Mission: Magnetic Membership

Springtime in the American Legion is membership time. It’s a time when posts rush to meet their numbers to get to that 100% level of achievement. A lot of us prepped and primed in military culture respond to missions. Getting to 100% is validating, but I’m going to suggest a broader mission designed to increase new membership and retention, while bolstering the brand of our organization.

If you listen to the Tango Alpha Lima podcast, you know that we touch on a lot of subjects and issues of interest to the veteran community. One topic that we have not yet tackled is how The American Legion handles the membership drive each year. I’m first sharing these ideas with my fellow Legionnaires of The Department of California, so we can lead. After months of thought, I’d like to introduce a new mission:

Magnetic Membership
In broad strokes, that means we need to think about what we do, in terms of “attraction” and “retention.” The change in mindset requires that the membership committees work outside of the committee and integrate with the entire organization.

I am an officer at the post and district levels and I do some things with Department and even host the podcast for National. With my level of exposure, the sum total of membership training that I see is as follows:

1. Here is your goal number and here is where you are at. We need you to close that gap and get to 100%.
2. We know that’s hard, so contact Post 1000 members and get them attached to your post.
3. Retention is also important. Convince your people to renew.
Please note that I am not suggesting we abandon those tactics, because those aims have value. What I am suggesting is that these are annual efforts at putting out the fire of meeting membership goals. What Magnetic Membership does is to make that job easier, while also creating an environment conducive to a more active membership. I want us to look at a bigger picture, down a longer road.

Let’s talk specifics with simple A-B-C steps to get started:

Accessibility

People need to be able to find your post and to communicate with you. If you do not take care of the basics of keeping your contact information up to date with The American Legion, you cannot expect to be found by people using the “Find A Post” feature online. Further, it is my belief that every single post, large or small, should have at least a basic Facebook page with accurate contact information and some pictures that describe what your post is about. It’s even better if you publish your events with the included calendar feature. If they can find you, they will come.

Broadcasting

People like to belong to things with which they have something in common. The enviable problem that The American Legion has is we do so much that it is hard to communicate to a person, one specific pillar or program that might appeal to them. What we can do is broadcast what we do.

If your post walks in a parade, you should issue a press release about your participation and how your post supports the organization that put on the parade, and how The American Legion supports your community. Send pictures to your district and Department and you might end up on their Facebook page or website. If your post doesn’t have a media & communications committee or someone in charge of public information, consider adding those elements. Find a hard charging younger vet to elevate your social media presence. Spread the word about your good work!

Creativity

Find ways to exist outside of your meeting by doing new things. Perhaps you start something similar to the “Legion Service Corps,” like Hollywood Post 43 member Simone Lara has done to increase volunteerism in the community. If you do something like that and your volunteers are there in a group, wearing caps and/or tee shirts, you will gain attention. Someone involved will be a veteran who now recognizes a common interest.

The idea here is to evolve our membership training so that new members find us versus us having to constantly find and convince them. We want to ATTRACT members.

This A-B-C list is just the start. These things don’t cost money, so we really should be motivated to get these things rolling as soon as possible. As this principle develops a culture change, you’ll find more ways to integrate this thinking into all areas of your post. Do you have people who officially welcome guests and give tours and introduce guests to members? Are you interacting with every committee to see if they have newsworthy activities to share via Facebook or the media? Are your members taking advantage of training and information to adhere them to the organization?

For the really ambitious, here are two more things that can be done:

Digital Capsules

These are like the historian yearbook but done digitally. Create a digital book showcasing the year’s activities. A digital copy can be sent to every member and to prospective members. This could be a great tool in retention and attraction. I’m working with the Department media & communications team to establish a contest for digital capsules.

Basic Training

The American Legion National Headquarters has a really well done (and FREE) course, called basic training or the American Legion Extension Institute, that will give members a casual history of the organization and our main missions. You even earn the right to wear a pin after you pass the test. Having that kind of awareness of the organization encourages member retention and excitement when talking about the organization, thus assisting attraction.

Membership development is more about people than it is about numbers. We can control the A-B-C aspect of this. We can also use the numbers to see that our efforts are trending in the right direction. Ultimately though, we want to shift the paradigm towards promoting the Mission: Magnetic Membership.