| Learn how to develop a plan to attract membership among diverse stakeholders in community-based efforts. |
So you want to attract some members into your club or organization? Why? Are you sick and tired of trying to do everything yourself? Did someone remind you that two heads are better than one? It may not really matter why you’ve decided to try to attract more members. What matters is that you have a plan.
Developing a plan for recruiting members will make your life much easier. This section will show you how.
WHAT IS A PLAN FOR INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY ACTION?
Planning is a way to organize actions that will hopefully lead to the fulfillment of a goal. In this case, your goal is increasing participation to meet the purposes of your organization. How? By providing clear directions and your approach to following them, in other words, giving a method to your madness.
Developing a plan for recruiting members will cause you to ask yourself some fundamental questions. These questions are essential to just about any recruitment effort, and your answers will be the building blocks for your recruitment plan. They are:
- Why do you want or need members?
- How many members do you need?
- What kind of members do you need?
- Who is going to find and get the new members?
- Where are the new members?
- When is a good time to look for new members?
- How should you approach potential members?
- What happens if you get a yes, a maybe, or a no?
- What are some obstacles you may encounter? And how do you get around them?
Example: An organization in need of increasing participation in community action
My neighborhood organization wants to clean up the area around an abandoned building in our neighborhood. We hope to remove the blight and potentially lower the amount of crime in the area, but we don’t know how to find the people. We are very busy and have never done this before.
Also, this may just be the beginning. We want to grow our organization large enough to clean up the whole city. Wouldn’t that be amazing? But that would certainly take more members than we recruit ourselves. Maybe we should build a coalition or partnership. Then we’d have the people power we need. But how can we do that?
Here’s the key point: Regardless of whether we are trying to recruit members who speak for themselves or members who speak for entire organizations, it would help to have a plan to find people and bring them together. Answering the questions above will save us time in the long run and increase the chances of accomplishing goals we set for ourselves.
WHY SHOULD YOU DEVELOP A PLAN FOR INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY ACTION?
- To make accomplishing your goals easier.
- To help you get from point A (an organization in need of members, or a coalition in need of member organizations) to point B (an organization with the members it needs or a coalition with the members it needs). Your organization or alliance will almost certainly always need fresh members.
- To make your search for new members more efficient and effective. A plan is essential because it focuses on steps you will need to take to achieve your ultimate goal of recruiting members. The planning stage is the time to decide what actions the organization will take to achieve its goal.
Most of the time, organizers looking for membership would have better luck recruiting potential members if they sat down and planned what they would do to achieve their goals, rather than just jumping right in. A planned effort will almost always be superior to an unplanned, disorganized attempt.
Writing things down is very important to the planning process because you don’t want to waste time going over questions you have already answered. Writing down the answers will save precious time.
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP A PLAN FOR INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY ACTION?
Let’s come back to the fundamental questions mentioned above and go through them one at a time.
WHY DO YOU WANT OR NEED MEMBERS?
It is not only enough to want members for your organization. You must think of why you want them. You must ask yourself, “Why am I looking for new members in the first place?” Your organization may be looking for members who speak for other organizations or themselves.
Your organization may need members of a partnership or coalition who:
- Represent the local government, the local school systems, religious organizations, youth organizations, businesses, other human service organizations, senior citizens, the police, parent groups, colleges and universities, etc.
- Can coordinate the efforts of the organizations they represent to achieve shared goals (for example, a city-wide event in which several organizations carry out different city beautification tasks)
- Can rally support for issues in the best interests of your organization and those of the organizations your coalition members represent
Your organization may need individual members to:
- Hand out flyers
- Help out on a specific project (for example, helping to clean the lot around an abandoned building)
- Help organize and recruit other members
- Give general support to the organization
- Do many, many other things
You must have something in mind. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have decided you need more members to begin with. Think… Then write it down!
HOW MANY MEMBERS DO YOU NEED?
Once you have listed the reasons you are looking to get new members into your group, you should have a pretty good idea of how many individual members and coalition members you will need to recruit.
For example: Starting a plan for increasing participation in community action
Let’s think about the abandoned building example. How many people do we need to clean up the area? It’s a big yard, and it is very messy. We’d like to get it done in one day, so the best guess is that it will take at least 15 people.
There are five diehard members of my organization, and a few others around the neighborhood have offered their help if something came up. Well, now we have something.
