Complaint Review: American Mensa

American Mensa is the second branch of high-IQ membership group International Mensa, following after the British Mensa group. American Mensa was founded as a volunteer group that had no opinions but was to be a non-partisan, non-political roundtable discussion of ideas, and to stimulate debate which could lead to the advancement of society. American Mensa was originally headquartered in Brooklyn, NY but later moved into New York City, NY.  In Brooklyn, the staff was a part-time manager who handled the busines and back office affairs of the group at a home-office in her Brooklyn apartment.

As time went on, a full time office was established in New York City. Years later in the late 70's, the headquarters was re-located to Arlington, TX for a more central USA location and significant cost savings on office space.  Since the Arlington move, the size of the office staff mushroomed to 25 full-time staffers and dues increased drastically to the point where thousands of members have let their membership lapse. The volunteer board does not seem able to handle the budget responsibilties or make any budget cuts. Since controversial Executive Director Pam Donahoo left there is a glimmer of hope that the American Mensa group will return to it's roots and rebuke the bureacracy and reduce the dues so thousands more eligible members will reinstate memberships.

Many members have questioned the need for large staff bureaucracy, a printed monthly newsletter in the digital age seems obsolete. There are no discounts for getting the newsletter emailed, no discount for senior citzens, college students or graduate students. So, it seems that the priority is to feed a top-heavy bureaucracy with high cost of dues, presently at $79.00 per year.