annual membership dues in its marketing would not turn away many potential members; instead, many view the current price as a value. Confusion and lack of awareness of the CRTA brand. Study team research revealed a considerable lack of awareness of CRTA only about 20 percent of non-members in the BBC telephone survey named CRTA, unaided, as a membership organization serving retired teachers (see Appendix E). Focus groups with non-members also revealed a lack of awareness of CRTA. One of the focus group exercises was to design the ideal membership organization for retired teachers. Many non-members almost exactly designed CRTA without knowing that the organization existed (see Appendix D). Another troubling finding is that non-members perceptions of the benefits and services of CRTA were nearly identical to NRTA and NEA. There appears to be a lumping together of teacher retirement organizations among nearly retired teachers (see Appendix F). The study team also found that some non-members (and even some members) had difficulty distinguishing between CRTA and the union (i.e., CTA and CTAR). Unprompted in the focus groups, members wanted to recommend name changes for CRTA. Although a name change is not suggested based on this study, the study team urges further investment in the CRTA brand. One positive finding for CRTA is that CTA/CTAR, NRTA, NEA and other groups are relatively weak competitors. None of those groups had strong unaided recognition among newly-retired teachers. Some of the recognition of CTA also carried negative opinions about the organization. Implications for the future: CRTA should consider further investments to create, communicate and maintain the integrity of a strong brand, especially at the state level, that is distinct from competing membership organizations. It is clear to some members that CRTA and not CTA is the proper organization to represent their interests. CRTA has the opportunity to capitalize on that perception. CRTA should consider modernizing its image. Its history is important, but not if most potential members are unaware of the organization. (And being part of history may be unappealing to a retiree in her 50s.) CRTA should consider replacing protecting teacher pensions for more than 75 years as its tag line. Communication of benefits to prospective members should be direct and simple, emphasizing how becoming a member impacts the individual retiree. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 7

12 Membership Recommendations The following findings are the most critical for membership growth and acquisition. Summary of primary findings. CRTA members of the future and the members who have been engaged for some time have different interests, behaviors and motivations for joining. Retirement decision-making is a complicated and challenging time for teachers. CRTA should develop a larger presence during the retirement decision process and provide more resources to potential retirees. With an increase in awareness of the organization and a clearly defined mission, more potential retirees will appreciate the services offered by CRTA and will choose to become part of the organization because it is directly relevant and helpful to them. In addition, for CRTA to grow, it must understand who its pool of prospective members is, the size of this pool and how they can be approached. Membership acquisition efforts on the personal level need to continue; however, future recruitment efforts must be much more aggressive and staff-driven. As this will be more costly, it must be very strategic and targeted. Existing members versus future member prospects. Members of CRTA going forward will be very different than the members who have grown and built the current organization. The current members who have been members for a significant period of time have been committed to building CRTA through personal contact, volunteering significant time to establish the divisions, host and attend meetings and generally focus on the social aspects of membership and membership involvement. New retiring teachers appear to be a different breed. They want time to enjoy life and retirement free of commitments, volunteering or other expectations. Although their retirement funds may be secure, there are many other uncertainties in life that need answers the economy, healthcare and other issues. This group has more demands on their lives and they are not settled into a retirement routine. They may be averse to joining an organization that has an expectation of volunteering at this point in their newly retired lives. Retirement decision making process. The retirement decision-making process is somewhat clandestine. Some respondents noted that they cannot talk openly about it at their schools the timing must be right to let others know of their plans. They also may not be certain when they want to retire. The decision may be impacted by personal or district situations, and the decision may happen quickly and unexpectedly. All of this suggests that information concerning retirement and organizations that serve retired teachers should be available to teachers and educators prior to their retirement. Some study participants suggested having information provided to potential retirees two years prior to retirement to help answer questions for teachers on the cusp of retirement. Awareness level of CRTA. Awareness levels of CRTA are low only about 20 percent among nonmember phone survey participants. In one of the focus groups of non-members in Orange County, no participants had any knowledge of CRTA. Complicating the lack of awareness of CRTA is the confusion between CTA/CTAR and CRTA. It is evident that CRTA must do much more to distinguish itself from other organizations serving retired teachers. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 8

