Like, share, and comment about this membership tip

Once a month, I share a membership retention or recruitment tip on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pnwoptimist/. 

I could probably share more ideas more often, but the timing is meant to allow individuals in Optimist Clubs, wherever they are around the world, the time to give the suggestion a try. One month seems to be a good standard. 

This month, June 2018, we are on membership retention and recruitment tip #58:

Get everyone involved in promoting your Optimist Club. 

Budget time at every meeting for reflection. Ask your members to think about and share what they appreciate most about being a member. 

When we start new Optimist Clubs in new communities, we tell the potential new members about the heartwarming projects that we provide our neighborhoods and explain how rewarding it is to do them with our fellow members, people who share our same goals. Often that process reminds us how great it is to be an Optimist Club member. Doesn't it make sense to share that feeling with your fellow members? 

Create a social media post after every meeting that expresses one member’s thought or testimonial. Ask every club member to share that particular post on their Facebook timeline. 

One of my favorite testimonials comes from Judith Hillend of the Gresham Optimist Club. Speaking about the Optimist International Oratorical Contest, she said, "When you are allowed to listen to nineteen wonderful students speak to you how optimism helps them over obstacles, the outcome is overwhelming. These children of several ages spoke from their hearts about their lives, their obstacles, and their successes - obesity, family problems, hard of hearing and deafness - it brought tears to my eyes and many other Optimists in the audience. The previous list is very limited, but these kids were talking in one of the greatest obstacles in any child's life, talking to adults in a crowd. They are all winners, and those who didn't win prizes are encouraged to return next year. We will be waiting!"

Isn't that a great way to learn about the Optimist International Oratorical Contest? I think so and shared it on the PNW District Optimist Clubs website way back in 2012. It still garners hits today. 

 

Homegrown public service announcements will help others be aware of who is involved in your local Optimist Club, what projects it performs, and how it will make them feel to be a member. It will warm people to joining. Now all you have to do is ask. 

Why not join us? We're Optimists

On the second Saturday of each month, we share a membership recruitment and retention tip on the PNW Optimist Clubs Facebook page. 

Most tips remind the reader to communicate better with their internal and external audiences, members and stakeholders. Some, like today, inform of best ways to sell the intangible product: membership. Take a read, please, and share with your Optimist Club for greater success. 

Membership retention and recruitment tip #54: Be less salesy. 

Perhaps you have seen this happen at a club meeting - the speaker has just completed her presentation and the chairperson stands up to thank them and before they are through, they are waving a membership application in the speaker’s face asking them to join. 

We often say that in order to recruit, we just need to ask, but there are some preparatory comments that will help you seem less aggressive when asking someone to join your club. 

Consider asking if the prospective member has belonged to a club previously, what they did or didn’t like about their experience, and what they might hope to gain by joining your group. 

These questions, among others, will start a relationship, gain their trust, and show that you and your organization cares about its members.

We invite you to join an Optimist Club. Click here to find an Optimist Club near you and get involved!

Share optimism with a Friend of Optimist membership

If you are reading this and still have last-minute Christmas shopping to complete, don't worry! We've got you covered. Take your mouse and head right on over to Optimist International's website and click on the Friend of Optimist membership.

For only $100, you can share optimism every day and support the most positive service organization in your community. Optimist Clubs meet on a regular basis to share optimism and bring out the best in youth, community, and the members who join them. However, with a Friend membership, the attendance recommendation is totally waived. It's enough to know that you are affiliated with this group of do-gooders and that you support their cause.

The best way to share that kind of optimism is to enjoy the gift of optimism. Click here to give that gift today. 

In case you are wondering what your membership supports, be it a Friend or traditional membership, click here to see some of the projects performed by Optimist Clubs in the Pacific Northwest.

Why do Optimist Volunteers matter?

It has been two months since my last post. That seems impossible to me, but the archives do not lie so as I set out this morning to catch up - so to speak - I was contemplating a very serious topic. I planned to explain that in a membership organization members are customers. Not only are they customers, many are fans; the people that will always buy what you are selling. I was then going to launch into a critique about the services that are missing from the district in which my Optimist Club belongs and caution that if members' needs are not met, like most customers, they will shop around and perhaps find their supplies somewhere else. If one is not cautious and strategic, a club will lose its fans.

