SGI lost 90% of its membership between 1989 and 1997

Remember - until late in 1989, the Soka Gakkai organization in the USA was known as Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA). It was a lay organization of Nichiren Shoshu, and all members of the Soka Gakkai, including Presidents Makiguchi, Toda, and Ikeda, were members of Nichiren Shoshu. That was, in fact, a requirement to join the Soka Gakkai - one had to join Nichiren Shoshu. There was no separation.

Now, NSA is known as SGI-USA. Look what's happened to their claimed membership over just 8 years:

According to the 1989 Winter/Spring CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, U.S. membership in the group was estimated at a half million...self-reported, of course

NSA claims a membership of 500,000, which is almost certainly an exaggeration... from 1989

They had a hard time explaining how it happened that SGI in USA had more than 300,000 members few years ago and it went to only 50,000 today. from 1997

From 500,000 to 50,000 - 90% of their members jumped ship. Now, with only 35,000 subscriptions (a reliable proxy for the numbers of active members), some of which are duplicates, and a goal for 2014 of increasing subscriptions to 50,000 (through members and families buying multiple copies), SGI-USA is in desperate straits.

If you are a former member, we'd love to hear your story - when you joined, when you left, how long you were "in", what convinced you to cut the cord, etc. It's time to get these stories out there.