13 Positioning of CRTA among its competitors. The positive side of target audiences not having a clear picture of the organizations that serve retired teachers is that no other organization has taken the lead in clarifying who they are and what they do (or grabbed the spotlight). CRTA can and should take this opportunity to develop a strong identity and aggressively market the organization to retired and soon-to-retire educators, thereby claiming the role as the retired teachers association. Defining the member prospect pool. It is difficult to obtain information on retired teachers or soon to retire teachers. There is no comprehensive source of definitive information on these groups. Hence, accurately defining the target population is difficult and must be approached from a variety of means. First, there is the currently retired teacher pool. CRTA information indicates approximately 200,000 retired teachers in the California system. If CRTA currently has 50,000 members, the pool of nonmember retirees is 150,000. According to U. S. Census data, teachers age 50 and over comprised a pool of about 250,000 soon to retire teachers. In total, CRTA needs to be marketing to about 400,000 retired and prospective retiring teachers. Membership recommendations. The changing expectations of baby boomer era teachers and retirees will require a significant shift in the way that CRTA engages members for the first time. The personal approach can be most successful in adding members among people who have an interest in social engagement. However, the members of the future may not desire the same personal involvement in the membership process. They may just want to pay their dues and be confident that the organization is acting to preserve and protect their retirement. Also, current practices have only attracted 25 percent of the retiree pool as members. Thus, a strong, proactive, ongoing staff-driven campaign to solicit new members must begin. To control costs, this campaign must be strategic and targeted. Campaign costs should be viewed as an investment that will generate increased membership dues. Simultaneously, CRTA must immediately embark upon a branding and identity building effort that must then be employed to heighten awareness and understanding of the organization. Changing membership model of the future. The membership of CRTA has been built largely by personal solicitation of volunteer members at the division level. This personal method of membership recruitment has been successful on a one-on-one basis, making new members feel welcomed with a very personal connection. Using this model CRTA has attracted approximately 2,000 to 2,500 new members annually. While this model of engaging and attracting new members has been successful on a personal level, many retirees have been missed in the process, with nearly three-quarters of retirees not being members of CRTA. Moving forward, CRTA must embrace a new reality today s retirees are a different breed than current members and have a different expectation with respect to volunteering and level of commitment. New retirees may be just as willing to join an organization that helps protect their retirement, but they are much less interested in getting actively involved in that organization. With this in mind, CRTA and its members must be willing to embrace and accept that the membership of the future may be very different than the membership of the past or present. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 9

14 CRTA has relied upon its current members to personally solicit new members and the organization can and should continue those efforts. CRTA also needs to conduct professional membership acquisition efforts aimed at the larger retiree and soon to retire markets. Sending membership information and invitations to become a member through the mail is the way to reach the most people and to elicit the most results. (The participants surveyed in this study wanted to receive information by mail.) Disseminating information on CRTA and the services it provides directly to member prospects will also raise awareness for the organization, putting the name of CRTA in front of teachers and retirees in a very straightforward manner. These membership campaigns need to be conducted three to four times a year to retiree non-members and to prospective retirees by using compiled mailing lists available on the list rental market. This will require significant investment, but the results can justify the financial commitment. Identity and branding. Many non-members have no clear understanding of who CRTA is, that the organization even exists, or what its exact role is. There is a need for more publicity and advertising to develop a higher profile. A new name or a new tagline explaining what CRTA does was also suggested by research participants. Among current members, much of the contact or communication is conducted at the division level. Divisions are not required to use a consistent CRTA identity or logo when communicating with members. For these reasons, CRTA must develop a strong, consistent brand and require that all communications adhere to the brand guidelines. Study results suggest that prospective members must see themselves in the images portrayed by the organization. The organization and its image must be portrayed as younger than the current membership if it hopes to engage new retirees. Membership acquisition. Membership acquisition of the future should be a two-pronged approach. First, it is important to continue the current practice of personal engagement through the divisions. This method must be complemented by an aggressive direct mail approach to inform and invite current retirees, new retirees, and teachers nearing retirement age to join CRTA. Methods. Recruiting through personal contacts at the division levels must be supplemented by aggressive, repeated direct mail efforts that will solicit new members to join via the mail or by joining online: Continue the current personal approach of member recruitment conducted by Divisions. Add a very aggressive and targeting direct mail member acquisition effort. Three to four campaigns per year of 50,000 to 400,000 pieces each, depending on productivity of initial test campaigns. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 10

