
Thanks to Trump and his crazy cronies, we all have a lot to do these days! Building up the size of your local group is essential to effectively #standindivisible. Whether it’s to increase your capacity to tackle your goals, to make sure your group reflects the amazing diversity of your community, or to demonstrate the strength of your opposition, you need to be recruiting.
To help you grow your group, this document shares some best practices around member recruitment.
1. Review where you are and where you would like to be by asking these questions:
2. Evaluate what has worked most effectively for your group by asking these questions. Reach beyond hyper-committed members, and make sure to pay attention to answers from marginalized groups to ensure your answers are inclusive.
3. What are the channels for reaching new members?
4. How will your group welcome and incorporate potential new members at each step of the volunteer process (connection, consideration, and commitment)?
5. What are the resources we have/need for our recruitment campaign? How much will it cost to print flyers? How much time will creating social media posts take?
In getting the word out about your group and participation opportunities, be creative and go big. You should think about what works best in your community, but here are some popular options to consider:
Most importantly, your current members are your most effective ambassadors for your group. Here are some suggestions of what your current members can do:
Note: Not all of your members may be able to participate in these activities. Remember to be sensitive to the considerations that different people may have in regards to personal safety and public involvement.
Personal engagement helps move someone from tossing a flyer or an email in the “things to look at later” pile to seriously considering joining. In the Indivisible Guide, we share tips on how to have an “organizing conversation” to recruit them. Remember that the first step is to start the conversation around identifying shared values!
A couple other things to keep in mind:
Unfortunately, we know that some people who oppose our work will try to crash our meetings—ideally someone in the group can vouch for them, but that’s not always possible. It’s good to have a quick conversation with every new member—both to make them feel welcome and to make sure they’re not trying to undermine your group. (Ask your group for volunteers who can have these quick vetting conversations!) Make sure to explain the group’s values and the expectations to which people attending meetings or events or participating online must adhere.
You’ll want to make sure that every new member who engages with you is ushered through the process of joining to help them understand your group and their potential role. This requires investing some time, but will pay off with active and committed members. Here are some things you can do:
So much about getting people to keep coming back is about making people feel like they are valued; it’s fun; and it’s worth their time. We’ll expand on member appreciation in future resources, but here’s a good baseline to make sure you’re hitting: