increasing membership

[1930artdeco]

Hi All,

I going to assume the mantel of control for my car club next year and would like some suggestions. I am the youngest person in the club at 42 and am looking for ideas to help bring up the membership numbers. Sorry if this has been covered before. If it has please tell me and list the threadand then this thread can be deleted.

I understand I am going to have a tough sell due to the economy and electronics. So, I thought I would target my age bracket for the most part or maybe a little older. Pointing out the fact these cars are easy to:

-restore/maintain
-can help you decompress from a rough day at work
-fun people to be around
-family oriented

So does anyone from other clubs have ideas on how they got their membership to grow? Function, media, shows etc....


Thanks,

Mike

[Tom Wesenberg]

Keep the dues to a minimum. When you go on tour, you don't have to eat at expensive restaurants. You can even pack your own lunches or have a group picnic. Visit interesting places on tour. Ask the members what they like to do. Keep the meetings interesting with members showing how to repair/restore different parts of the A's.

[ctlikon0712]

Like Tom said, keep the meetings interesting and fun, keep the business portion to a minimum. Is seems that is what keeps people from showing up most the time... If there is a popular cruse location close by ask to place flyers advertising your club and its interests.

[peters180a/170b]

BRING UP MEMBERSHIP ? Well it might be hard if its a A.A.C.A. MARC or MAFCA...First i am pretty sure you must join the National Club to join the locale chapter.#1 At every car show around you ,,set up a small table with membership forms in front of one of the cars.. #2 hit the streets. Have a car run somewhere there is a lot of people in the area [stop ,park for awhile ,eat lunch at a eatery of some sort.Again have membership forms with you. # Make sure you are in a well popular area... Bring the interest to the people. We did some of these and WOW ,we found out there are a lot of cars around us.. But for some reason,,, some people just don't care with these cars... something turned them off years ago????? we started to join club to club to club just to make one good size club... its ruff...

[newshirt]

I always thought that variety keeps things interesting. In other words, throw in things that are completely different than what you've always done. But I'm probably dead wrong...

I actually tried this with our club as a "new guy" tour director, and got nothing but "dear in the headlight" stares. Nobody wanted to do anything new and different. In fact, most only wanted to sit and breathe oxygen, and eat, and talk. I consider myself young and energetic, and didn't care for the oxygen as much as they did. So most of my exotic ideas didn't get traction. But some did. Moral: don't try to be the "Saviour" and be happy with small gains.

I also tried raising membership by building a killer website that ranked well on Google and had plenty of content to keep visitors interested. Think YouTube. That sort-of worked. We got a bunch of new would-be members who found us on the web. Problem is, they didn't stick around... maybe because they also didn't care for oxygen -- don't know.

Breathing new life into an old organization can be a long-term proposition. Be prepared to slog it out for the long term. Don't expect quick results. Build relationships. Be the go-to guy. But mostly, just be there for years and years, and people will eventually follow. Word of mouth will prevail.

[ronn]

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One meeting a month, have guys teach each other how to rebuild a generator, or work on a radiator or bring in a car and work on it together.
I believe it would also be smart to go to the local vocy schools and ask some of the younger kids to come help out. You might be surprised by the results.
Too many walkers, canes donuts and coffee only create a chat room....

[Chris in WNC]

do NOT have boring regular business meetings.
avoid Roberts Rules of Order like the plague.
get together only for tours or shop sessions.
do not have officers or elections.
PM if you want more details......

do FUN things with your cars and FUN people will be attracted to your club......

no matter how large the club gets, only 1/3 of the members will be active and participatory. this rule of thumb has proven true with EVERY non-profit organization I have belonged to for the last 30 years......

[Tom Endy]

Keep your focus on the fact that it is a Model A club, don't let it drift into being mostly a social club. This has a tendancy to turn off new members. They will come to one or two meetings and then disappear because their thinking is they joined the club because they are intrested in Model A's.

A monthly newsletter should contain at least one technical article in every issue. This should not be difficult to do as often you can re-print technical articles from other club newsletters. As a starter you are welcome to use any of the newsletter technical articles I have posted on our club's web site. Go to www.ocmafc.com. At the menu on the left scroll to "tech atricles" and click. It will bring up a new menu, at the top is my name, click on it and it will bring up the articles. Some are actual articles that have appeared in one of two newsletters, or both, and some are lengthy how-to articles not suitable for a newsletter. You are welcome to use any and all. Where ever you obtain the article from it is considered proper to acknowledge the author and the publication you acquired it from.

I understand that in the January\Febuary 2013 publication of the Restorer, Jill Sullins the chapter coodinator, is going to have an article that will list those clubs that have web sites with technical articles available for re-printing.

At each meeting devote a short period of time, maybe 15 minutes, on the agenda, for a club member to get up and speak about his or her Model A. The subject of the presentation could be how they acquired it, about its history, or about some problem they had and how they fixed it. Set up the speaker some days prior to the meeting so that they can prepare.

