In the AFA Central Office we lovingly refer to May as “renewal season.” That’s not necessarily because of the green trees and flowers blooming, although that is enjoyable, but rather because May is the month we begin the membership renewal process. The Association’s membership year runs July 1 – June 30 so we start sending renewal notices in early May. As an AFA volunteer there is much you can do to help all of our members see their membership as invaluable. The following are just a few ways that you can assist with the recruitment and retention of AFA members.

Everyone Who Deals With Members Is Part of the Membership Experience

You may be thinking, “The Area Coordinators promote membership, that’s not my job.” While the Area Coordinator job description does include responsibilities for membership recruitment and retention, all volunteers are ambassadors for the Association and play a role in both appealing to new members and engaging current members. Every contact that a member has with AFA is part of their membership experience. So whether you are an Area Coordinator sending a newsletter to your state, a committee chair keeping your committee members involved, a member of the Editorial Board asking someone to write an article for Perspectives, or a conference committee member soliciting programming ideas, you are representing AFA and are therefore part of our recruitment and retention team. Every time you interact with current or potential members, be aware that your representation of our Association will shape their impressions of AFA and the value that they place on their membership.

Thank New Members

New members need to know that they have made a good investment by joining AFA. They certainly receive a great deal of information from the Central Office, but a personal “thank you and welcome” goes a long way to make them feel part of the Association community. While you probably won’t know all new AFA members, you will know some, such as your office’s new graduate assistant, the new staff member at the university across town, or other colleagues that you encouraged to join. Sending them a personal note or email that acknowledges their decision helps them become connected to and invested in the Association.

Communicate Success Regularly

As a volunteer, you receive more information than the general membership, such as this newsletter, The AFA Volunteer. You also are aware of the goals and achievements of your committee, board, or workgroup. AFA volunteers are the backbone of the Association – your efforts contribute to our success and to new resources and services provided to all members. Volunteer supervisors need to take great efforts to communicate with all members of their committees or workgroups and, likewise, all volunteers should be open about the work they are doing. Don’t wait until your year-end report to tell members why they should be excited about the work you are doing for them! The more you communicate about your achievements, formally or informally, the more the general members are aware of the great resources and services that make AFA membership beneficial to them.

Scan for Members

You may have volunteered for the Association so you could become more connected within the profession. Or perhaps you were asked to volunteer because you were already connected. Either way, you are likely to interact with people who aren’t members of AFA but should be. Hopefully you are already promoting membership to your graduate assistants, co-workers, and peers; and you may have even encouraged your chapter or faculty advisors to join. The vendors, service providers, and speakers that you work with each year are also of possible members who are often overlooked. Associate membership in AFA provides companies and organizations access and exposure to the fraternity market that could be a valuable boost to their business. Some AFA members even make it a practice to only do business with companies that have joined the Association since we research companies and check their references before allowing them to join. If you are working with a speaker or are interested in a new service provider, make sure he/she is a member of AFA and talk about how membership can be beneficial.

There are several other suggestions for promoting AFA to people who have never joined on the Members Only website, along with information about how you can personally benefit from such promotion. In addition to recruiting new members, the Association relies on volunteers to be ambassadors and assist current members in continuing to find value in their membership. For that, we thank you!

Reference:

Levin, M. (2000). Millennium membership: How to attract and keep members in the new marketplace. Washington, DC: American Society of Association Executives.