15 Timing. Membership acquisition is an effort that is ongoing and repetitive. People do not act on one contact alone. Repeated efforts that are informative and make the case for membership are needed to secure a new member. Personal solicitation should be ongoing, especially focusing on the end of the academic year and back to school times. Mail campaigns suggested for January, April, September and November. Prospect pool. The prospect pool is large and segmented. A significant number of current retirees have not been tapped to become members. New retirees are joining the ranks of the retired at a rate of 10,000 educators per year. The largest pool of prospective members is the 250,000 teachers who are 50 years of age or older and could choose to retire at any time in the next few years. In sum, key prospects are: 150,000 non-member retirees. 10,000 teachers who retire annually. 250,000 teachers age 50 or over who may be nearing a retirement decision in the next couple of years. Membership benefits and recommendations. Membership benefits are key to convincing new recruits to become members and current members to renew their memberships. The new breed of retirees may appreciate different benefits. To engage prospective retirees, CRTA could provide information to aid in their retirement decisions and planning. Retirement counseling along with workshops and helpful information on the CRTA website will need to be created or enhanced. Prospective members are less interested in the social aspects of membership, so they need to feel that it is acceptable to join the organization without being involved, attending luncheons, volunteering or making other time-consuming commitments. Continue to emphasize the benefits most highly rated in the telephone and online surveys; for example, lobbying to protect retirement. Add a focus on benefits to the prospective retiree such as retirement counseling, a oneon-one discussion with a retirement coach and retirement planning workshops (perhaps in conjunction with STRS or with CRTA s own team of advisors). A host of discounts or group benefits, trips, insurance, etc. Networking, social activities and volunteering are lower on the interest level of prospective retirees than that of current members, but still important to some. A resource for substitute teaching opportunities for member and for districts, especially in the future when record numbers of teachers may be retiring and more subs are needed. This initiative may give CRTA a new avenue to build partnerships with local schools and obtain introductions to retiring teachers. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 11

16 Membership pricing. Research indicates that retirees are willing to pay more for the services CRTA provides. Pricing can also lead to misconception if too little is charged, the product must not be worth anything. Price increases may also be important because the cost of acquiring members and servicing those members will increase with aggressive growth strategies that are recommended here for the future growth and health of CRTA. There may be room for dues increases. CRTA could test higher price points in some member mailings to prospective members. CRTA might offer three-year membership at a reduced annual rate. The organization should recognize the lifetime value of acquiring a new member: $42 x 12.4 years (average length of a current member) = $680. Next Steps Findings from study team research with members and non-members confirmed many of the concerns heard throughout the course of early conversations with CRTA state and local leadership at the outset of this assignment. Without tackling these issues, CRTA is at risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant to nearly-retired teachers. In part, CRTA is a victim of its own success in protecting teacher pensions. The study team recommends that research results be used as additional input to the ongoing discussions among CRTA leaders concerning the future branding, marketing and programming for the organization. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING SUMMARY REPORT, PAGE 12

17 APPENDIX A. Demographic Analysis of Retired and Current Teachers in California BBC recognizes that CRTA is aware of more than 200,000 potential members, based on the current number of beneficiaries of the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS). In order to further explore the demographic background of potential members and to better understand the demographic changes among California teachers, both working and retired, BBC analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau. BBC examined U.S. Census data for the years 1990 and 2000, and American Community Survey (ACS) data for the years , obtained from IPUMS-USA. The ACS is conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census each year and is based on a sample of roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population. BBC used the detailed information available for a 5 percent sample of the 1990 Census and 2000 Census. Background and Limitations of Data Neither the ACS nor the decennial Census specifically addresses whether individuals are retired. Since 1990, however, the questionnaires for both ask individuals to state their retirement income. Respondents are also asked to provide their occupation if they have worked in the past five years and to indicate whether they are currently in the labor force. (Individuals who have not worked in the previous five years are not asked their occupation.) BBC was therefore able to identify those individuals in California who gave their occupation as teacher, were not currently in the labor force and were claiming a retirement income. BBC included all teachers from preschool to post-secondary teachers as workers in these roles might be eligible for a CalSTRS pension. When examining retirees, BBC focused on those aged 50 or over as this is the minimum retirement age for CalSTRS. ACS and Census data do not distinguish between private and public sector teachers. However, data from the California Department of Education indicate that private school staff made up roughly 9 percent of all California teachers in 2001 and 8 percent in It is likely therefore that more than 90 percent of teachers in each of the datasets BBC used were public workers eligible for CalSTRS. When ACS sample sizes for some years and categories were small, BBC combined data for more than one ACS year to provide more representative figures. BBC s analysis for recent retirees does not include teachers receiving retirement income who still teacher part-time or retired teachers who now work full- or part-time in a non-teaching occupation. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 1