Many clubs today are circulating their newsletter by e-mail. You should do this if your club's editor has that capability. The newsletter is the biggest expense if you are having them printed and mailing them out. You will still have to do this for the folks that are not computer literate, but it will be minimal. When circulated by e-mail all the photos can be in color and you are not limited by the number of pages each issue can be. When mailing you can mail six double sided pages on 20 pound bond paper for a single domestic postage stamp. By using e-mail you will eliminate a large cost that will enable you to keep the yearly dues reasonable.

Tom Endy

[brum1]

Focus on the members you already have to maintain interest, be flexible, this is supposed to be fun(not a job) focus on the cars but consider your female members Finally recognize and appreciate your volunteers. Hopefully it will become a club people want to join

[Mikeinnj]

Great ideas Tom,Thanks !

[TinCup]

Mike,

Feel your pain there my friend. We struggle with this every year. We have had good solid growth 8-12 new members a year for the last 4 or 5 years but the enthusiasm level is not what this 50 year old club once had. Dedicate a meeting to just asking your membership what the like and do not like about your club. Then try to balance that out with what you can do. Never fail to recognize your volunteers. They are the back bone of your club.

[sethkestenbaum]

Get the local schools involved. It is a long lead time, but get the kids hooked early and pair them up with more experienced members. Over time this will give the older members help maintaining the cars and encourage younger folks to enter the hobby.

Also, car magnets with the club info. Someone seeing your car around town might be interested but have no idea that the club exists.

[29ModelA]

I am 31 I have posted my views before, but in short:

Younger people are not retired, weekday meetings are off limits. As are anything before 5pm on a weekday, even 7pm is often extremely difficult. My wife and I tend to not even be able to eat dunner until 7-8pm on a normal day due to two full time working people and a little one.

Long drawn out meetings involving Roberts Rules of Order turn me off big time. I have to sit through enough of those types of meetings. I have found any club that tries to be super formal like that and puts a lot of stock in "order" invites drama and ends up not being fun. Especially if you are not part of a "clique."

I am not interested in a monthly social hour at the local diner. I want to learn about my car and drive my car. The occasional meeting is fine and needed, but to just sit for 2 or 3 hours once a month and eat is not in my interests. The older generations have the knowledge, be more willing to share it. I would much rather learn hands on with someone that has "been there and done that" that sit and thumb through a Restorer book or Judging standards. Frankly I personally don't have an interest in those types of cars. I don't go to books for info, I go to the web, especially forums like this. I will use books for technical stuff but that is about it.

I have found many members of clubs to be pretty judgmental. When we got our car I was pretty excited and talked with one member of a club, he was very nice and showed me his finished car. But when I spoke of hopefully seeing him again he basically brushed me off and said "I doubt it." I have been brushed off more than once when I have talked to other Model A clubbers about our car. Either that or they insist on picking apart my car, or telling me what I "Need" to do with it. While many may feel they are educating me it sure has not came off that way. I know the 16" wheels (and the 19's that were on it when I got it for that matter) are incorrect. I do not need to hear it a million times or be ribbed about changing them a million times. My wife wanted them, she got them and she likes them.

Traditional 1st/2nd/3rd shift jobs are not here for us as a generation if we are making enough money to have a hobby like this. Most of my friends (even college graduated) are working service jobs at less than 30k a year. If we have the money for this hobby it is often because we are working non traditional jobs with huge amounts of travel or non-tradition hours and amounts of hours. For instance my job takes me away from my family/state usually at a minimum 2 weeks out of the month and home weekends. I often have "worked" a 14-20 hour day during the week.

I found one club that I really did want to join, the people were all very nice, they didn't even care if you owned an A, you could have a Mustang for all they cared as long as you enjoyed Model A Fords and wanted to learn about them. The problem there... all their meetings are at 7pm on a Wednesday.

I by no means speak for every person in the younger brackets, but I know that The people I know that I graduated both college and high school with that are in a position to play with old cars tend to be salaried individuals that really only get weekends for their hobbies.

edit: OK maybe not so short.

[ford3]

my advice is keep all the members involed in the club, dont let 2 or 3 take over, ive seen that in so many clubs, a few decied what is going to be done, dont let the few say ok guys just sit down and we will take care of this, thats the quickest way to kill your club, if some one has an ides, listen to it, discuss it in an open meeting, it may not increase your membership a lot. but it sure will keep the members you have, get the wifes and g/f involved (not at the same time) remember a family that plays together stays together

[denis4x4]

29ModelA nailed it! That post should be a "sticky" and a constant reminder that change is good.

[P.S.]

Yep, 29A nailed it.

Mike, you and I have discussed this briefly. I'm the same age as you, and I have not joined a club.

