Member and Volunteer Recruitment

Every organization, at some time, needs to identify potential new participants. This chapter is intended for organizations with members, such as associations, or public benefit organizations that need volunteers. Possibly part of your purpose is to build a visible constituency of people who share the values expressed in your mission. In this case, the larger the membership, the larger the constituency. If you want to be politically effective, nothing is more compelling than a large number of committed people.

Likely the work of your society requires willing hands. In most volunteer organizations, the rule of thumb is over 80% of the work is done by less than 20% of the members. To expect otherwise is unrealistic, so do not become discouraged if it seems that all the work is done by a few people. Nevertheless, do not be complacent about this. Strive to involve everyone. In order to have enough active workers to run the various aspects of the association, you need a plan that engages existing members. An organization develops more capacity when many people know how to manage many different tasks. Members should be encouraged to learn new jobs and not occupy any portfolio for a long period of time.

Volunteer organizations that do not recruit new participants will dwindle. Expect that 10% to 20% of your membership will vanish each year through attrition. Because of this, recruitment activities should be part of your annual program planning.

All of this is to say that membership development is not something you do when you are worried about membership dropping off. It is a primary program that fuels every need of the organization. Considering its importance, it should be fun, and it should be a normal part of the annual activities.

Successful recruiting begins with the infectious enthusiasm of the association’s leadership. These folks should value and foster a welcoming, pleasant attitude among members. If your people are not enthusiastic enough to behave in this manner, the process of attrition may outstrip the plan of recruitment. As noted before, leaders must be able to communicate enthusiasm for the vision and values and model the desired behaviors. Everyone in the organization should be recruiting all the time—whether they know it or not. Each conversation with a coworker or an acquaintance is an opportunity to promote your vision and values. The corollary to this is that unnecessary derogatory gossip, even in the company of those who seem to have no connection with your organization, can be very damaging. Following is an example of a local service club to illustrate.

Just because it might be called a ‘club’ does not mean that your organization has to be clubby. It is easy to slip into the mode of operation where the gatherings always consist of the same clique of friends who meet frequently because they like each other’s company. Since these good folks are always there, they end up as the leadership. From their point of view, the club (society, organization, association) is doing good work and they are enjoying their contribution.

A core group can be vital to your success. These are the people you can count on to do what must be done when no one else wants the job. Problems occur when this clique doesn’t allow other members the choice of gaining entry to this inner group. Outsiders will often view membership in the society as an unpleasant experience. Could this be happening in your organization? Members of cliques often do not see that the clique exists. If people feel excluded, usually they quietly drift away. You cannot afford to lose that support. A few will stick it out because they believe in the cause. In this case, factions may form, and there are misunderstandings and bad feelings among warring groups. In this climate, membership remains static, or falls. From time to time someone pushes the panic button and there is a membership drive. This is exhausting work for everyone involved, but it does keep the club alive. Many organizations operate this way. You may know or even be part of one.

Remember when you are thinking about your organization’s intent to produce a worthy benefit for your community, you must also have a strong organization to accomplish that. Strong organizations need people. Building a fully-capable organization that has the human resources necessary, now and in the future, requires recruitment planning. The recruitment program suggested here is designed to dovetail with the normal activities of your association. It requires that leadership remains vigilant and persistent in recruiting. If the loss of membership is 20% or more, you need to consider what’s not working. Ask questions. You may need to conduct surveys or focus groups or town hall meetings. Do not ignore the situation. You must clearly understand the problems and find solutions. Often an independent consultant can help you ask the right questions and identify what is wrong.

What follows is a plan for growing your membership or army of volunteers. Certainly modify it for the style of your organization—but try to understand why the process works so that you are effective. You will find that some members (who shy away from talking to people) will propose membership campaigns that rely on pubic relations, or advertising, or anything to avoid personal contact. Public relations, advertising and collateral materials may have their place in helping strangers to identify themselves to you. For that stranger to take the step of joining or volunteering, you will find that real recruitment is always done by people. For people to join you will have to do more. Nearly every step in the the process involves one-on-one contact.

The strategy recommended for acquiring members starts with first identifying who in the community would be interested in membership. A workgroup or committee could begin by brainstorming what talents or skills are needed in the organization. Or the committee might begin by thinking about the people who are attracted to the organization and what attributes they possess. Next, individual prospective members are identified. A prospect form should be filled out with the potential member’s information. The form should include a section for the individual to describe his or her interests in serving the community or volunteering for your cause. If there is a good match between the organization’s mission and the beliefs and values of the potential member, someone personally invites him or her to join.

People will join because:

• they like you,
• they like what you stand for, and
• they like what you are doing.