So we know that we need to get ten more people to commit to this project. Of course, we’d love to get ten new long-term members, but for now, we just need ten more warm bodies to help clean the area.
Okay, now we know why we want new members, and we know that we need at least ten more. Wow! We’re already starting to have a plan. Okay, now, let’s think big. Let’s go back to the city-wide beautification effort.
If our organization gets all the people we need to clean up the area that sparked our beautification efforts, we will still need members representing other organizations in our coalition. We need to have members who can coordinate the actions of their organizations so that the whole city will become beautiful.
Even thinking big is simple. What’s next?
WHAT KIND OF MEMBERS DO YOU NEED?
It’s not usually a good idea to put people into categories, but in this case, determining what kind of members the organization needs will be helpful.
Organizations need many different kinds of members. As mentioned earlier, this can be especially important when deciding whether your organization is trying to build individual membership or trying to make a coalition through recruiting members who speak for organizations.
Some members may speak for organizations or whole groups of people, and some may not. Some members will be leaders, and some will not.
Members of organizations function at different levels. Some show up more frequently than others; some are more committed than others; some have other things going on in their lives that will take priority over the organization. We can use all these types of members and members with many different kinds of skills.
Members who speak for whole groups of people are especially helpful because, through their membership, your organization will gain access to people who may help out at different levels.
Organizations will often be looking to recruit members with varied skills. However, sometimes a project will come up in which specific skills are needed.
If there is a specific skill your organization is looking for to help achieve your goals, your organization or coalition may wish to recruit members who speak for organizations with some talent in those areas.
As for developing a plan for recruiting members, you must decide what kind of members you are looking for. Then it will be easier to focus your search.
WHO IS GOING TO FIND AND GET THEM?
Well, who have you got? If it is you alone, you certainly have your work cut out for you. But even if you have a small army of recruiters, you will probably still have your work cut out for you. It’s a big task. By now, you should know who you are looking for, whether they speak for themselves or organizations, and how many people you need.
Determining who finds and gets the new members is essential to your planning. You and your helpers can plan the approaches you will use to get the people you need.
Don’t be shy about delegating responsibility. If you have people available to help you recruit, make those people as useful as possible. Assign recruitment tasks to different people. Don’t just tell all of your people to go out there and get members. That will most definitely waste your time and possibly that of potential members too.
Getting back to the clean-up example, we may have decided that there are some people with some specific talents or assets that could help us in our clean-up, and in the neighborhood organization in general.
Divide up the recruiting task. We know that we need some neighbors with yard tools, and someone with a pick-up truck would certainly be helpful.
Make sure you break up the recruiting. Tom, with the pick-up truck, will not be happy if all five members of the group ask him to help out. After all, you want to ask for help, but not to be too pushy. Also, your organization may seem very disorganized if nobody seems to know what anyone else is doing.
So figure out who will be recruiting whom.
And in the case of the city-wide beautification initiative, your organization may wish to seek members who speak for organizations that have special skills or assets that will help achieve your goals. For example, a hardware store, a gardening association, an art club, and a florist may be incredibly helpful.
WHERE ARE NEW MEMBERS TO BE FOUND?
Truthfully, everywhere. But now, you can target where you look. Try making a list of places where the type of people and organizations you are looking for might be.
Example: You are looking to build a new clubhouse for some neighborhood kids, and nobody in your organization is good at building. What skills would be handy in a new member? Building skills, of course.
Now that you have this information, use it. Find out where people with building skills may be, and go there and ask for help. Check the yellow pages for hardware stores, construction unions, and contractors in your community. Think about other clubs, agencies, and organizations in your community where people with building skills may go.
Example: Let’s think big again. Perhaps your organization started out wishing to build a clubhouse for a group of neighborhood kids. Then, everyone became so enthusiastic about the project that your organization decided to form a coalition to promote youth club activities.
Now you may not only wish to recruit members with building skills, but also members who speak for organizations, unions, community services, and local and corporate businesses that may want to become involved. After all, your organization would probably like all the help it can get.
Don’t forget. You won’t know who wants to get involved unless you ask.
So figure out who your organization would like as members. Then…
Make a list and write it down!
WHEN IS A GOOD TIME TO LOOK FOR NEW MEMBERS?
Well, how about now? Any organization should always be looking for new members. Sure, some times are better than others. It is easier to recruit members when the organization is rallying around a particular project or issue. Find a hook (something to attract people to your specific project, cause, or problem). Hooks are useful.