Like 29A said, most of us (our age) are working. A lot. We simply don't have time on weeknights to attend meetings, especially if there is little to gain from them.

I've gone out of my way to attend some of the tech sessions some of the clubs around us have had where members bring their cars and people who know a lot about the particular subject lead them through the work on the cars. For people in our age group, I can see that as a HUGE advantage. Have the club meetings at someone's house who has a car that needs something done to it. Then, have members who also need that same thing done to their cars bring theirs too. Then, the club just dives in and helps each other. Meanwhile, the guys and gals that don't want to work on cars go inside and discuss fashion, food, or whatever.

The big club "turnoff" for me was the structure aspect. Who has time for "OK, the treasurer will read the treasurer's report, then we'll discuss old business, then the vice president will blah blah..." The days of the stuffy structured clubs are over. All the old fogy style clubs are disappearing. Heck, even Rotary, scouts, and Elks has been changing. Clubs that want to survive well into the future have to become a "value added" feature to the subject matter, in this case the Ford Model A. Clubs have to ADD to the experience of owning the car.

The difficult part is catering to the varied interests of the members. You'll never be able to be everything to everyone, but you should try to me as much to as many as possible without losing focus on the core reason the club exists.

Monthly meetings in winter time can be traditional social kinds of things, but when the weather is nice, meetings should be of value. Maybe conduct business at a pre-determined stop on a tour, or during a tech session instead of the church back room on Friday night.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by 1930artdeco

Hi All,

I going to assume the mantel of control for my car club next year and would like some suggestions. I am the youngest person in the club at 42 and am looking for ideas to help bring up the membership numbers. Sorry if this has been covered before. If it has please tell me and list the threadand then this thread can be deleted.

I understand I am going to have a tough sell due to the economy and electronics. So, I thought I would target my age bracket for the most part or maybe a little older. Pointing out the fact these cars are easy to:

-restore/maintain
-can help you decompress from a rough day at work
-fun people to be around
-family oriented

So does anyone from other clubs have ideas on how they got their membership to grow? Function, media, shows etc....


Thanks,

Mike

Mike,
1- "Mantle of Control" sounds intimidating!
2-Quality, not number of members is what counts.
3-Some folks with Model A's don't want to be DRUG into a club, and usually don't stay long.
4-Targeting only your age bracket would be an insult to some.
5-What has ELECTRONICS to do with your "Hard Sell"?
6-I think growth is by folks being friendly & helpful.
Bill W.

[Mendotaman]

Here's my suggestion:

Make sure that club members go out of their way to 1) make the newbie feel welcome and 2) ask to see (and help with) the person's Model A. After I bought my tudor, I went to the meetings and asked one after another to come by (a block out of their way) and see my car, tell me what I had/needed and/or give me advice. No response except one old guy that told me from the top that he "doesn't loan out any tools." (I never asked!) Nobody ever came by and FordBarners became "my club." (a great group of folks, by the way!)

[Richard in Anaheim CA]

My mantle has been put away. I served my 2 years as president and had some success and some disapointments. I am now, again, a member. I will continue to help build the club experience.

Take care of the established members for sure. You are out to improve what you have and make it fun. Your officers need to work together and try many things to see what works.

We found our two monthly breakfasts were more popular than the meeting and the technical talks and seminars were always well attended. Go out of you way to nurture visitors. Introduce them to a mentor or two with similar goals to keep them excited. Small rewards for driving their "A"s or wearing their name badges works well.

In the end it is always a people club. If you don't enjoy each other nothing is going to work. The meeting is important because you need some structure and a treasury to do anything. The newsletter is the biggest expense and one of the bigger jobs.

All of the above posts are right but you have to find your way with the members you have and those you recruit. It's a learning experience. Don't do only what has been done before but don't dismiss it because it has always been done that way either.

Good Luck this new year. Feel free to contact me and others that have posted with a PM. Sometimes it helps to talk it out.

Richard
Anaheim CA

[Mike V. Florida]

I wonder how many of these suggestions come from people who have run a club?

As for me what got me and kept me was the fact that I was observed closely looking at the cars when I first saw them. A member asked if I had any questions and that opened the flood gates. I was asked if I wanted to sit in the car and if I was interested in the joining. I was told I did not have to have a car to join. I was later invited to learn how to drive the Model A after joining and that was that.

Holding meetings can be tricky, some want to know where their dues are going some don't. Some like the social aspect some don't. Some want to tour, some only short trips. While cars shows are not on our clubs favorite list of things to do it does usally get us a member or two during the year. We try to arrange for two events a month. We try to stress that the members are willing and able to assist in keeping their car in tip top shape.

Being in Florida this is our driving season, little chance of rain, cooler temps make it a nice time to ride.

Oh almost forgot, President 2012, 2011, 2008, 2007, 2006.

I guess the answer is variety