NEW MEXICO STATE CHAPTER P.E.O. SISTERHOOD A GUIDE FOR MEETING THE PRESIDENT S MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE FOR * The President s Membership Challenge An Introduc on Gree ngs from your state president! An introductory note: Please do not automa cally refer this document to your Corresponding Secretary to be read at the next regular business mee ng. It is for you to use as a planning and working aid. Please read it carefully. Recently, at Conven on 2015 in Albuquerque, I issued two challenges for each chapter to work on through this year. The first was to give as much as you can toward a $235.30 individual chapter challenge contribu on with the aim of a aining $16,000 across the state of New Mexico in order to refurbish the New Mexico bedroom suite at Co ey. The second challenge involved membership and involved 3 parts. I asked each chapter to modify their Membership Commi ee defini ons, develop an ac on plan to implement the new Membership Commi ee du es and to make a brief membership report at each mee ng. This document contains important informa on in connec on with the implementa on of this second challenge. It is not necessary to read this to the en re chapter. However, please familiarize yourself with it and then meet with your membership chairman and bylaws chairman in order to share this informa on in detail. You might want to make a very brief announcement to your chapter that this is a work in progress.work not to be done during a regular mee ng. With all of this in mind here is what the document contains: The President s membership challenge defined and its ra onale Sample worksheets for implementa on of a bylaw change and an ac on plan for your chapter An explana on of the results of this process in the chapter. A Guide For Mee ng The President s Membership Challenge for Page 1
NEW MEXICO STATE CHAPTER P.E.O. SISTERHOOD A GUIDE FOR MEETING THE PRESIDENT S MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE FOR * The President s Membership Challenge Defined 1. Modify the defini on and/or du es of the Membership Commi ee in your bylaws so that responsibili es for each category of membership is well defined. Categories of membership include: 1) prospec ve members, 2) new ini ates, 3) ac ve par cipa ng members, 4) ac ve non par cipa ng members, 5) nonresident members, 6) unaffiliated members, 7) inac ve members. Be sure to not eliminate any current por on of your membership commi ee defini on that is needed for them to be effec ve. For example, if your membership commi ee bylaws now says it will consist of 3 5 members, that por on should remain in your bylaws. Use your judgement in determining how to modify your bylaws so that they conform to the President s challenge, but are s ll effec ve. This should be done by your Membership chairman with the help of the chapter. It is not a one person job. 2. As part of your modifica on of the Membership Commi ee du es, you should state that you will, with the help of the chapter, develop an ac on plan for each of the membership categories according to the du es that have been assigned to each category. A new ac on plan should be developed each year. Each new ac on plan does not require a change in your bylaws. You will have already modified your bylaws to provide a founda on for this to occur. The ac on plan should be done by your membershp chairman with the help of the bylaws chairman. It needs to be agreed upon because it will become a guide by which the en re chapter helps to carry out membership ac vi es. 3. See that a brief membership report is given at each local chapter mee ng. It should be a report of the progress of this procedure. Once an ac on plan has been adopted, the report can be about the progress of the ac on plan and how it is being carried out. The President s Membership Challenge Ra onale Bylaws provide an organiza on its defini on of who it is and what it is about. If it s in the bylaws, it can be said to be inten onal or purposeful about the organiza on and the ac vi es it undertakes. It follows then, that If a duty is described in the bylaws, it should be carried out, or conversely, if it s not in the bylaws, an ac on may happen or it may not happen. Ac on plans are merely an organiza ons inten onal specific steps for carrying out the general du es of what is defined in its bylaws. With this in mind and with our declining membership, it becomes impera ve that we are inten onal/purposeful about what we do to stem the decline. Remember, if it s there, it s inten onal; if it s not, well. who can be sure? A Guide For Mee ng The President s Membership Challenge for Page 2