But there are also many important times for an organization to look for new members or a coalition to look for new member organizations. Some of them include when you are:
- Taking on a new initiative
- Wanting to become more powerful in the community
- Starting a publicity/fund-raising campaign
- Replacing former members
If your organization does not have a specific need for new members but is just waiting for a good issue or event to help you start a recruitment drive, certain topics often draw attention and support. These include:
- Children
- Fairness
- Health
- Safety
- Jobs
Are any of these issues related to your project? What others can you think of?
For your plan, you must decide when you will start actively looking for new members. Developing a timeline will prove to be helpful—set goals.
You may also need to know how soon you need your new members. You might have a big event coming up, such as a fundraiser, that you will need more members for. In that case, you might want to create a timeline with your plan of action.
For example, our group needs to have 30 new members before putting on our annual dance in January. It is September now. So, we’ll try to recruit at least 15 new members by mid-October. It makes sense for us to aim a little on the high side, so we’ll be okay even if we fall short. Our group met together and created the following timeline:
| September | October | November | December |
| Develop a recruiting plan | Set goals to recruit member organizations or representatives. | Meet with representatives of member organizations | Continue looking for support. The more, the merrier! |
| Begin recruiting members or organizations for a coalition. The goal is to have recruited 15 members by mid-month | We will meet to keep new members’ interest | Continue meeting and recruiting. Remember, our goal is 30. But don’t stop there! | |
| If we are having trouble, review tactics. | Keep recruiting |
Remember to develop your plan for recruiting members before you start doing the work. You don’t want to spend time switching from tactic to tactic trying to achieve your goals. Be sure to organize your search for new members. Don’t forget to make a plan and write it down.
HOW SHOULD YOU APPROACH POTENTIAL MEMBERS?
Ahh, the approach. Let’s imagine that although our group feels very strongly about our project (in this case, cleaning up the messy area), it may not sound as appealing to others. Getting new people involved with the project or group sounds about as easy as, say, meeting a life-long partner at a bar.
It’s crucial to design an approach carefully. Look at this example:
“Hey, do you want to come out Sunday to pick up trash and scrub graffiti off walls with some people you barely know?”
Not likely to get a very favorable response. Maybe this one is a little better:
“Hello, you live in our neighborhood, don’t you? I’ve seen you around a bit. Well, you know the messy area around the old Spooky House that makes our neighborhood look like a parking lot after a flea market? A group of us are going to get together Sunday to clean it up, and then we’re having a potluck at Shawn Barge’s house.”
It may be a good idea to personalize your metaphors if you know the person you’re trying to recruit. For example, for a sports fan:
“…It makes our neighborhood look like the parking lot of a football stadium on after the game.”
Remember, when you are trying to convince people to help out that they need to feel they will get something out of it too: satisfaction, new skills, personal fulfillment, et cetera. You want to make potential members feel as though cleaning up the yard will benefit them because they live in that neighborhood too.
Coalitions that wish to attract member organizations should be careful to give the organizations they are trying to recruit compelling reasons to join. Organizations will not want to become involved with a disorganized, inefficient effort.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET A YES, A MAYBE, OR A NO.
Suppose you get a yes. Great! By now, you should certainly know why you’ve recruited this person in the first place. Just make sure you can tell the new member or organization what is needed when.
A maybe is pretty good too. A “maybe” shows you that this person or organization is not entirely without interest in the cause. Keep in touch with those who say “maybe.” Maybe they will be interested in joining at a later date or becoming involved in a different capacity.
A no…well, you can’t win them all. You should also try to distinguish a “no” from a “not right now.” You may have asked at the wrong time; after all, you don’t know everything in everyone’s lives. If you didn’t get the door shut in your face, you might want to try again later. You never know when someone may have a change of heart.
Whatever someone says, don’t be caught by surprise. Think ahead to what you will say next.
OBSTACLES
Anticipate obstacles that may occur. Things don’t usually run perfectly, and anything can (and sometimes does) happen. Be prepared to overcome possible barriers. A hurdler doesn’t worry about tripping over hurdles; she hurdles them. You must be ready to also.
Online Resources
Community Building Institute at Xavier University features success stories that focus on volunteer involvement in building community.
Idealist, a project of Action without Borders, posts volunteer opportunities around the globe. Topical discussion boards include a volunteering focus.