Whew! That's a one paragraph recap to what was going to be a 300-word essay.

Here is what saved you from my pontifical  musing. I opened my email to find the latest club bulletin from the Optimist Club of Albuquerque. Editor Jim White puts a lot of information into the four-page publication every week and this week was no different. What caught my attention and made me smile was this picture.

The caption read: First Graders at Janet Kann Elementary with Optimist backpacks full of supplies.

As I looked at the picture, I thought, those backpacks could have been provided by anyone or any group, but they were not.  

They were provided by an Optimist Club. 

Like most Optimist Club members, I enjoy the social proof that answers the question, why are you an Optimist? This picture explains what we do (help children) and one can imagine how we do it (collecting and distributing school supplies) and why we do it (so that children can participate in school and get the education they need to live up to their full potential).

What it doesn't explain is how belonging to an Optimist Club makes the difference. Bringing caring adults together on a regular basis, Optimist Clubs discover local needs and develop plans to meet those needs. As an established organization, the Optimist Club offers a consistent point of contact; serves as a charitable fundraiser and funding source; and shares hope through positive words and deeds in the community.

Optimist Clubs are as relevant today as they were when they started in 1911. Yes, there is more competition from other organizations and corporations that provide social welfare and civic services, but only one provides the opportunity to serve as an Optimist Volunteer.  Optimist Clubs, the local chapters of Optimist International, are the positive face of community service in North America and around the world.

You are invited to be an Optimist Volunteer. Find a club near you and #JoinAnOptimistClub today.

Photo credit: Optimist Club of Albuquerque

First impressions matter

Once a month, I share a membership retention and recruitment tip on the PNW District - Optimist International Facebook page.

Most, if not all, deal with communication. Over the years, I've discovered that many Optimist Clubs fail to keep their members informed, possibly because their projects and culture are so ingrained, the person leading project thinks that everyone already knows.

This is especially hurtful when new members join the club. Without direction, they feel left out. Perhaps unintentionally, they feel left out of the clique simply because they don't know where to go, what to do, or why.

The same can often be said for attending a regular meeting. If there is no greeter, people always sit in the same place, and inside jokes are being told, new members wonder what is happening and question if they've made the right decision to become a part of the group.

I  have always believed that the best way to attract a new member to an Optimist Club is to show them that its worth the effort to join; and that ten or more years from now, their service and friendship will be valued. That all starts with the first impression.

It doesn't take a big orientation process, but rather, I suggest that an Optimist Club should orchestrate a series of good first impressions. Send a welcome email with links that explain the club's projects, committees, and leadership structure. Highlight the core purposes of Optimist International and explain how the club practices those values. Include a calendar of events, membership directory, and suggestions for who to call to get involved. Remind the new member's sponsor to sit with the new recruit and and introduce her to others. Make a point to be open and inclusive with new members and veteran members and they will feel, and continue to feel, engaged, valued, and committed to the cause.

First impressions can make a difference in a lifetime of service.

Membership retention and recruitment tip #45: First impressions can make a difference. When someone joins your Optimist Club, they seek first impressions that validate their choice to join. From the first email, meeting or website visit, they need to feel welcome and valued. Orchestrate those first impressions and you will be on your way to engaging members for a lifetime.

Friends are the pot of gold you seek

Holidays, real and imagined, bring Optimist Club members out to party. Sometimes it's with children, like Christmas, and sometimes it's an adults-only activity, like St. Patrick's Day.

In Idaho, two Optimist Clubs are fundraising on this day of wearing o'the green. In McCall, Idaho, there will be a bingo game with cash prizes. "Do you feel lucky?" the Optimist Club asks. Dress up in green and lucky players might win a special prize in addition to their potential bingo winnings!

In Meridian, Idaho, the Optimist Club will host its Luck o'the Irish Casino Night. No cash prizes are available at this one, but there is plenty of fun in the casino-style game night, plus door prizes and raffle items to boot.  The Meridian Fire District Drum and Bugle Pipes and Drum Corps are partners in this 9th annual event.