The steps of recruitment are:

• identify the people in the community who should be part of your organization;
• ask the individuals identified to describe their interests for service or leadership;
• communicate how your organization can fulfill those interests;
• ask him or her to join, participate, or volunteer;
• answer any questions or concerns individuals may have about making a commitment to your organization;
• complete the recruitment.

If you have experience with sales, you have noticed that my recommended strategy is similar to the sales process. Selling is an honourable profession and there is much written on how it should be done with integrity. At one time or another we are all in the business of promoting (selling) good ideas, concepts, services or products. It is worth learning how not to be a hustler (those people who give sales its sleazy reputation), but to be a responsible sales person. I think we owe that to all of our worthy undertakings. If you want to become good at this you may want to do more reading on the subject. It is seldom taught in our schools or in our culture’s institutions of higher learning. As a result there are many people who are in sales who have a poor understanding of how the process should work. The following describes the process in language of sales or marketing. Later you will see how to create a program that uses this process (See Public Events, as well as Greeting & Follow-up).

Prospecting – Step 1

Likely there are many people in the community who may be interested in your cause, so you need some way of finding those who are. This is called prospecting. Prospecting is done by drawing attention to your cause by some means. Prospecting may include personal networking, public service announcements in the media, participating in community events, or running events.

The purpose of prospecting is to cause a stranger take some personal action to indicate that he or she is interested.

When you, or a member of your organization, find that you are talking to someone who is interested and is capable of joining your organization, you have found that most prized citizen, the qualified prospect. Somehow you want to be sure that you don’t lose track of that person. Up until this point, all of your recruitment efforts have focused on identifying that person.

Making the Case – Step 2

Now that you have identified a qualified prospect, this person needs to know what your organization is all about and how he or she might participate. This is step 2, and is called making the case. Usually you will accomplish this by listening to the person talk about himself or herself, his or her interests, and gently showing how your organization’s values and projects dovetail. People don’t like a sales pitch and directly launching into why your organization is great is seldom a useful approach.

Ask The Person to Join – Step 3

The one thing you must not be passive about is the fact that you value this person and you would like to see him or her participate with you in your organization. At some point be sure to say so. Salespeople call this asking for the order, and it is something many people find hard to do. Since your project is serving the community—not self-serving—you should not have a problem. Besides, you should be making this person feel wanted.

Objections – Step 4

At this point you may hear an objection. “I am not sure that I could commit the time.” “The membership fee seems awfully high.” “I wouldn’t know how to do the kinds of things that seem to be required.”

If you interpret an objection as if the person said, “I am not interested,” you were not listening! Listening is more important to this process than talking.

An objection means that your prospect is interested but sees an obstacle to joining. A prospect may have several objections. If you can deal with the objections, the person will probably join. After you have talked to a few prospects you will have heard most of the objections you will hear from everybody. If you are going to increase your membership you will have probably found ways to respond to all of the normal objections.

If you are receiving some serious objections, you may want to reconsider how you are doing things. Thinking through the objections that people raise so that you can manage them easily and in the spirit of friendship is essential if you are going to maintain or increase your membership. Most of the time the objections require only your encouragement to proceed. Learning how to cope with objections so that you can answer most of them, and maintain your enthusiasm, will make the recruitment process easier for everyone.

Complete the Recruitment – Step 5

Step 5 means that you will follow up by asking that the membership form is filled out, and that you collect the membership cheque, or whatever else is required. You may simply be inviting them to join your committee, and to show up for a meeting.

If you are one of the shy people who feel that this sort of salesperson-like behaviour is not your style, please remember the values and principles that motivated you to become part of this group. No one will join if they do not want to participate—believe me, you are not that persuasive. If they decide to join, it is because they wanted to, and they were waiting for you to ask. Isn’t that is reason enough for you to overcome your shyness?

Public Events and Members’ Meetings

In the context of this manual, public events are proposed as a key element in finding qualified prospective volunteers or members. So, let me assume that your worthy organization is event-driven and people are needed to make things happen. Therefore, you need active volunteers.

People seem to go through phases of active and passive community life. Much of the purpose of this manual is to provide the means to harness the talents of people who might be ready and willing to make a active contribution. The first step is to have them join. There will be members who simply read the newsletter and attend the odd meeting, but they are not full participants in your affairs. Please don’t resent them. While it is beneficial to have these peoples’ membership, the work of your association cannot proceed without a core of committed and active individuals.

This e-book proposes two ways that a member of the public will likely become a member. The first way is that a member will invite a friend or acquaintance to join, and the member is effective in making the case for the association. Probably the friend attends a meeting, likes what s/he sees, reads the Benefits to Membership on the application, discusses any concerns with the member, then fills out your membership form and writes a cheque. The second way is that a member of the public hears of one of your events and decides to attend. This person likes event and the organization, and decides to join. This means that the event must be promoted so that some of the public is aware of it. Promotion is discussed in P.R. and Media sections. While promotion is important to generating attendance, word-of-mouth via committed members and friends is often more effective. Do both.

