Recruitment:
•Providing value to your members.
•Motivating members
•Succession planning.
•Self-assessment first.
•Use questionnaires.
•Conduct phone surveys, polls.
•Include a questionnaire as part of the membership form.
•Plan and set goals.
•Have a membership committee in your affiliate no matter how small.
•Work with the national office for leads.
•ACB membership committee can help.
•Involve your former leaders.
•Make plans to reach out to target populations.
•Use the ACB Public Relations committee as a resource.
•Tap into talent in special interest affiliates.
•Work with agencies in your state for help.
•Make sure to follow up leads with a personal invitation.
•Explain acronyms.
•Get out the ACB name all you can.
•Talk to other groups like Lions, churches, etc. about ACB.
Retention:
•Re-inventing the chapter.
•Chapters and members have lifespan.
•Tap into resources of professional speakers.
•Have a handout to take at each meeting.
•Have regular meeting times.
•Socialize.
•Partnering with agencies.
•Helping potential members find a sense of belonging.
•Using a political crisis as a galvanizing force.
•Publicize successes in this group.
•Have representatives speak to radio talk shows.
•Outreach to newly blind people.
•Reaching out to people where they are.
•Reaching out to multicultural groups. Non-whites are more likely to go blind.
•Materials in Spanish.
•Vary meeting agendas.
•Reach out to non-computer users while utilizing the computer.
•Address social needs and transportation needs.
Chapter expansion concerns:
•Lack of interest in organizing.
•Lack of referrals from ophthalmologists.
•Best recruiting is giving blind people information one on one.
1. Publicize your affiliate and the benefits of membership throughout your state or special interest community.
2. Distribute your membership benefits brochure to spread the word include invitation letters.
3. Plan your recruitment campaign carefully and establish an organized timeline to be sure you complete all necessary steps.
4. Look carefully at your letter of invitation to prospective members. Is it time to revise? Is it appropriate for your prospective members? Be sure to include brief information about the ACB Scholarship program, the Braille Forum, and the annual convention. State your affiliate's mission, and highlight opportunities for development in the areas of leadership, service, and fellowship.
5. Follow up the letter of invitation with a personal phone call to each prospective new member explaining membership benefits. This call can also be used to extend an invitation to your affiliate's next gathering. Delegate this duty to volunteer members as well as chapter officers and the membership committee.
6. Establish an enhanced member program to provide rewards to members who actively take part in and support chapter activities without penalizing those members whose participation is minimal.
7. Consider a provisional member program, allowing prospective members to become aware of membership benefits.
8. Be sure your affiliate membership accurately reflects the diversity of your state or special interest group. Make a special effort to reach out to those whose age and ethnic background are dissimilar from the majority of your members.
9. Schedule orientations to accommodate prospective members as well as new members. This can be done at the annual convention and at the chapter level.
10. At the orientation, stress that participation in affiliate activities is voluntary, and that membership benefits are not contingent on participation. However, those members who actively participate in the enhanced member program will be eligible for special rewards in addition to the basic membership benefits.
11. Include on your orientation agenda a brief but detailed explanation of the different opportunities to become involved in affiliate activities including leadership, committees, and special projects.
12. Consider having a current member speak briefly at the orientation, to state ways that affiliate membership has been of benefit to them.
13. Explain the dues structure, and give information on the various programs supported by these fees.
14. Follow-up with a phone call to prospective members who do not join your affiliate. Find out what concerns they may have, and address them.
15. Design and implement a fall and spring membership campaign.