MEMBERSHIP 101 IDEAS to gain and keep members

What are the facts about club memberships? “Just the Facts Ma’am” Most civic organizations are losing members

 National Garden Club HAS LOST CLUBS AND MEMBERS  In 2000 NGC had 241,888 members. In 2014 NGC has 174,226 members – that’s a loss of almost 70,000 members  How many has your state and club lost? If your state and club is an exception it might not be that way in a couple of years.

WE NEED TO BE  Proactive instead of reactive!  Proactive - Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened.  Reactive – Responding to a situation after it has happened.

We need to relearn the three R’s

We need to ACTIVELY RECRUIT members!

First LOOK AT YOUR CLUB’S BYLAWS Are your by-laws member friendly?

 If there is a cap on membership? Consider removing it.  Voting on members - does it work in your area or with your club’s size? Do members have to leave the room for the vote? This might perpetuate a stereotype. Do you ever really vote down a member???  How often do you meet per year? Do you meet too often?  Do you have too many or too few officers?  Are your dues too high or too low?  Do you meet in private homes or in public places? First time visitors usually feel more comfortable when you meet in a public setting.  Is your club meeting only daytime or only evening? Younger, working people usually can’t meet during the daytime. Consider switching or alternating.

MAKE VISITORS FEEL WELCOME  Are visitors greeted and made to feel at home? Consider assigning a greeter at each meeting who sits with a new person and explains things and makes them feel welcome.  Are visitors introduced?  Are visitors invited back?  Are visitors sent follow-up cards - “We’re glad to have met you, please come back”  Are potential members on your call list? Are they called and reminded of the meetings?  Be Hospitable!

3)ADVERTISE YOUR CLUB  Donate magazines with your club’s information in it and lay in doctors’ offices or other waiting rooms. Give your local library a subscription with your club’s information to be put inside each issue. Or give your library a copy of your state magazine.  Give articles on home landscaping to your local realtors to give information to prospective buyers. Have contact information on it. Greet a new neighbor and share this information.  Volunteer to write a gardening article for your newspaper.  Wear shirts with your Garden Club’s name on them when working in your community.  List your Garden Club meetings in your newspaper. This applies to not only writing articles but advertising in the community calendar.  Distribute posters or flyers in town inviting people to attend your meetings.  Celebrate National Gardening Week with projects, receptions, newspaper articles, mayoral proclamations.  Advertise events such as flower shows. Invite others in your district and invite state officers. Have information about joining your club available.

Utilize existing resources  National Garden Club Member services has a free pamphlet entitled “Grow your World” Order some of these and place an informational sticker on them regarding how to join your club and contact information. Place them in appropriate gardening spots, including nurseries, garden tours, Wildflower tours, etc.

USE SIGNAGE  Use signage on your community gardening projects. This shows who created and/or maintains it.  Consider a small magnetic logo or window sticker for your car if you don’t have a Garden Club license plate.  Consider creating a club logo and use it.  Use signage on town welcome signs where the Rotary, Lion’s club and churches advertise.  Have business cards printed with contact information and dates of meetings on them to pass out to potential members.  Volunteer to do arrangements at Nursing Homes and leave informational tent cards with arrangements.  Adopt a roadside Wildflower Site with signage GET YOURSELF NOTICED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other proactive measures to think about:  Offer garden educational seminars to the public.  Have booths in local fairs and festivals.  Work cooperatively with other groups, including Master Gardeners.  Invite members from disbanded clubs to join your club.  Think of creative meeting places – block parties, historic sites, public gardens and garden centers.

Don’t neglect word of mouth  Be on the look-out for potential new members by noticing them in nurseries or working in their yards and invite them to your garden club meetings. Invite new neighbors. When you’re in a store line and notice someone purchasing plants or gardening magazines or books, start a conversation about gardening and invite them.  Most people join garden club by an oral invitation

RETAINING EXISTING MEMBERS  Make sure every member is spoken to, especially newer members.  Call club members who have stopped attending your meetings. Offer to pick them up and bring them to meetings.  Listen to the needs of your members and implement their talents  Realize not all members can do the same work due to time restraints, physical restrictions or finances.  Offer fund raisers so that members aren’t constantly giving financially to projects  Send cards for special accomplishments, etc. Make members feel special  KEEP MEETINGS SHORT! AVOID GOSSIP!  for everything.

 Does your club, district or state offer scholarships to participate in state, region and national conventions? Schools? If so advertise it!  Does your nonprofit status allow clubs to benefit? If so let members know this.  Make sure members know we are a nonprofit organization.  Make sure your state magazine is high quality and informative.  Make conventions affordable and educational  Most clubs and members need to see what they get for paying their dues.

Connect!  The more connected your club is to other clubs, districts and states the more vital your club will be. We learn from each other.  Take advantage of what NGC offers through your state: Landscape Design School, Flower Show School, Gardening Studies Course, Environmental Education School, Regional meetings, District meetings, State conventions and National Conventions.  We need to encourage participation in our own club’s meetings and activities.

Revitalize  Verb  Definition: to impart new life or vigor to  Synonyms - re-energize, boost, regenerate, resuscitate, refresh, stimulate, rejuvenate, GOT THE PICTURE?

We need to change our image:  To this:  From this:

We need to embrace technology  Do we use /Skype/Facetime to contact members or cut down on meetings or meeting times?  Do we use social media to advertise our clubs and organization?  Are we using text messaging to remind members of meetings?  Are we using power point and other computer visual aids to make talks more interesting?

What to do if a club wants to end it’s affiliation or disband?  Don’t let them go without a fight -Sometimes one individual in a club is leading the charge. Send a post card to each individual member expressing your feelings. Sometimes this is enough to sway a vote. - Offer to visit and speak to the club members. Clubs have sometimes stayed together after an encouraging talk and some attention is given to them. -Realize that some clubs will end affiliation or disband despite our best efforts and let them go gracefully.

SET AN EXAMPLE  Get your hands dirty. If possible be a working garden club  Occasionally have hands on projects that members can take home.  Take field trips to garden related places.  Respect the role of changing membership within our ranks. Diversity in membership is the key  Try to think outside of the box

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE……

Have

FUN !!!!!

This program was designed and produced for NGC by Brenda Moore, NGC Membership committee member For corresponding brochures or another power point “Lessons from a goose” encouraging members to take leadership positions contact