* The President s Membership Challenge A Worksheet Example You might begin your modifica on of the Membership Commi ee du es by lis ng the 7 categories of membership as described on the previous page under #1, with a blank where a duty would appear. Remember that the wording below is an example. Re word un l your chapter is sa sfied that you have captured the spirit of your chapter. For Prospec ve Members of your chapter: chapter growth through the recruitment of prospec ve members. Possible du es to go in the blank above include: seek, encourage, develop, expand. There are others. For New Ini ate Members: new ini ates and teach them how to be a PEO Possible du es to go in the blank include: nurture, mentor, guide.. For Ac ve Par cipa ng Members: ac ve par cipa ng members. Possible du es to go in the blank include: sustain, encourage, reward, promote, support.. For Ac ve Non Par cipa ng Members: ac ve non par cipa ng members so that they feel a part of chapter life Possible du es might include: involve, nurture, stay in contact with, interact with. For Non Resident Members: non resident members so that feel included Possible du es might inclue: communicate with, include, support.. For Unaffiliate Members in your area: unaffiliated members in the chapter area Possible du es might include: communicate with, include, support, seek, keep up with, involve.. For Inac ve Members of your chapter: all inac ve members in order them to encourage to return to P.E.O. Possible du es might include: be sensi ve to, communicate with, stay in contact with, A Guide For Mee ng The President s Membership Challenge for Page 3
* The President s Membership Challenge A Worksheet Example (con nued) Now that you have modified the descrip on of your Membership Commi ee in your bylaws and are sa sfied with it, you should proceed to an ac on plan. Below is an example. You can use this template each year you develop an ac on plan. On the le, repeat the 7 categories of membership with the duty filled in. To the right, indicate 1 or two things that you will do this year to carry out the du es as defined in your bylaws. Your chapter might feel as though it needs to concentrate on non par cipa ng members so that you may have more ac ons for that category than any other. Modify this to fit the needs of your chapter. ACTION PLAN FOR CHAPTER for the year (seek) chapter growth through the recruitment of prospec ve members In conjunc on with the social commi ee, hold a quarterly coffee hour and invite at least 3 prospec ve members Keep in touch with prospec ve members who have been to a special coffee hour (nurture) new ini ates and teach them how to be a P.E.O. (sustain) ac ve par cipa ng members Develop a mentor program Assign each new ini ate a mentor (involve) ac ve non par cipa ng members (include) non resident members so that... Have the courtesy commi ee send cards so that each non par cipa ng member receives one a quarter Write a newsy le er to go out with dues no fica ons.. Ensure that each has a current yearbook.. (seek out) unaffiliated members. Communicate with the state unaffiliated chair to get a list of unaffiliates and send a wri en invita on for them to a end a chapter mee ng (stay in contact with) all inac ve members. Once a year, go over the inac ve list and send each a card A Guide For Mee ng The President s Membership Challenge for Page 4
* The President s Membership Challenge Conclusion As you work on your bylaws modifica ons and your ac on plans, you will want to keep the chapter informed by giving a brief membership report at each business mee ng. You might even want to consider having an en re program on this very important work. Once the ac on plan is in place, con nue to give a brief membership report at each business mee ng in order to keep the chapter informed about what has been accomplished and what lies ahead. Remember that this is an en re chapter undertaking. While you might assign the modifica on of the bylaws to a few members who report regularly, the ac on plan is everyone s responsibility. The adage It takes a village is true in P.E.O. Resources for what to do in your ac on plan: brainstorming among chapter members, which can be done outside of a regular mee ng perhaps at unofficial get togethers, HotSpot communica on that comes once a month to your local membership chairman, Membership toolbox on the Interna onal website, State Membership Commi ee (info on www.nmpeo.org), State Board especially the Organizer. Finally, here is an example of the du es of a membership commi ee both before and a er modifica on. Tailor yours to your chapter, but be sure to include all membership groups: Example: Before modifica on Membership commi ee of not more than five (5) members to 1) maintain contact with the State Chapter concerning chapter member problems, 2) encourage and support local chapter members, and 3) support local chapter health and vitality; Example: A er modifica on Membership commi ee of not more than five (5) members to 1) maintain contact with the State Chapter concerning chapter member problems, 2) promote local chapter health and vitality by seeking chapter growth through recruitment of prospec ve members, nurturing new ini ates by teaching them to be P.E.O.s, sustaining ac ve par cipa ng members, involving ac ve non par cipa ng members, including non resident members so that they feel a part of the chapter, seeking out local unaffiliated members, and staying in contact with all inac ve members. 3) with the help of the chapter, develop an ac on plan each year, which will be used as a guide for membership ac vi es throughout the year. (NOTE: can you pick out the 7 membership groups and the responsibili es toward each?) A Guide For Mee ng The President s Membership Challenge for Page 5