These events have more in common than their green themes. Both are good examples of how the Optimist Club raises money and sparks fellowship at the same time. Optimist Club members will tell you that putting on a program or carrying out a project builds a team spirit and helps our members get to know one another better. Club membership - fellowship - leads not only to good deeds for the community; it leads to friendship for all.

Join an Optimist Club and you'll find that pot of gold known as friendship.

Click here to find an Optimist Club near you.

If you would like to start a new Optimist Club, click here and I'll lend you a hand.

Or, click here to be a Friend of Optimists.

Here's your chance for a $500 membership incentive

I'm not crazy about this idea; however, it is an incentive being offered by Optimist International and therefore I feel a responsibility to share.

Announced on its Facebook page, Optimist International says when a member recruits a new member into their Optimist Club, the sponsor will be entered into a drawing to win $500. If it is the sponsor's first new member, they will be entered into two drawings for $500 each.

The drawings will be held on a quarterly basis. There will be two winners in the members sponsoring their first new member category each quarter. There will be one winner in the all member category.

So why am I ambivalent? I do not believe that cash awards are an appropriate reward for a membership organization to offer as a recruitment tool. It incentivizes membership for the wrong reason.

One does not join an Optimist Club to make money for themselves. Sure, some may hope to build relationships that may lead to business transactions in the future; but ask any member and they will tell you that they work together with their fellow club members in fundraising and service for a purpose higher than their own pocketbook. They work for the betterment of youth and community.

Creating a monetary recruitment award is rather a disincentive for me. How about that new member? I wonder what they might think of their sponsor receiving $500 for their commitment to join?

Money being a disincentive has been studied by scientists and overwhelmingly, they have concluded that for cognitive tasks that require creativity, money has led to worse performance. Why? Two basic reasons were cited by Dan Pink in his book Drive*:

1. Once the task is reached, the individual stops the behavior that the incentive is meant to produce. 
2. The amount of money is not an appropriate exchange for something a motivated person is willing to do for free. 

I don't know about you, but for me, I fall into the second category. I don't care to gamble on whether or not someone wants to join an Optimist Club. Good luck to you, if you do. 

-

*Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

Adventure begins in an Optimist Club

I love to travel. I have recently returned from a month-long vacation to Spain and Italy and it was amazing. Visiting sites, like the Montserrat Monestary and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that were built in 985 and 1065 respectively, is awe-inspiring. Perhaps even more amazing are the many tours to the museums where one can see the magnificent works of great artists and sculptors like Michelango and Donatello, among others. I can't begin to express the beauty of the churches where looking at the floor is as wondrous as looking at the alter and ceiling. An adventure awaits at every turn.

At home in the USA, we have beauty and wonder, too; but our history is just not as old. We make up for it in experiences that we share every day.

For me, some of the greatest experiences have been had by sharing optimism with others in the pursuit of bringing out the best in youth, community and ourselves as members of an Optimist Club.

What we do today as Optimist Club members helps preserve our legacy so perhaps in hundreds of years visitors my find our communities as inspiring as we find Europe today.

Won't you help us preserve our culture? Join an Optimist Club and get involved by finding an Optimist Club at the following links.

Click here to find an Optimist Club near you.
Click here if I might help you start a new Optimist Club in your community.
Click here to be a Friend of Optimists.

Trick or Treat

October brings changing colors, cooler weather and Halloween with all the ghouls, goblins, witches and pumpkins that one can imagine.

It's that last one that brings out the Optimist Club members today. In Windsor, Ontario, the Riverside Optimist Club is hosting a free pumpkin decorating contest for the kiddos. Now that's a Halloween treat for sure.

Optimist Clubs can be found in most cities, helping to bring out the best in youth, community and you. If you want to be a part of the BEST movement, find an Optimist Club near you and join today. If you can't find a club, please let me know and I'll help you start one in your community.

Here are some of our kids creations so far! 🎃🎃🎨 pic.twitter.com/hmCyN1Otw0

— Riverside Optimists (@RiversideOC) October 29, 2016

Like a bundle of wood, we're stronger together

For two years, Optimist International has offered a great deal for individuals who want to become
Friends of Optimist. For only $300, an Optimist Club can purchase a Community Impact Bundle and activate 6 members with it. That's only $50 per membership for someone to learn about an Optimist Club and its projects and Optimist International and its purposes.

