Recruiting and Retaining Club Members Tip Sheet
PEYA Workshop | February 22, 2007
Getting Members Out
Making Announcements
- Be creative ? use popular music, drama
- Provide information on club?s actions
- Let them know there will be food!
- Run announcement the week before and week of
- Emphasize volunteer hours and student leadership opportunities
Word of Mouth
- Invite groups of friends or ask individuals to ?bring a friend
- Decide on an ?elevator speech? with your environment club to describe the club in about 30 seconds to potential members
- Talk (positively!) about the club in your everyday conversations
Visual
- Posters are useful if attractive, original, thought-provoking and provide information about where and when your club can be found
Events
- Hold an easily organized school event that raises awareness on environmental issues Ex. movie viewing
- Make events accessible to all students ? hold during lunch time, make it free
- Free snacks and giveaways always get attention!
- Hold a scavenger hunt that raises awareness of the club and environmental issues
- Target people with many different interests ? art, sport, music, etc.
Keeping Members
- Always have attainable goals that the group is working towards
- Have a few long term goals set and a few short term goals that include fun and easy regular events
- Organize regular annual or twice annual large events that get the whole team psyched ex. Environment Week
- Get everyone to participate in forming these goals because people tend to work more towards a cause or goal they believe in
- Make sure to balance meetings with work, fun, and action
- Run effective meetings:
- make an agenda with time goals
- delegate roles (facilitator, time keeper, minute-taker, re-energizer)
- good facilitation (staying on time, making sure everyone has a chance to speak)
- allow for fun breaks
- make sure minutes include Action Items and follow-up with them
- For more tips on meeting facilitation see: www.otesha.ca/bike+tours/guides/meeting+facilitation.en.html
- Congratulate, thank, and compliment members in private and publicly for everything they do for the team
If you need help with recruiting and retaining members at your school, PEYA can provide you with resources and expertise from other schools. Give us a call at 905-274-6222 or email info@peyalliance.com!