Independent Sector is a national leadership forum that encourages philanthropy, volunteering, not-for-profit initiative, and citizen action that help us better serve people and communities.
The International Association for Volunteers offers training and information to encourage and strengthen volunteering worldwide.
A ladder of citizen participation is an article that begins by asking what is citizen participation and what is its relationship to the social imperatives of our time?
The United Nations Volunteers Program supports human development globally by promoting volunteerism and mobilizing volunteers.
Volunteer Match is a nonprofit, online service that helps interested volunteers get involved with community service organizations throughout the United States.
Print Resource
Homan, M. (1994). Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
| Learn how to build participation among diverse participants and groups to ensure meaningful community representation in change efforts. |
Groucho Marx once said, “I’d never join any organization that would invite me to be a member.” Well, we’d want Groucho in our organization, and (if he were alive) we think we might get him to join. That’s because we want members from all sectors of the community. And that’s what this section is about.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS AMONG DIVERSE GROUPS?
Who are the potential members of your group or organization? The answer is, “just about everyone.” There are very few people in your community who could never be members, which is a helpful and eye-opening point to keep in mind. More than that: just about everyone actually could become a member, if you really wanted them, and if you worked hard enough to get them to join.
Of course, you (probably) don’t want everyone in the community to join, for even ambitious people like you have their limits. You probably want to keep your group to a manageable size. At the same time, it’s a good idea to keep your eyes open to all parts of the community for potential members.
This section will help explain why. Next, it will show you how to identify the different sectors of a community, and then to begin preparing a wide and diverse list of potential members — real people who could support you and who could work for your cause.
WHY IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS AMONG DIVERSE GROUPS?
- Because if you can bring those different types of members into your group, it will be more representative of the full community; your group will stand to gain broader community support
- Because with a multi-sector membership, more different opinions will probably be expressed and discussed; that means better decisions may get made
- Because a diverse, multi-sector membership is usually also a larger membership — you will then have more talent, and also more varied kinds of talent, at your disposal
- Because the contacts and connections made in a diverse, multi-sector group lead to new community relationships. And these relationships can spark new community initiatives that might never have otherwise existed.
WHEN DO YOU IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS?
Anytime. But it’s an especially good time when you are:
- Starting a membership drive
- Running a campaign
- Wanting to broaden your membership base
Membership has no seasons; you can think about membership 365 days a year. The best time to do it might be now.
HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS?
It’s is a very simple process. It has just two steps:
- Know the different sectors of the community
- Identify and list key potential members within each sector
There is an assumption here, though — namely, that after you have located your potential members, you will go after them, and work to recruit them to your cause. To identify such members, and then stop there, is of little value; you need to bring them on board. Identifying your members is just part of the process. The strategies and techniques of reaching out to potential members, once you have found them, are covered in the next sections of this chapter, Writing Letters to Potential Members and Making Personal Contact with Potential Members.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT SECTORS OF A COMMUNITY?
The sectors of a community are its basic component parts. Just about anything that exists has such components. Living beings have organs and cells; nations have towns and cities; galaxies have stars. In a community, the basic component parts are often called sectors.
Think of sectors as pieces of the pie. Here’s one way to slice them.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
These institutions are large and powerful social structures which guide and control much of the community’s life. In any community, these are likely to include:
- Schools, especially public schools, local colleges and universities, and possibly private and parochial schools
- Churches, which may also include organizations and groups within the churches — and across all churches, as in interfaith or ecumenical groups
- Businesses, particularly large employers, and/or profitable businesses, acting singly or through collective groups such as the chamber of commerce
- Media, including local newspapers, local radio and TV stations, local cable television, and other community-wide print publications
- Government – town or city; in some cases county government as well
These are five key sectors (or, five large pie-slices). Should some of them, or even all of them, be represented in your group? Possibly so. The downsides seem small. The upsides are that they can give your group additional range and power. This is an issue for your group to consider carefully. At the very least, your potential members should be listed from among these key sectors; then you can decide how much you want to pursue each one. There may be other social institutions that you consider important. Add them to this list.
OTHER COMMON ORGANIZATIONS
There are other key organizations, or smaller sectors, that are common to most communities as well. They probably exist in yours. Here are a few:
- Clinics
- Day care centers
- Ethnic clubs or associations
- Hobby groups
- Hospitals
- Housing authorities and housing groups
- Libraries
- Neighborhood groups
- Parent-teacher organizations
- Professional associations
- Professional schools
- Recreational groups
- Religious groups
- Service associations (the Rotary, etc.)
