Membership Forum

Maureen Wesley Detroit Chapter NCCS President Cheryle Mackie Stuart Chapter NCCS Vice President Membership Ellen O’Brien Pittsburgh Chapter NCCS Vice President Program

Membership Recruitment Membership Engagement Membership Recognition

Membership Recruitment Questions your Chapter may want to ask before you begin:  Why do individuals volunteer?  What type of individual does your chapter want to attract?  What type of individual is attracted to your chapter?

Why do individuals volunteer? There are literally hundreds of reasons:  To donate their skills to help someone  To make new friends  To be challenged  To feel good  To have fun Just to name a few….

VOLUNTEERING IS A FREE TIME ACTIVITY What are the benefits of Membership in your chapter ?

 What type of individual does your Chapter want to attract?  What type of individual is presently attracted to your Chapter?

There is an interconnection between Membership Development and Publicity and Marketing

 Consider your Chapters “reputation” in the community and who your competition is  Consider the tone of your collateral materials and website  Consider your demographic make-up

There is an interconnection between Membership Development and Program

 Consider the image of your service and the image of your client group  Are your programs and projects designed with the potential to attract the members you most want?  Are your programs meaningful to maximize benefits for members?

 Collateral materials  Follow up with interested parties Included in your binder is the Member Interaction Assessment provided by Susan Elli s  Use of fund raisers as a recruitment opportunity

Every Chapter has the challenge of keeping members engaged, taking a new member from joining to volunteering.

 Provide a clear picture of the activities of your Chapter  Provide guidance to new members  Provide means of evaluation

 Simple individual ask is almost 100% successful  Weekly s with volunteer opportunities  Volunteer coordinator  Special membership mailing to members who have not volunteered in 12 months  Consistent time when members can “drop in” to work on a Chapter activity that needs extra hands

 Defined roles  Clear goals  Training / instruction/ orientation  Information (Skilled volunteers want information)  Recognition  Coaching  Sufficient resources  Fellowship / Reaction

 “ Friend raising” as a intricate part of membership  Program evaluation should consider the relevance of program to members as well as clients  Speakers from social service agencies can be part of general meeting  Members need to be provided social and spiritual activities to encourage fellowship  Make activities collaborative

 Diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the engagement of members and make a plan to encourage involvement  Assess the impact of burn out in leadership roles

Volunteers can never can never be thanked enough!

 Thank program volunteers and chairpersons publicly and by name  Thank volunteers as intermediate goals are met not just at the end

 General meetings  Website  Newsletter  Salute long standing members at general meeting or special events

 Lifetime Achievement  Volunteer of the Year  Awards for special tasks  Unsung hero award