Brunch to Attract New Members and Volunteers (September 2008)
On a Sunday morning in September we invited people to share a brunch at a hotel to celebrate the restart of the year, to explain about the achievements of our organization and to promote our new activities.
We invited around 50 people: some very active members, some potential members and potential volunteers.
The objectives were:
- To show the achievements of the year
- To explain about new projects
- To get people excited about them
- To transmit the importance of participation and collaboration trough volunteer work
- To get new members and volunteers
We started with a brunch and an informal talk since people had not seen each other since the beginning of the summer.
Then the president of our organization welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. Some team-building activities followed, coordinated by two psychologists who specialize in group dynamics and had offered to help with the event. Everyone had fun and enjoyed getting to know each other better.
We also showed a video about the history of our organization, focusing mainly on the activities and celebrations that took place in the first half of 2008 and the projects we planned for the future.
After the video, our director presented the new projects: Chug la Ieled, a once-a-week Gan for very young children; a choir; and the collaboration with Maccabi Spain. She also talked about the Board elections coming soon, the possibility of moving place to a new venue and the campaign we were planning to bring in new members.
The president then conducted a discussion in which everyone could express what they expect from an organization like ours, what they would like to have and how we can achieve that. The focus was on what we can offer to our members and how important it is to support the organization with economic help and volunteer work. We stressed that things will not happen by luck, that we need to work together to achieve our goals and to build the organization we want.
At the end of the brunch, we distributed feedback sheets asking everyone to write down what activities they want, in which ones they could help or participate and all kind of other suggestions. We also distributed membership applications to the non-members.
It was a very positive experience for everyone. The result was great: 5 new volunteers joined us and are already working on the Board or in one of the committees, and 4 new families became members after the event.
We plan to repeat the activity in 2009.