- Social service agencies
- Veterans groups
SPECIALIZED GROUPS
There may also be one or more specialized groups in or near your community that can help your cause. That precise group will depend on your own group’s purpose.
For example, suppose that:
| Your group is interested in: | Then a good group to contact might be: |
| Teen recreation | Recreation departments
Coaches (current and retired) Professional sports teams Local health clubs and gyms |
| Wildlife conservation | Conservation commissions
School biology departments Hunting and fishing license providers Outdoor stores |
| Mental health | Mental health centers
Mental health associations Provider associations Consumer associations, such as the Alliance for the Mentally Ill |
Some specialized groups may not be very visible in your community, and hard to track down. But if you keep tracking, you will find them. Your effort should be repaid.
INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS
Finally, there may be individual citizens you know, or someone else knows, who might be interested in what you are doing, and whom you might like to recruit.
These are the basic sectors or component parts of most communities. And this is useful general knowledge. But of course, you want not just general categories, but specific names. So how do you go about lining up names to go with the categories you choose?
HOW CAN I FIND THESE NAMES?
How do you find specific names? You know some now. Unless you are a newcomer, you’ll know many names and sources already, and these are valuable contacts. You needn’t start from scratch. But once your memory has run dry, most communities have plenty of sources to choose among.
The precise sources that make most sense for you to use will depend on the purpose of your group, the size of your community, and the time you have available. But basically, all you need is to start assembling those sources you choose, and get ready to go through them. Here are some examples:
- All towns have a yellow pages, an excellent source. It’s not a bad idea at all simply to leaf through each page, from Accounting to Zoning if need be. This will trigger ideas. Some good general stopping points: the main institutions listed above — churches, schools, newspapers, for example–as well as associations, clubs, social service organizations. Also note categories in your special area of interest. These could be bankers, if your group could be looking for a loan; printers, if you might do brochures; lawyers, if you might need legal advice. Note also that many phone books also list local services in a special section up front.
- Many communities publish their own town guides, with listings similar to the Yellow Pages, but just for one community. Sometimes these are sold in stores. Other times, they may be available in the public library, or town hall, or through groups such as the League of Women Voters. Large cities may also have their own neighborhood guides, published by city government or sometimes neighborhood associations. Check around.
- Some communities have their own lists of social agencies; one agency often takes the lead in putting it out. That organization can vary, but one good place to start checking is the United Way. You may also be able to locate specialized mini-directories, dealing with services in one topic area, such as substance use. Sometimes there are directories in different languages, too. It’s worth a look.
- Some communities also have their own lists of town organizations or clubs (as vs. agencies). The range here is wide. These can be formal or informal, up-to-the-moment or totally out-of-date. A good place to start looking is your public library — a friendly and knowledgeable reference librarian can help you a lot (maybe she or he is a potential member, too!).
Then there are specialized lists of certain kinds of people.
- Lists of voters, for example; both registered voters, and actual voters in local elections (available from town hall)
- Lists of parents with school-age children (available from the school department, in theory; it’s often public record)
- Lists of everyone in your neighborhood or town, by street — i.e., town census lists (available from your town clerk’s office or local library)
- Lists of people in specialized occupations, such as physical therapists, or electricians, or architects (available from the nearest professional society chapter headquarters or from state boards of registration)
* Maybe the best single print source of all is your local newspaper. This is largely because information printed in directories gets out of date quickly, and the waiting period between directories can easily be a year or more. Newspapers, though, are current, easily available, and inexpensive. They also have one more big point in their favor; they print information that directories don’t have.
That is, the newspaper will tell you about real estate transactions (here are potential new members, moving in), or Pop Warner football tryouts, or the next meeting of the Mothers of Twins club, or Arts Council news, or a new minister in town — in short, the full spectrum of what is going on in the community.
All of this is grist for the mill. Much of that grist may be useless to you, at least right now; yet if you search carefully through the newspaper, the chances are you will find some nuggets every week.
So there are plenty of sources. But before leaving this section, let’s briefly mention two more obvious yet very important ones, as important as any we’ve noted:
- There are contact lists that you can borrow from or trade with other people, who have made up their own lists before. Why reinvent the wheel?