As I was thinking about the word bundle today, a story I heard of a father and his three sons came to my mind. In the story, the father was concerned because the brothers were always fighting, disagreeing and putting their own needs first. So he brought them three pieces of wood and asked them to break the sticks in half. The strong young men did so quite easily. He then produced a bundle of sticks and asked each boy to break it. They couldn't. When banded together, the bundle of sticks was strong. It held firm. And so would the brothers and the family.

Optimist Clubs are like families. We join together under the Optimist International umbrella and we serve many communities around the world, but we never do this alone. We do it with other Optimist Volunteers and community members that want their communities to be the best they can be. In that way, each Optimist Club is like the bundle of sticks. Together we achieve more.

That's why it is so important that we add new members to our Optimist Clubs. Don't be shy - use the Community Impact Bundle and save money for the great projects that your Optimist Club will do this year and next; but hurry! The Community Impact Bundle will end on September 30, 2016.

Here are the details:

1. For bundles purchased during the 2014-15 Optimist year, each Friend must be activated by December 31, 2015. Clubs will not be refunded or credited for any Friends that are not activated by 12/31/15.
2. For bundles purchased during the 2015-16 Optimist year, each Friend must be activated by September 30, 2016. Clubs will not be refunded or credited for any Friends that are not activated by 9/30/16.
3. Friends count toward membership in the Optimist year in which they are activated.
4. Clubs will not receive any reimbursement for Friends in the Community Impact Bundle.
5. Once activated, the Friend Membership is valid for one calendar year from the date it was activated.
6. If a Friend decides to renew after one year, it will cost the regular $100, and the Club will receive $40.

Purchase a Community Impact Bundle with the form at this link.

Activate new members with the form at this link.

Be a positive influence

There is no doubt that I like the way the Optimist International mission statement has been revised.

Old: With hope and positive vision, Optimist Clubs bring out the best in children.

New: With hope and positive vision, Optimist Clubs bring out the best in youth, our community and ourselves.

I take a few liberties when I write the phrase. For instance, it should actually read "Optimists" instead of "Optimist Clubs." In the old phrasing, it read "kids" instead of "children."

For me, the positive difference is felt in our communities and if I could rewrite it again, I would simply say Optimist Clubs bring out the best in your community and you.

That way, the ubiquitous you refers to everyone, children and adults alike, and the shorter phrase keeps it snappy. Besides, optimist may be in our name, but not every club promotes hope. Hope and positive vision may be byproducts, but many clubs promote sports or other projects first rather than psychology or optimistic behavior.

As much as we are the same, every Optimist Club is different. We adopt the culture of our community and its members. We are uniquely local, meeting needs of those nearest to us.

We are positive influencers of good deeds. We are Optimists. And we are needed. Won't you share optimism with your community? Join an Optimist Club today.

Click here to find an Optimist Club near you.
Click here if I might help you start a new Optimist Club in your community.
Click here to be a Friend of Optimists.

Like Michelle Obama, Optimist Clubs must be role models

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to the Democratic National Convention and among other things she said:

"And make no mistake about it, this November, when we go to the polls, that is what we're deciding — not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, this election, and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives."

Like our government leaders, teachers, parents and other role models, Optimist Clubs share the responsibility of helping children reach their full potential. Our motto is Friend of Youth because we take that responsibility with fervor and pride. Our projects are designed to bring out the best in youth, community and ourselves for a reason. We want our world to be the best it can be today and far into the future.

Please volunteer to make the Optimist difference by joining an Optimist Club today.

Click here to find an Optimist Club near you.
Click here if I might help you start a new Optimist Club in your community.
Click here to be a Friend of Optimists. 

New Year's Eve

It's almost 6:30 p.m., official Optimist International time, on September 30, 2015 - our New Year's Eve. Clubs and Districts are still working overtime to be sure that they have completed all the paperwork and other requirements necessary to be declared an Honor Club.

An Honor Club is the minimum requirements set by Optimist International to be sure that an Optimist Club is doing what it needs to do to sustain itself in the coming year and in the future. The requirments are very simple:

• Complete 3 service projects
• Complete all financial obligations
• Complete recognition of a community or club member as an Optimist of the Year or Friend of Youth
• Complete the President's Pride report
• End the year with +1 or more members than were on the roster when the year began

With a strong finish and a smooth handoff, I am certain that we can reach our organizational goal of achieving 100,000 members by the 100th anniversary of Optimist International. Let Honor Clubs lead the way. 