18 Results of Analysis The average age of both working and recently retired teachers in California has slightly increased over past two decades. In 1990, the mean age of working teachers was 41, compared to 42 in 2000 and 43 in The mean age of teachers who had retired in the previous five years was 64 in 1990 and 66 in Individuals working as teachers and receiving a retirement income had a mean age of 57 in 1990 and 61 in (Note that the retirement income may come from a source unrelated to teaching.) Recently retired teachers in California tend to be older than in the U.S. as a whole. Figure A-1 provides further detail on the average age of teachers in California and the U.S. for the period Figure A-1. Mean age of teachers in California and the U.S., 1990, 2000 and 2007 Note: Recently retired teachers are those who gave their occupation as teacher, were not in the labor force and were claiming a retirement income. Source: 1990 and 2000 data from 5 percent samples of U.S. Census data from IPUMS-USA data from ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA. California All working teachers Working teachers with a retirement income Recently retired teachers U.S All working teachers Working teachers with a retirement income Recently retired teachers Between 1990 and 2007, the total number of teachers working in California increased from roughly 579,000 to 753,000. The total number of individuals who had retired from teaching in the previous five years also increased, from about 27,000 in 1990 to 49,000 in Despite this increase, a greater percentage of working teachers were of retirement age in 2007 than in Retirement age teachers (those age 50 or over) made up roughly 24 percent of the teaching workforce in 1990, 31 percent in 2000 and 33 percent in BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 2

19 Retired teachers. Figure A-2 shows the estimated number of people in California who retired in the previous five years after working as a teacher, for each of the years Totals are shown for individuals aged 50 or older. Each year s figure represents the total number of individuals who worked as a teacher in the previous five years, were no longer in the labor force and were receiving a retirement income at the time of the survey. The figures indicate that the number of teachers entering retirement has increased in recent years. Census data for 1990 and 2000 (not shown in Figure A-2) provide further evidence that the number of teachers entering retirement has increased in recent years: In 1990, 27,345 teachers had retired in the previous five years and in 2000 there were 27,331 recently retired teachers, compared to 50,041 in Figure A-2. Recently retired teachers age 50 or over in California, ,000 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5, Note: Source: Figures for each year are the total number of individuals aged 50 or over, not in the labor force, claiming a retirement income and giving their occupation as teacher ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 3

20 Age of recently retired teachers. As previously identified, the mean age of recently retired teachers increased from 64 to 66 between 1990 and BBC further explored this trend by examining the age distribution of recently retired teachers. Figure A-3 shows the ages of teachers who had retired in the previous five years, for both 1990 and Although Figure A-3 shows that there are more recently retired teachers in than in 1990, it does not indicate a dramatic change in the age distribution of recently retired teachers over this time. Figure A-3. Age of recently retired teachers in California, 1990 and Age ,000-1, ,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 Note: Source: Figures represent those individuals who gave their occupation as teacher, were not in the labor force and were claiming a retirement income. Figures for are an average of the annual figures for that period figures from 5 percent sample of U.S. Census data from IPUMS-USA data from ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 4

21 Race/ethnicity and gender of recently retired teachers. Figure A-4 shows the race/ethnicity and gender of recently retired teachers for the periods 1990, 2000 and The trend over this period has been toward more females and more minorities among recent retirees, reflecting demographic changes in the teaching population. In , roughly 64 percent of recently retired teachers were female and 36 percent were male. The percentage of males among recently retired teachers has declined from 41 percent in In , 80 percent of recently retired teachers were non-hispanic white, 6 percent were Hispanic American, 6 percent were African American and 5 percent were Asian-Pacific American. The percentage of recently retired teachers that are non-hispanic white has also declined since 1990 when 89 percent were in this category. Figure A-4. Race/ethnicity and gender of recently retired teachers in California Note: Recently retired teachers are those who gave their occupation as teacher, were not in the labor force and were claiming a retirement income. Figures for are an average of the annual figures for that period. Source: 1990 and 2000 data from 5 percent samples of U.S. Census data from IPUMS-USA data from ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA Gender Male 41 % 40 % 36 % Female Race/ethnicity Non-Hispanic white 89 % 80 % 80 % Hispanic American African American Asian Pacific American Subcontinent Asian American <½ <½ <½ Native American 1 <½ 1 Other minority group <½ <½ <½ BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 5

