src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=667620147166566&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

SCI Just Keeps Growing

By W. Laird Hamberlin, SCI, SCIF CEO

Safari Club International is experiencing real growth and the prospects for even more growth are both real and attainable.

Any international organization is complex, and SCI is no exception. As an organization, we handle myriad topics both simultaneously and routinely. In other words, we can do a whole lot more than just walk and chew gum at the same time.

We report on these various activities and programs in Safari Times every month. And we are making progress on all fronts. But the key indicator is membership. More members mean that all of the other efforts can be more successful.

I am happy to report that, month over month, we have experienced 13 consecutive months of increases in membership. And I am talking about full-price, real memberships and not just some low-price or promotional memberships that are not sustainable.

The COVID pandemic proved to be a challenge for SCI, as well as every other organization in the world. But because SCI was in good shape when the pandemic started and because the SCI leadership kept the organization on the right path, we were only hurt temporarily during the depths of the pandemic and pulled out as soon as the world reopened for business.

Other organizations were not so fortunate. Many are still feeling the negative effects while others may never recover. It is not that these other organizations are less, but rather that SCI is more.

For example, while the rest of the world was still in lockdown, SCI continued to move forward with its acquisition efforts. We acquired Texas Trophy Hunters Association during this period and began a joint venture with Buckmasters.

Those two efforts are destined to add tremendously to SCI’s presence in North America as our work in other parts of the world continues on schedule. For example, as this message is being writing, I am in Europe on SCI business, which includes attending JAGD & HUND, the largest hunting exhibition in Europe, and the 68th General Assembly of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC).

Never before in its history has SCI been more engaged in more hunting-related matters around the world than we are right now. And we keep getting more engaged all the time.

As I note in all of my messages, the future of both hunting and SCI rests on six pillars: Advocacy, Chapters, Event Services (Convention), Hunting, Membership and Conservation. These pillars are all connected, and all are necessary for hunting to survive and flourish in the coming months, years, decades and centuries.

With that in mind, I encourage every member to support SCI Advocacy efforts, join Chapters, go to the Convention, enlist friends and relatives to join SCI or renew their memberships, participate in conservation efforts and, by all means, go hunting.

We SCI members are at our best when we do what we do best — go hunting. The safari season in the Southern Hemisphere is in full swing right now, and the fall hunting seasons in the Northern Hemisphere are just around the corner.

Plan to go hunting over the next few months and then attend the SCI Convention Feb. 22-25, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. See you there.

Save Your Cart
Share Your Cart