- And, of course, you can ask your friends and colleagues. You can say, “Who would be a good person to…?” or “Who would I call if I wanted to…?”. Don’t hesitate to ask. They might know. And even better, sometimes they might be able to make the call. They can help you when it’s time to get that potential member on your side.
MAKING YOUR CONTACT LIST
Now that you have your sources lined up, your next step is to look through each source, and take notes. More specifically, take down (at least) the names, addresses and phone numbers of all those individuals and groups who might be potential members of your organization.
In a way, the task is very simple — it’s just writing down names. But it will take time to do it right. So set aside that time, and strive for accuracy and completeness. Here are some tips on how to make the work go most effectively:
- Be generous. Take down more names than you may need. If in doubt, write it out. You can always whittle down your list later.
- Cast a wide net. You never know who will be interested in your group; at the beginning, it’s best not to prejudge. Will the American Legion be interested in your senior center? Maybe not, or even probably not, but give the Legion a chance to decide.
- Get details later. Sometimes, you may have the name of a group, but not the key individuals within the group — the director, for example, or the president. That ‘s okay, for now. Record the name, address, and phone as before. Later on, you can call or ask around to get the names and titles of your key contact people.
- Computer skills help. If you or a colleague have good computer skills and can key in your names so that they wind up in alphabetical order (or broken out by other categories), that’s a true advantage. But, truth be told, unless you are dealing with thousands of people, computers aren’t necessary. A very humble 3″ x 5″ or 4″ x 6″ index card file can generate pretty much the same results, for a likely cash outlay of under $5, file box included. The card file has advantages too — you can carry it with you, make marks on it, and rearrange it anytime you want.
- Read your newspaper: If your community has a local newspaper, subscribe to it. At least make sure to read copies when each issue appears. But you want to do more than simply read the paper — you want a pair of scissors nearby, so that you can clip items that relate to potential members of your group. If you are serious about membership, you may well find at least one or two potential new individuals or group members in each issue. You can keep those clippings in different file folders, without drowning in paper.
- Prioritize your list. When you have collected all your names, put them in rough priority order. Your priorities should be based upon how much you desire that person (or group he or she represents) to become a member of your organization. What skills or talents do you need for your group? What can this particular member contribute? The answers to these questions will take careful consideration.
One way of prioritizing is to divide names into “A,” “B,” and “C” lists, with “A” being top priority, and of a size roughly equal to the number of new names you want. For example, suppose you have 300 names on your total list. You want 50 new members. Compose an “A” group of size = 50, and contact them first.
Keep in mind that names will change, so your list will need to be updated every so often. Putting together a good list of potential members will take time. In fact, it’s easy to underestimate the amount of time it will take. Don’t. And try not to get impatient if it takes more time than you think.
But it’s also easy to underestimate the value of a good list once you have it. Your work will pay off. When you are ready to start recruiting your members, all your contact information will be right in front of you — there’ll be nothing more to look up. All you’ll need to do is to write the letter, or make the phone call, (and record the results), not that either of those is always easy.
Your contact list will have other values, too. You can also use it for mailings, to publicize what you are doing. Or, possibly, at some point for fund-raising. Or perhaps to lend to or trade with other groups, to help them, and build your credit with them if you’re so inclined. If you’ve got a good list, and others know about it, they may beat a path to your door. Make sure your doorbell is working!
NEXT STEPS
Of course, a list is just a list. Those listed are potential members; they may have never heard of you. They are certainly not yet flesh-and-blood members who are going to show up at meetings and do some work in-between. To make them real members, you have to contact them.
Making contact with potential members is not a casual affair. Such contact is a form of courtship. Like most successful courtships, it requires thought and planning. To learn more about how best to make the contact, and make it successful, and bridge the gap from potential to active membership, is the topic of the next two sections.
Online Resources
Chapter 8: Respect for Diversity in the “Introduction to Community Psychology” explains cultural humility as an approach to diversity, the dimensions of diversity, the complexity of identity, and important cultural considerations.
Diverse Partners in Planning and Decision Making. By Louise Parker and Drew Betz, Washington State University. Extension.
A ladder of citizen participation is an article that begins by asking what is citizen participation and what is its relationship to the social imperatives of our time?
Reaching Out to Diverse Populations: Opportunities and Challenges. For psychologists, from the American Psychological Association (APA).
Recruit Participants from Diverse Groups. From Everyday Democracy.
Working with Diverse Cultures. A fact sheet on diversity from the Ohio State University Extension.
