National Membership Development Call

Notes from 10/18/11 Meeting

Attendees:Vince Coraci (MI), Mary Jean WestonFalon Limberes(NJ), Pat Hartman (CT), Valerie Arendt (NC), Josephine Hughes(IN), Meagan Coons (MA), Debra Riggs (VA), Carmen Weisner & intern (LA)

  1. Sharepoint / Extranet
  • Big thanks to Nancy Miller and Tamitha Price for all their time and effort on Sharepoint.
  • Nancy will use this membership development meeting as a test group when Sharepoint is being tested prior to launch.
  • All meeting notes can be posted there as well as other documents that the group wants to hold (social media policies, member surveys, etc.)
  • The meeting time will also be on the shared National/Chapter calendar, which will hopefully entice more Chapters to get involved
  1. Social Media Policies
  • If your Chapter has a social media policy, please send to Vince to distribute to the group / put on Sharepoint for reference (if you want to share)
  • Ebony Jackson with National has handouts that give guidance on Facebook / Twitter / etc.
  1. Connecting with Students on Campus
  • Valerie shared their student liaison program that has been in existence for over a year
  • Pushes networking with students
  • To start, the Chapter sent into to the schools/programs of SW to start
  • Carmen first contacted the schools and started the “school corner” in the Chapter newsletter. One article from Tulane has been submitted but they are hoping more students/schools will send in.
  • Vince talked about the new program launching soon called U-Link, which is modeled after the NC student liaison program.
  • Meagan talked about using alumni from each school to talk to their respective programs at an event and encourage membership and involvement.
  • Also have mentor match program and SW Networking Night, held in various parts of the state
  • MaryJean and Falon discussed their student unit program, which consists of a student unit (of members) started on each campus. These student units hold meetings / events and invite non-members to get involved, encouraging their joining of the association once involved in the student unit
  • Josephine said they mail/contact all faculty to encourage their membership (ask them to be the role model / mentor)
  • About 95% of the faculty joined
  • Additionally, students are free to all events (minus cost of food)
  1. Chapter Job Bank
  • In LA, individuals contact the office to advertise jobs – no charge to post – open to both members and non-members
  • In IN, the Chapter subscribes to two job entities (NonProfitTimes in their area & Indeed.com) – intern posts on website for the Chapter. If an individual contacts the office, the charge is $30 for 30 days – job bank open to both members and non-members
  • In MI, individuals contact the office to post, or staff post jobs that come through email – no charge to post – job bank open to members only
  1. Membership Surveys
  • Send to Vince if you want, and/or summaries of the response you have gotten from previous surveys.
  1. Social Work Month
  • In MA, LEAD day and the Chapter Symposium are held
  • Thinking of ways to engage the schools for SW month
  • In NJ, 3 CE self care workshops held in different regions - free to members
  • SW Summit held – all SW organizations come together and look at issues
  • Student events – panel of social workers to tell their stories
  1. Retention ideas
  • In IN, Board members / Representatives call people on the “suspended” list (those who did not renew).
  • 1 call a month per board member = a lot of calls, plus it is simple to do!
  • In MI, an exit survey is emailed out to all members whose membership lapsed.
  • The questions (and a summary of responses) will be sent out to the group or posted on Sharepoint
  1. Next meeting
  • The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 15thfrom 1-2pm EST
  • Call-in information: 1-800-582-3014, passcode: 202961368#