Key elements of both methods of attracting potential members are some positive experiences that the prospect has with your members, probably at an event and in talking with like-minded friendly people. Another element is subtler. Instead of waiting for the prospect to take the initiative to become a member, there should be a process in place whereby the person is introduced to the benefits of membership, and is invited to join. Here is where most volunteer organizations fail to complete the process of recruitment.

Regular members’ meetings

In addition to the business of working for your cause through vigorous committees or task forces, consider running a series of regular meetings that are primarily social. Ideally, such meetings should occur weekly. These are in addition to the major public events and do not receive major promotion. Regular social activities are a membership benefit.

Although the meetings are casual and social, there is an entertaining program. For example, a member who is a magician gives a special performance. Perhaps a member who is a musician prepares a recital for your group. A member may report on an interesting vacation, trip, or adventure. Ask people to tell their personal story. People you think you know may surprise you with their interesting journey through life. Someone who is not a member of the group may be asked to visit and give a talk. The chair of a committee might be asked to report on recent activities of that group. You will probably discover that the problem is not finding interesting speakers, it is thinking about possible speakers and then taking the time to ask people, to schedule them, and then promote the talk to the members to be sure there is an audience.

Following the entertainment, a very brief review of current activities or projects of the association and upcoming events should be presented. Such meetings re-invigorate volunteers, and illustrate the current scope of activities of the association. Members should be encouraged to bring friends (prospective members) to these meetings.

Running weekly meetings require a very active and committed membership. This assumes that the participants can travel to the meeting, and will want to assemble frequently. If the thought of weekly meetings is exhausting, consider another schedule. One meeting per month is a minimum. If that seems impossible, maybe you should wonder about the need for your organization.

When Sherry looked at my recommendations for building membership, she commented that the methods sound a bit like your local service clubs. Recently she convinced me that I should join my local Rotary Club. But I didn’t learn this from any of the service clubs. Yes, as a planetarium director, and later a museum director, and because I was fairly well-known in Manitoba, I did speak to the clubs to promote my shows—but I knew little of how they operated.

In the mid-1960s, I remember observing how the combination of weekly membership meetings plus major events was used to turn the little Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada into one of the most active and involved astronomy clubs in Canada or anywhere. The weekly meetings were held on Saturdays in the little observatory on Mount Royal at a high location on McGill University property. The ‘events’ were lectures by prominent astronomers—usually held on the campus. At least once or twice a year there would be a public star party.

When I was on the board of the Manitoba Naturalists, the organization provided an amazing number of public events, workshops, and programs. They still do (the name is now Nature Manitoba) http://www.naturemanitoba.ca/.

When I was elected president of Winnipeg AM, a volunteer civic booster organization that was generally supportive of tourism and Winnipeg-appreciation, we met weekly on Friday mornings. While we didn’t have ‘events’ we did take on high-profile projects. Those weekly meeting were essential to maintaining and involving membership.

When we negotiated the transfer of the Convention & Visitors Bureau to Tourism Winnipeg and then created the Tourism Industry Association of Winnipeg, our volunteer membership actually increased—but not because of this formula but because we gave the tourism industry a voice. In that sense, it didn’t need the meeting-structure, but we used the newsletter part to keep everyone current and involved. We could easily bring the troops out for an event when we needed them.

While a program of regular meetings is certainly very similar to service clubs, probably it is similar because it works.

This concept of holding weekly meetings is an accepted method of maintaining member engagement. Some service clubs keep attendance records and will ask a member to resign if his/her attendance is below a minimum threshold. Unless yours is a service club, that rule us probably draconian, but it does show the value of regular member participation.

Major events

From time to time during the year, the association should run some major events for the general public. These must be promoted to the public. The event is likely a sponsored talk by a public figure or by someone who has achieved some status in the community. The event could also be a poster session, a conference, a tour to an interesting site, or some other imaginative gathering of people.

If there is a charge, it could be offered to the public at a rate higher than the members pay (which could be nothing). However, people do value something for which they pay. If there are direct costs, is it reasonable to use the members’ fees or to charge admission to cover the costs? If people do pay they expect to be treated in a professional and competent matter. You will have to deliver value—no excuses.

The purpose of these events is that they will draw in people who are interested in the same causes as your organization. Some will become members. The other reason to hold these events is that the program will delight the members. (See the section on Programs).