22 Working teachers. According to U.S. Census data, the total teaching workforce in California increased between 1990 and 2000 at an average rate of nearly 1.5 percent per year, reaching 671,085 in The teaching workforce continued to increase during , at roughly the same average rate (see Figure A-5). Figure A-5. Teaching workforce in California, , , , , , , , , Source: ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 6

23 Race/ethnicity and gender of working teachers. Figure A-6 shows the race/ethnicity and gender of working teachers for 1990, 2000, and In , 69 percent of working teachers were female and 31 percent were male, a split that has remained largely unchanged since However, since 1990 the race/ethnicity of California teachers has changed. In 1990, 78 percent of teachers were non-hispanic white, compared to 67 percent in The relative number of Hispanic American and Asian-Pacific American teachers has increased since 1990, with roughly 16 percent of teachers in being Hispanic American and roughly 9 percent Asian-Pacific American. African Americans represented 5 percent of teachers in Figure A-6. Race/ethnicity and gender of working teachers in California Note: Figures for are an average of the annual figures for that period. Source: 1990 and 2000 data from 5 percent samples of U.S. Census data from IPUMS-USA data from ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA Gender Male 33 % 32 % 31 % Female Race/ethnicity Non-Hispanic white 78 % 71 % 67 % Hispanic American African American Asian Pacific American Subcontinent Asian American Native American Other minority group <½ 1 <½ Figure A-7 provides further detail on the race and gender of working teachers for the period Although the gender ratio of working teachers is relatively constant across age groups, the race/ethnicity of the teaching workforce varies substantially with age. Older teachers are considerably more likely to be non-hispanic white whereas younger teachers are relatively more likely to be Hispanic American or Asian-Pacific American. In the coming decade, the race/ethnicity of retiring teachers will be similar to that of newly retired teachers today. Over the long term, non-hispanic whites will comprise just one-half of new retirees. Figure A-7. Race/ethnicity and gender of working teachers in California by age, Note: Figures are an average of the annual figures for 2005, 2006 and Source: ACS, obtained from IPUMS-USA. under or over Gender Male 30 % 33 % 30 % 33 % Female Race/ethnicity Non-Hispanic white 55 % 60 % 69 % 77 % Hispanic American African American Asian Pacific American Subcontinent Asian American Native American Other minority group <½ <½ <½ <½ BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 7

24 Age distribution of working teachers. Figure A-8 compares the age of working teachers in 1990 with those in , showing clearly how the age distribution of teachers has changed since Individuals aged between their late 20s and late 50s are almost uniformly represented in , whereas in 1990 there were relatively fewer young and old teachers. Whereas in 1990 the number of teachers over 42 steadily declined with age, in there is no substantial decline in numbers until age 57, at which point the number of teachers falls rapidly with increasing age. Figure A-8. Age of working teachers in California, 1990 and Age ,000-20,000-15,000-10,000-5, ,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 Source: 1990 figures are from the1990 U.S. Census; figures are an average of the annual data from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 ACS. Individuals age 50 or over represented roughly 33 percent of working teachers in Between 1990 and 2000, the percentage of working teachers who were 50 or over increased from 24 percent to 31 percent. Since 2000, however, the percentage of working teachers 50 or older has remained relatively unchanged. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 8

25 Age distribution of working teachers compared to other occupations. Figure A-9 compares the ages of working teachers with all other employed workers in California for the period Similar to other years, there are relatively more working teachers in the over-50 age group compared to other employed individuals. There are also relatively fewer working teachers age 25 or below. The age profile of teachers and other workers was similar in 2000, although it has changed somewhat since 1990, when the working population included relatively more young people. Figure A-9. Age of teachers and other workers in California, Other workers Age Teachers % -2% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3% Note: Source: Figures are an average of annual data from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 ACS. Only employed individuals are counted ACS data from IPUMS-USA. Working teachers of retirement age. The evidence indicates that many teaching careers are extending further into the traditional retirement period, with relatively more individuals age 50 or over working as teachers, as shown in Figure A-8. It is not possible to determine from Census and ACS data whether some of this change is due to individuals who have switched to teaching after retirement from another career. However, most individuals of retirement age working as teachers do not receive a retirement income from any source. In 2007, 88 percent of working teachers age 50 or over were not receiving any retirement income. These figures have not changed substantially in recent decades. Furthermore, teachers of retirement age typically work a similar number of hours to other teachers. In 2007, teachers age 50 or over worked on average 37 hours in a typical work week, compared to an average of 38 hours for all teachers. BBC RESEARCH & CONSULTING APPENDIX A, PAGE 9