What shall I do today? Join an Optimist Club

September 30 marks the end of another Optimist International administrative year. In seven days, new officers take their places in clubs, districts and on the international stage.

It can be difficult to to navigate the last couple weeks of an administration. Current officers are trying their best to end the year by leaving their charge better than they found it. Incoming officers are chomping at the bit to take on their new duties and share their leadership ideas.

We'd do well to remember that we are all on one team. The only thing that changes from year-to-year is the name at the top of the letterhead. Our mission is the same as is our passion for serving our communities through the circle of an Optimist Club. We have one continuous goal: increase the membership in our Optimist Clubs so that we may provide more service on the local level throughout the organization.

It's up to you to keep that purpose first and foremost. Ask someone to join your Optimist Club today.

Click here to find an Optimist Club in your community or contact me and I will help you get one started.

Scouting alumnus forms new Optimist Club

On Sunday, September 13, 2015, I had the honor of being a field representative for Optimist International. My mission: to organize the new Optimist Club of Gresham Scouters.

I'm proud to say, "Mission accomplished!"

Eighteen new Optimist Club members are now ready to serve their community. I venture to say there may as many as 25 or more by the end of Optimist International administrative year on September 30.

The new Optimist Club of Gresham Scouters was conceived as a single purpose Optimist Club. It's purpose is to assist sponsor organizations, primarily the Optimist Club of Gresham, Oregon, with collaborative activities between the club and scouting programs. During the evening, we determined the club will also be actively involved in the scholarship programs offered by Optimist International among other things.

It is always exciting to welcome a new Optimist Club as it is formed. The new members come with ideas to make their communities even better places to live. For the Gresham Scouters, this group of scouting alumni will make being part of the scouting program even more desirable for its charter organizations.

The PNW District was thrilled to add this group of young adults to the mix of Optimist Club members that make up the PNW Optimist Clubs. Welcome to all.

If you would like to start a scouting alumnus Optimist Club in your community, or to find out more about what the benefits of working toghether with an Optimist Club would be for your pack, troup, post or crew, please send a message to Linda Vaught.

Children need adults who care about what they do

It's pretty simple. Children should not be left alone to run through a deserted subway station. Nor should they be left alone to run through a crowded one either. However, every day, children are left alone while parents work and other less than positive reasons.

Boys and Girls Clubs, among other organizations, have stepped in to ensure that latchkey kiddos have a place to go after school; but so many more are still left alone to fend for themselves. Sometimes it seems that there are just not enough adults to go around. That's where an Optimist Club can help.

The motto of Optimist International is "Friend of Youth." The organization demonstrates its friendship through more than 65,000 projects conducted annually throughout North America and the Caribbean.

Optimist Club projects are based on what adults see is needed in their own community. When they come together as an Optimist Club, these adults share hopes, dreams and friendship. They make plans and carry them out to make a positive difference in their community. Projects might be as simple as a bicycle rodeo or as complicated as developing a city park to host a youth football program. The point is, the adults make them happen, and along the way they make certain that youths are not left alone.

When an Optimist Club is formed, it makes a promise to its community that together they will care about what children do and they will work to make sure they are reaching their full potential, one child at a time. Don't you want to be a part of that promise?

Join an Optimist Club today. Click here to find an Optimist Club in your community or contact me and I will help you get one started.

To 100 members and beyond!

Another Optimist Club that is on a big wave of additions is the Optimist Club of Lebanon, Oregon. On its Facebook page today, it shared, "Getting so crowded with Optimists that some had to be cool kids and sit in the back."

It went on to explain that the club was only 10 members away from fulfilling a challenge. Club members Jim and Heather McDaniel have promised to donate $25,000 to the Lebanon Skate Park when the club reaches 100 members. At 90, it's close!

The Lebanon Optimists have already met one challenge this year. By reaching 80 members, the McDaniels gave each member a commemmorative coin designed to celebrate the community. What's more, the Optimist Club, as of this writing, has added 44 new members for a net gain of 30 new members for this year.

