The following is a helpful guide from ORA Vice President and Interim Secretary, David Gaskill. For questions and comments, you can reach out to him at vicepresident at oklahomarifle.org

As part of our restarting of the ORA this past year, we sought to understand our membership roles and reengage with members. It has been a big task! Our membership roles used to be completely manual and kept in spreadsheets. Now it is mostly automated and kept in a modern database residing in secure cloud storage so all of the ORA officers can view and assist.

Member Communication

Our Outreach Director sends out email notices regularly. We also have a Facebook and Instagram presence. The Board has approved a consultant to make more frequent postings to the social media sites. In addition, we publish and mail the Sharpshooter magazine quarterly. The Sharpshooter has timely and interesting articles as well as general ORA information. By the way, the Sharpshooter is also available digitally on our website! All of this communication is outreach to the members to keep them up to date on ORA activities. Conversely, our members can reach out to the ORA via email, a form on the ORA website, or USPS mail to our mailing address.

You will notice that email is a major way we communicate with you and the best way for you to communicate with us. An email address on file with the ORA is the absolute best way to receive timely notices. Please consider providing us an email address. We do know that there are a lot of folks who just don’t want to participate with email. That is okay; you will still receive some notices and the Sharpshooter via USPS mail, but it is not as timely nor as full-featured as having an email on file. Again, please consider providing us with your email address. You will benefit and so will the ORA.

If you don’t currently have an email address, consider having someone, perhaps a family member, assist you in creating one. If you are concerned about privacy (and who isn’t these days), email addresses can be set up without your real name or other identifying information, yet you can still send and receive email! Take a look at these articles to get you started and more comfortable with the various private email options.

https://www.lifewire.com/get-free-email-account-1164062

https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacyhub/anonymous-email/

Membership Automation

As mentioned above, we moved from a manual USPS mail-based membership processing to an online membership tool.

Signing up new members is easy. The best way is to sign up and pay online, but you can also fill out a paper application (available on the ORA website) and mail it to the ORA mailing address shown at the end of this article.

Once processed, you will receive an email welcome message. Paper welcome messages are coming, but that is an area that still needs work.

If you sign up online, you have the option to select an automatic renewal for annual members. That way you never have to remember to renew each year. Nice! (Of course, you could also consider a Life membership!)

Please note: If you are signing up others online, such as family members, remember to log out and sign up new people from that point. Otherwise you will overwrite your own membership! If you have any questions or problems at all, email membership@oklahomarifle.org. No question is too small.

If you do have an email filed with us, but did not originally sign up online, you also have an online account. Please go to the website and log in. You won’t know your password, but you will be able to reset it to one of your choosing. Again, if you have trouble or any questions, please email membership@oklahomarifle.org.

The Board has authorized the creation of new ORA pins. There is one design for regular members and another design for Life members. Once they are available, we will automatically mail out the appropriate new pins to each member. You will be able to purchase additional pins online soon, but we do not have that ability just yet. Members will also be able to purchase other ORA swag at a future date! Watch for it!

Once you are a member, you can get a printable membership card when you log in to your ORA online account. You can renew your periodic membership there as well.

Membership Renewal

You will receive an email notice 90 days, 60 If you sign up online, you have the option to select an automatic renewal for annual members. That way you never have to remember to renew each year. Nice! (Of course, you could also consider a Life membership!)

Please note: If you are signing up others online, such as family members, remember to log out and sign up new people from that point. Otherwise you will overwrite your own membership! If you have any questions or problems at all, email membership at oklahomarifle.org. No question is too small.

If you do have an email filed with us, but did not originally sign up online, you also have an online account. Please go to the website and log in. You won’t know your password, but you will be able to reset it to one of your choosing. Again, if you have trouble or any questions, please email membership at oklahomarifle.org.

The Board has authorized the creation of new ORA pins. There is one design for regular members and another design for Life members. Once they are available, we will automatically mail out the appropriate new pins to each member. You will be able to purchase additional pins online soon, but we do not have that ability just yet. Members will also be able to purchase other ORA swag at a future date! Watch for it!

Once you are a member, you can get a printable membership card when you log in to your ORA online account. You can renew your periodic membership there as well.