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FALL 2014 • 15

Twenty Retention Ideas for Your Club

Create and implement a retention plan in addition to your Club’s recruitment plan.

Encourage new Members to recruit their friends, colleagues or neighbors. While they are recruiting, they will be reminded of the reasons they joined.

Find duties for all Members so they feel like they are part of the team. Try to personalize each person’s job to meet their special talents.

Assign new Members to active committees that meet their interests or give them tasks of their own choosing. These should be duties that allow them to make a meaningful contribution to the Club.

Rotate committee members every year for different projects with specifc job responsibilities. This encourages Members to become more active and increases their knowledge of Optimism.

Establish a “Member Involvement Committee,” whose focus it is to fnd ways to increase Member participation and keep them interested in the Club.

Send a survey to Members annually to get their thoughts on how the Club is doing. Form a committee to address negative responses. Make sure to reach out to those Members who do not respond to get their feedback.

Contact Members who have left the Club to fnd out their reasons for leaving, what they liked about being a Member and what areas of the Club need improvement. Discuss what can be done to get them to come back or become a Friend of Optimists.

Ask Members to complete an interest survey, so activities and social events can be planned that will appeal to the group.

Host events that include Members’ families throughout the year.

Offer educational events and leadership training as part of regular meetings or in special workshops.

Organize community service projects that be completed in a short amount of time. Provide opportunities for Members to gather, perform service, socialize and foster fellowship.

Develop a public relations plan for the Club. Members take pride in seeing their Club activities covered in the local newspaper, which makes them feel they are making an impact in their community.

Conduct a wide variety of events and encourage Members to participate as their schedule allows. Thank them at a meeting or on the Club’s Facebook page for their help, no matter how small the task completed.

Have random seat assignments at Club meetings to break up regular groups and allow Members to spend time with new and different people.

If a Member is absent from three consecutive meetings without providing a reason, select someone to contact that person and fnd out

their reason for missing the meetings. If the Member has a complaint or issue, the Club should take action to correct the situation and retain the Member.

Make sure all communications with Members are relevant, brief and timely. Allow Members to select their preferred method of

communication and opt out of certain methods.

Create and distribute a calendar that reminds Members about scheduled meetings and programs. Print the meeting schedule in your Club’s newsletter and post it on the Club’s website.

Work with another Club on a service project to expand networking opportunities, community contacts and fellowship.

Encourage Members to attend District conferences and the International Convention to broaden the scope of their involvement.

If your Club has a successful retention strategy, then share it with Optimist International. Ideas may be included in future publications or on the Optimist website. E-mail your strategies to membership@optimist.org.

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