Jon Gruebele's Mensa Bulletin Articles from 2026
June 2026 – Partners
Where would we be without friends? Many of us find lifelong friendships in Mensa, even if we only see them in person at a gathering once a year.
As a society, American Mensa has two particularly important organizational friends: the Mensa Foundation and Mensa International. Both help us deliver on our mission to foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, to conduct research, and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for members.
The Foundation is a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Mostly we’re familiar with its scholarships, and many of us help select the winners by judging essays. Their work goes well beyond that, including awarding prestigious awards such as the $10,000 Mensa Foundation Prize for groundbreaking contributions in intelligence and creativity.
The Foundation sponsors original research. They commissioned a study of gifted individuals’ unmet needs, a somewhat neglected field. Much academic focus is on gifted youth, yet adults also need support as they navigate careers, social-emotional development, and mental health. Results from the study are helping to inform the Foundation’s future endeavors.
They provide grants and fellowships for dissertations and early career work. There’s the annual Colloquium at our Annual Gathering. This year’s topic is brain health across the lifespan. Their mensaforkids.org website provides resources for gifted youth. The Mensa Research Journal contains interesting academic articles on intelligence.
In short, the Foundation is awesome and I’m proud to be an ex-officio Board of Trustees member. Their work depends on donors. If you happen to have a few extra bucks, we’d sure appreciate a donation via mensafoundation.org.
Mensa International provides the framework for national Mensa organizations worldwide. Seven percent of our dues goes to support Mensa International’s operations. I represent you on the International Board of Directors (IBD) Executive Committee. I and three other U.S. representatives also sit on the full IBD.
While International helps with things such as trademark protection and the rules everyone follows, the biggest value comes from learning how things are done elsewhere. Benchmarking great ideas can help our organization grow and succeed.
We have other partners too. Some give us discounts on things like Sixt rental cars. Some provide benefits to gifted youth, including our collaboration with the Davidson Institute. Wherever we can find them, friends are great to have!
As always, this is your organization, so your opinions matter. Please let us know your thoughts.
April 2026 – Directions
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else” – at least according to that baseball great Yogi Berra.
Strategic planning can be boring governance nonsense that’s filed away and forgotten. Yet we need to act on our challenges: aging demographics, member benefits, volunteer burnout, dated technology, branding, and culture / safety concerns.
To get started, your national Board of Directors (AMC) approved an updated strategic plan along with five new “pillars,” consolidating some existing committees:
These objective-driven teams will serve as force multipliers for our national office staff, delivering greater results faster. They’ll reduce administrative effort and deliver measurable outcomes over the three-year planning horizon. Formal reviews – facilitated by our new Strategic Planning and Oversight team – will monitor progress, ensure adjustments are made when obstacles arise, and help drive accountability.
This plan will deliver a better focused, more efficient, and more responsive American Mensa – ready to serve you and advance our mission with energy and confidence.
We’ve had some other exciting events:
There’s still time to register for our biggest member event of the year, our Annual Gathering from July 1-5 in Fort Worth, TX. Monica Lewinsky, a leading voice on the issues of public shaming, cyberbullying, and resilience, will be our gala dinner speaker.
As always, this is your organization, so your opinions matter. Please let us know your thoughts!
March 2026 – Self-Renewal
Change is everywhere. Some is good, some not so much. As an eternal optimist, I’m trusting things will get better. Maybe it’ll take a while – or perhaps quite a while – but we have better days ahead.
Of course, change can be uncomfortable. It requires us to adapt to new methods, technologies, and even ways we relate to one another. It can be fun too, challenging us with new experiences and capabilities.
To stay relevant, we must periodically reassess ourselves. Are we doing things right? Are we doing the right things? If not, what can we do about it? Do we need different priorities or improved skills?
For American Mensa, it starts with strategic planning. We look at where we are and where we want to go. We put a structure in place that helps us prioritize our efforts, track progress, and ensure accountability. Then we have to put our money where our mouth is by establishing a prudent budget that funds the necessary initiatives.
We are planning to consider both our strategic plan and the budget at our March 28th AMC meeting. Striving for transparency, members are encouraged to read these proposals starting March 14th on the website under Lead -> Board of Directors (AMC) -> Meeting Reports -> 2026-03-28 – Hurst, TX. You can also view the meeting live via Zoom. Watch for announcements via our national e-newsletters Mensa Wired and Leader. If you’re not subscribed to these communications, you can manage your preferences under “My Mensa” on the website.
We’re also continuing our improved member outreach with our second Member Forum call on March 31st. It’s an opportunity to hear about what’s next for American Mensa, ask questions, and share your ideas. Stay tuned for more information.
We have lots of other improvements in the works. To enjoy them, you have to be with us, and that means renewing your membership. Please take a few minutes and make sure you’ll be a member for at least another year or longer. It’s self-renewal at its best.
Finally, don’t forget our upcoming Annual Gathering, July 1-5 in Fort Worth, TX. For those attending the Gala Dinner, you’ll have the opportunity to hear Monica Lewinsky, a leading voice on the issues of public shaming, cyberbullying, and resilience.
As always, this is your organization, so your opinions matter. Please let us know your thoughts!
February 2026 – Starting the Work
The bias towards action is palpable – and exciting! We’re making good things happen.
In December, your Board of Directors (AMC) established some aggressive deadlines to improve member value and increase membership. Just one month later, we met and approved several projects to help us lay the foundation for future success:
Other projects include:
Better Together is exploring ways American Mensa and the Foundation can partner to further the goals of both organizations. We’ve often pursued independent goals. Some of this is needed to preserve our IRS statuses. We nevertheless believe that more cooperation can benefit us both. Working with the Foundation can help our members be proud we’re helping to deliver good works. From the Foundation’s perspective, almost all its volunteers judging scholarships come from Mensa – as do its donations. We need to build on each other’s strengths. We expect the team’s recommendations in March.
Speaking of member value, we have several upcoming national events to consider:
As always, this is your organization, so your opinions matter. Please let us know your thoughts!
January 2026 – It's Our Turn
Past American Mensa leaders and volunteers have done some rather remarkable things.
Eighty years ago, two guys on a train conceived of Mensa: an organization where intelligence could find community. Our predecessors:
This is the legacy we inherit: generations of innovators who turned nothing to something genuinely remarkable.
Yet not all is well in the Mensaverse. We’ve lost over 20% of our members over the past fifteen years. Some members distrust our Board of Directors (AMC) members. Our online communities aren’t always welcoming – undermining member confidence. That’s our reality, and our call to action.
Now, It’s Our Turn.
At the December AMC meeting, the newly reconstituted board confronted these hard truths. We didn’t always agree, but we always listened. We worked together, found common ground, and committed individually and collectively to meaningful change.
Our top priorities included:
We also need progress in other areas, notably gifted youth. These members are our future.
To succeed, we need your voice, your ideas, and your energy. It’s your organization. Volunteer. Speak up. Encourage a friend. Attend a Gathering. Contribute to a SIG. Together, we can go beyond what our predecessors built for us. We can reinvigorate our community, redefining what Mensa means – for this generation and the next.
It’s Our Turn – and I’m deeply exited to see what we’ll build together.
Comments? Email me at chair@us.mensa.org. Thanks!
Copyright © 2026 Jon W. Gruebele. All Rights Reserved.