Recruitment & Retention

Contact: Geena Bournazian, CDM Membership Director

bournaziang@macollegedems.org
New member recruitment: This membership guide
shall be your go to resource for any challenges or
issues you may have trying to recruit and retain
members of your College Democrats Chapter. Two
of the most important key aspects to recruiting and
retaining new members are creativity and active
involvement. As always, if you need any help with
attracting new members or holding on to the mem-
bers youve already got, contact Geena Bournazian
at bournaziang@macollegedems.org.
August 2012
College Democrats of MA
77 Summer St., 10th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
www.macollegedems.org
board@macollegedems.org
First Steps
-Tabling 101: Set up a table on
your campus in an area that gets
a Iol of fool lrafhc. Have a sign-
up sheet and a couple of current
members at the table to talk to
prospective members. Try to be
there during lunch and between
classes, when the most students
will be walking around.
- Build your online presence. A
Facebook page and a Twitter ac-
count are great ways to let people
know you exist.
- Does your school have an
activities fair? You should be
lhere! Don'l forgel lo rinl yers
or with contact information and
the time and location of youre
next meeting.
Next Steps
- Hang \HUV up around your
campus. Be sure to include your
meeting place and time. CDM
KDV\HUVDOUHDG\GHVLJQHGand
we would be happy to send them
to you! Contact Jonathan Dame
(damej@macollegedems.org).
- Work with your political science
department. If they send out a
newsletter, ask them to mention
when your next meeting is. Ask
professors if you can stand up in
fronl of lheir cIasses and briey
promote your next meeting.
- Work with other student groups
on campus. Try cosponsoring
events to help get your name out
there, or asking if you can come to
a meeting to talk up the College
Democrats.
- Reg Rumble: You probably
just registered tons of new vot-
ers on your campus. Keep track
of the people who registered as
Democrats! Its perfectly legal to
photocopy voter reg forms and
the registered voters list is public
information, so theres no reason
not to use this information to in-
vite your new registered voters to
a meeting.
- Contact your CDM Regional
Director. We are committed to
helping campus chapters grow
and relain members. You can hnd
all of the contact information for
our regional directors online at
www.macollegedems.org/about/
executive-board.
- Reach out to other College Demo-
crats chapters in your area! Con-
tact info can be found on the CDM
website.
Retention
Now that weve got all these great new members...
How do we keep them?
- Hold some social events, just
for members to get to know each
other better. Movie screenings,
trivia nights, and club trips are all
great ways to make everyone feel
like theyre part of the group
- Listen to members when plan-
ning events. Do they like to dis-
cuss current events? Will you do
a lot of campaign work? Is there a
desire to focus on issue advocacy
on campus or locally? Look at
what other progressive organiza-
tions do, and note what works
bets for them, taking advantage
of the unique strengths of Col-
lege Dems chapters, like contacts
with campaigns and the ability to
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Make sure that your meetings are
something students on your cam-
pus want to attend.
- Similarly, hold different types of
events to attract different types of
members. Some people like to can-
vass & phonebank, others like to
have discussions and hear lectures
on different subjects.
- Work to get to know new mem-
bers and build relationships with
them quickly. Make sure that the
Executive Board members sit scat-
tered throughout the room, rather,
than all together. This way, they
can get to know the new people
in the room and make them feel
like they are a part of a group.
New members will stick around if
theyre friends with people in the
chapter.
- Pick a community service project
to work on. This can be another
great type of event, which has the
potential to spark new friendships
and help your chapter build a
good relationship with your com-
munity.
Spotlight:
First-Year Leadership Programs
College Democrats of Boston College
ProgressiveXChange Program
PXCers are paired with members of the Execu-
tive Board who served for the length of the aca-
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who, over that time, gain tremendous insight
into effective student organizing and political
activism. Mentors collaborate individually with
mentees to plan and execute a range of programs
on campus, including panel discussions, cam-
paign activities and general meetings.
Questions about PXC? Contact Jonathan Dame:
damejo@bc.edu
Brandeis Democrats
Freshmen Leadership Initiative Program
Applicants submit a written application, which
is followed up by an interview. Members of FLIP
are responsible for planning one major event per
semester as a group, typically a voter registration
drive. This program is a good way of recognizing
who would be a good addition to the E-Board in
the future. During the programs inaugural year,
there were four members in FLIP. Now, all four
serve on the Executive Board.
Questions about FLIP? Contact Sasha Beder: sasha.
beder@gmail.com