2001 - Focus on Membership Development: Three Organizations Share Effective Techniques

Melissa Eystad

All-Volunteer Groups article from e-Volunteerism, Vol.I, Issue 3, Spring 2001

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One of the top ongoing issues of most of the all-volunteer groups in the CompassPoint Nonprofit Services’ study featured in the Winter issue of e-Volunteerism was “reaching new members and keeping them involved.” In the world of volunteer management, that translates to “volunteer recruitment, integration and retention.” The goal is the same -- to identify potential individuals who can contribute to the work of the organization, invite them to participate by clearly identifying the benefits of joining, make them feel welcome and give them a way to contribute that is appropriate for them, and then offer ongoing opportunities for growth to keep them motivated and interested.

Many, if not most, types of clubs, chapters and other units of well-established community service organizations have been experiencing a decline in membership. The same trends that affect volunteering generally also have had an impact on membership groups such as Girl and Boy Scouts, Lions Clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis and women's clubs and organizations all over the US. In an attempt to reverse this trend, several large national and international organizations have put membership development as a high visibility initiative for the past few years. In this issue, we profile some of the membership development strategies and techniques of Kiwanis International, the General Federation of Women's Clubs and Rotary International.

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