2008 A GREAT TIME TO REBUILD CHAPTERS

The 2007 “Give Me 10″ results are in. On December 5th, MOAA President VADM Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., USN-Ret, sent a letter to then Council president LtCol Larry Stumpf, USAF-Ret, congratulating CAL-MOAA on being named a quarterly award winner and expressing appreciation for the strong support. But it should be noted that the 2007 results were not that great with a very large percentage of new members coming from a single chapter.

The 2008 “Give Me 10!” campaign started January 1st and this year it’s going to be bigger and better than ever, starting by aiming for 3,000 new national members vs an earlier 2,600 goal. And there will be plenty of incentives to speed success.

Chapter presidents have been sent a special recruitment kit with all the information and resources needed to engage the membership in a massive recruitment effort. There are aids to bring in many new members at the national level and at the chapter level as well.

In a time of declining chapter membership totals, with many chapters close to ruin, it’s time to rebuild. Recruiting success isn’t going to happen automatically. The chapter’s membership chair can’t do the job alone. In 2008, chapters need an effective team approach. A team is needed to motivate, cheer members on, and hold members accountable.

In some places the Lone Ranger, the dark loner, is out riding the range. For chapters today, it’s the Lone Danger.

Remember the basics:

–Motivation
This is our chapter. Consider our history. But look at the trouble we’re in. How can we stand by and let the membership continue to decline. We’re all in this together. What are we waiting for? Remember Churchill, “We will fight them on the beaches…never, never, never give up!” Let’s start rebuilding. Let’s get in the car and go recruiting. Let’s give the leadership to those with vision and who will do the work. Let’s get on with it! Move from “me” to “we.”

–Simplification
Let’s get organized for effectiveness. And remember that the strongest organizations always have the simplest structures. And organize around natual groupings. There’s that luncheon/dinner table over there with 8-10 members and guests. They usually sit together. They know each other and socialize together. They might make a terrific recruiting team working together.

–Specification
This is where delegation comes in. A lot of people can’t or won’t delegate, but it’s absolutely necessary. Assign carefully chosen individuals specific tasks. What is everybody’s responsibility easily becomes nobody’s responsibility. Take a look at what needs to be done, break the work down into smaller tasks, and assign tasks to everyone. Do this…to this standard…by this date and time. The chapter’s membership chair could never call 100 prospects on a MOAA provided list but 20 members calling 5 each makes the work easy.

–Affirmation
Remember the importance of an awards and recognition program. Once members start recruiting, be sure to recognize the participants and outcomes. Give credit where credit is due. Write an encouraging note. Buy somebody lunch. Give a gift of an annual membership. Put photos in the newsletter. A common complaint is that “nobody seems to care.” Change that. Make a difference.

Members sometimes come alive and do spectacular things when they are a member of an effective team. And these are days calling for extraordinary recruiting achievements. Getting serious about “Give Me 10,” forming high performance teams, and approaching prospects on their own turf would be good ways to start.

Comments RSS