Asked how they do it, the humble-brag is that the Optimist Club is the happ'n'st club in town. They are also optimistic at their meetings. No drama allowed. This club gets together to make a positive change it its community.

I had the wonderful experience of visiting the Lebanon Optimists in June 2015. At that time, the membership was between 80 and 85. At least 50 members were in attendance to share fellowship, learn about community events, and to stand together to recite the Optimist Creed. All of those elements combine to make them a truly outstanding Optimist Club.

That's why I'm sure it will meet its challenge. To 100 members and beyond! Keep going, Lebanon Optimists!

Seventy-six and growing

You often hear that membership is waning in service clubs around the globe, especially in the United States. That's not true for the Noon Optimist Club of Rome, Georgia. According to the club president, Charles Graves, the Noon Optimist Club recently held a membership drive and over a two-month period has added 12 new Optimist Club members.

Shown in the photo, from left, are Wendy Huckaby, Larry Morrow, Sr., Justin Mitchell, Rodney Bailey, Tim Leonard, Cindy Green Fricks and Ben Simmons. They join 69 other members to make up the largest Optimist Club in the Georgia District.

Like most Optimist Clubs, the Noon Club hosts a number of student appreciation programs including "A Terrific Kid" annual banquet that honors students from each middle school in Rome and Floyd Counties. The club is also active in the district and local scholarship programs. It has been serving its community for 54 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Noon Rome Optimist Club or if you would like to find an Optimist Club near you and get involved, please click on this Optimist Club directory link.

Photo credit: Noon Optimist Club of Rome, GA

Our youth will bloom where they are planted

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the final, or district-level, competition for the Communications Contest for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (CCDHH) and the Optimist Oratorical Contest for the Pacific Northwest District - Optimist International.

This is perhaps one of the most inspirational meetings of the year for we get to hear from the best and brightest young people hailing from British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington as they share their thoughts on a common theme. This year, that theme is "How my optimism will help me press on to the greater achievements of the future."

Optimist Club members know that theme comes directly from the Optimist Creed. The young speakers, however, met the topic with their very own observations made from their experiences in their lives. We heard an impassioned cry to draw awareness to teen suicide and we heard how differently-abled persons learn to live and thrive in a world that doesn't necessarily understand them.

Ben Fullerton, a speaker with cerebral palsy, confined to a wheelchair and utilizing a computer to speak for him told the assembly, "I'm optimistic. I don't want your sympathy, but I would like you to understand my reality."

His thought, among others that I heard, made me realize, perhaps adults don't really understand what goes on in any teenager's mind. We think we do because we've been that age ourselves, but the culture and environment is different from when we were that age. I'm inspired by their perserverence. Most of all, I'm inspired by their optimism. Children really can and do bloom where they are planted. 

As an Optimist Club member, that makes me happy. We're here to serve children; but we are also here to help our peers be the best version of themselves as well. If this pursuit sounds interesting to you, I invite you to join an Optimist Club. Click here to find an Optimist Club near you or contact me and I will help you start a new Optimist Club in your community. Share optimism today. 

The children need you

I typically write and talk about what it means to me to be an Optimist Club member. For me, the value is in the relationships that I create with other adults, my peers who want to do good things in their communities. I'm inspired by the potential that we have to serve.

Some are more inspired by the mission of Optimist International which is "With hope and positive vision, Optimist Club members bring out the best in children."

Yes, it's true. The children need us to do more than make our communities great places to live. Children need us, adults, to be there for and with them; to create projects and programs that recognize and involve them, and perform activities that make them feel special and worthy. More important, the children need us to roll our sleeves up and get in there and participate right along with them and give them the true feeling that adults do care about them.

Optimist Club members do that especially well. It's said that every Optimist Club member personally touches the lives of at least 32 children every year. That might be from a bicycle rodeo, a scholarship contest, a literacy program, or maybe only a donation, among other things, but it is important that adults continue to be involved, in whatever way possible. That's why I implore you to join an Optimist Club. The children really do need you.

Click here to find and join an Optimist Club in your community. If there is not one listed, please contact me and I'll help you start a new Optimist Club to serve the children in your city or town.