Greeting and follow-up

The reason you encourage members to bring friends to meetings, and one of the reasons that you hold events, is to attract people with shared values who may decide to be members. As explained in the previous chapter, these people are qualified prospects. Another way of putting it is, that compared to the general public, these people are already more than halfway to becoming members. My point is these are valuable people. These are the people who will want to help you to achieve your mission. Do not let them wander out of your association’s life. Some action is required on your part to ensure that these people take the steps necessary to join. Once they have joined, then you need to help them become contributing members or volunteers.

Having gone to the trouble of attracting a qualified prospect, the first thing to do is identify the person. Merely handing out a membership brochure—regardless of how attractive it is and how well it describes the benefits of membership—will seldom move people to join. Certainly have the brochure or the application form, but you will have to do more.

Begin by discovering why the person was attracted to your event. Have it in the form of a written record. It is amazing how often groups have done something to assemble an enthusiastic crowd, and the next day while everyone is congratulating themselves on a super event, no one knows who was there. Too bad, that list of names would be golden.

There are several ways of achieving a record of attendance without it seeming like the beginning of class in grade school. For the regular (weekly) meetings—and probably for all meetings—consider establishing a sign-in book. Use a big heavy volume with lots of room across the page for a printed name, address, phone number, comments, and a place to tick whether or not the person is a member. This book must be at every meeting, and all copies should be kept forever. Members like this, and will enjoying referring back to memorable meetings that they attended. Members should be in the habit of signing in as soon as they have removed their coat. The host or chair of the meeting should encourage new members, guests, and visitors in this practice. Before the meeting write in the date, the time, the location, and the purpose of the meeting. As part of the event’s wind up, the host should make a note of any interesting occurrences.

If a book seems too ‘low-tech’ or doesn’t work for your meeting space, consider a registration desk. A registration desk requires some planning and preparation. You’ll need a list of expected attendees. People are expected to tick or initial their name on the list and identify any guests. Greeters need to be at the desk and cheerfully welcome people and ensure that no one is missed in the record. If names and addresses are not typed into a computer, be sure you can read the handwriting. If networking among members is worthwhile you may want to offer name tags at the registration desk. It is environmentally responsible to have permanent member tags and use temporary ones for guests. But you need to consider how to print, sort, store, and manage the tags.

Part of the responsibilities of the host is to notice visitors, to talk to them, and note their names. The sign-in book or registration information helps. When the meeting begins, the host should recognize and thank members who brought friends, and welcome by name, all of the visitors. If the host is not familiar with the membership, or finds doing this awkward, then some of the old hands must help. This act of welcoming is done in the spirit of friendship, and should not be a chore.

During the social part of the meeting, the host (or some of the other greeters) should have a word with the visitor. The host should thank the person for coming and ask if the visitor has any questions about the organization. A membership application form should be offered (and it should contain a section on benefits of membership) along with the sincere wish to see the person at future meetings. Find out what interests the visitor, and introduce him or her to likely friends. Watch for interests in some aspect of the operation of your society. If they show an enthusiasm to volunteer for anything they will surely join. It often takes a few meetings before people decide to become an active participant. Be cheerful and encourage visitors to continue to explore the organization.

The prospect must be invited to future meetings, again and again, until the person makes a choice of stating that s/he is not interested, or joins. Too often we assume that because someone has not offered to join that they do not want to. Rather than risk rejection, we abandon the prospect. In fact, the prospect concludes that we do not care, so why should s/he? If the person says, “no thanks” or “I’m not interested,” accept that and pursue them no further; otherwise give them and your cause the benefit of the doubt and gently persist.

There are two kinds of follow-up that help with recruitment. The first may come out of conversation with the visitor. You agree to call him or her about a fact or an upcoming event. Be sure to make a note of it and do it. People really appreciate thoughtful follow-up. It shows that you value the person.

The second is to consult with the member who brought the visitor. Be sure to notice when a member brings a new potential member, and appropriately celebrate this occasion. You want your members feeling appreciated when they actively help grow your organization. One of the membership committee (if you have such a group) should call that person, thank them for bringing a visitor, and discuss any special interests the prospect might have in your organization. It is this member who will likely invite the prospect back to a future meeting, and may actually collect the membership cheque. These members may need some help and encouragement.

If your association is worthwhile, then so is the process of identifying and nurturing new members. Please give this necessary activity the attention it deserves. The things to remember are that people like to be asked to join and they do not like to be pressured. Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated—even the first time visitor.

If you are not accustomed to this form of greeting and follow-up, it will seem uncomfortable at first. After a while, it will become simply good manners.

The leadership, or the Membership Committee, or good friends, should try to be aware of the activities of new members. These people need to feel welcome and be asked to participate. Introduce them to individuals and groups where they are needed and where they will feel comfortable. They need to become involved, but not overwhelmed.