1. Coming in 2008-09: A Free $15,000 Life
Insurance Benefit for New Members
(Note: Here is advance notice about the
newest NEA benefit, but it is not designed for publication. Watch for
more details later.)
Membership recruiters will have a new tool to
help promote the benefits of being part of the Association family.
Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, new
NEA members will be covered with a 12-month free life insurance benefit
of $15,000.
All new members actively at work will be covered
automatically, with the exception of retired, substitute, student members and
agency fee payers. Any new member who rejoins the Association after an absence
of five or more years will also be eligible.
Provided by the NEA Members Insurance Trust®, the new life insurance coverage will
be in-force for 12 months following the member’s start date. At the end of the
first year, the individual will be given the opportunity to pay for
continuation of the same coverage with no evidence of insurability.
2. Save on Brand Name Merchandise with NEA
Click & Save
NEA Click & Save, one of the newest
discount programs for NEA members and their families, is currently being used
by nearly 30,000 shoppers who want to save on brand name merchandise.
Hundreds of top retailers, online stores, and
local merchants are part of NEA Click & Save, which was introduced
to Association members in November 2007.
Members register free online at www.neamb.com/clickandsave/
and then start shopping! They can also request e-mail reminders from favorite
merchants about upcoming sales and discounts.
There is an option to select a low-cost
premium NEA Click & Save membership which provides even greater
discounts.
In the first months of operation, the leading
shopping areas for NEA members were:
1. Electronics
2. Clothing
3. Child & baby items
4. Flowers & gifts
5. Home furnishings
6. Travel
7. Tickets
Frequently visited retailers were Target, Phillips,
Circuit City, Restaurant.com, and Dell.
3. Toolkit Helps Leaders & Members
Understand New 403(b) Regulations Effective January 2009
NEA Member Benefits has designed a New IRS
403(b) Regulations Information Toolkit to help Association leaders,
members, and staff better understand how the new Internal Revenue Service
regulations (which have a general effective date of January 1, 2009) will
impact NEA members as they save for retirement.
The Toolkit includes sections on:
·
Decoding
the regulations––a primer for NEA affiliates
·
What
an “orphan” 403(b) account means
·
A
PowerPoint presentation highlighting key points in the regulations
·
Frequently
asked questions
The kit also outlines steps that local associations can take in response to the
IRS regulations, guidance for UniServ staff, and a sample letter for local
leaders to send to their school district business official.
To download a copy of the Toolkit,
see “Investments”
under the Financial Services section at www.neamb.com,
or click on Toolkit.
4. New Members: Welcome to the Association!
NEA Member Benefits is completing the first
year of a pilot program that reaches out to new Association members with a
welcome message and special targeted information.
The first new member mailing is a Welcome
Card from NEA Member Benefits, including a stick-on note that tells new members
how they can obtain a free one-year subscription from the NEA Magazine Service.
Next in the series of messages is a Welcome
Kit with a mini-catalog of programs available from NEA Member Benefits and a
bookmark featuring a 2008 calendar.
For individuals with e-mail addresses, NEA MB
sends out electronic messages tailored to the new dues-payers. Those contacted
are also provided a link to an NEA MB Web Site page designed specially for new
members.
More than 141,000 new members were welcomed
into the Association in the first seven months of the pilot project.
