Recruiting new members
Members are important for all associations, and here you will find good advice on how to recruit new members.
Happy volunteers
"Volunteering contributes to happiness in several ways. It provides more social contact, but also improves the chance of getting to know others beyond the volunteer network, because it improves people's social skills."
New student = new potential member
Members are important for your association and recruitment can be on the agenda throughout the year. In a student association, it is particularly relevant and a natural need to recruit new members (often coinciding with new students) when a new academic year starts. Planning for recruitment in August/September as early as June, when exams are over, can be a good tip. Kroa in Bø, which is one of Southeast Norway's largest student organizations, is run by volunteers and has an open day at the start of the new academic year to attract new volunteers in an easy way.
What is a member?
Some organizations operate with registration and membership lists. You can also define a group as members, for example, by automatically admitting all master's students in a particular field of study as members of a line association when they start their studies. Each association must define its own expectations of an active member.
Acquiring new members
When recruiting new members, it's a good idea to think about who you want to reach in advance. Start planning early, find out how many new members there is room for and which board seats need to be filled.
Here are seven checkpoints for your recruitment efforts:
Who is the target group?
What can the association offer its members?
What does the association expect from its members?
What does the association know about the target group it wants to recruit?
Who should recruit?
What does the association know about those who opt out?
Who is responsible for taking care of and including new members?
How to market the association to new members?
There are many different ways to reach out to potential new members. One of the most important steps you can take to include new faces in your association is to recruit broadly and through multiple channels. This way, volunteers are less dependent on having a network or knowing someone who is already a volunteer in order to be invited in. This lowers the threshold for joining voluntary organizations.
Inclusive recruitment
One of the biggest barriers to joining an organisation is that you are outside your social networks - which is why it is so important that you recruit in channels that reach people outside your own social circle!
Channels for recruitment:
Social media: Instagram, Facebook (remember to share in groups too), Snapchat, LinkedIn.
Have a stand on campus! Members who like the association are good recruiters.
Promoting the association and focusing on "join us" rather than "help us" can be tricky points of reference.
Ask for five minutes at the end or beginning of a lecture!
Posters on the boards on campus.
Set up an information meeting (ask if you can borrow a group room or the student house) and invite in the Sørøst-calendar and on Facebook.
Register on frivillig.no and get an "ad" for your association, completely free of charge on the digital bulletin board.
Thank you:
For sharing materials, resources and exchanging experiences 🫶