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Steal a SA/TO Program
What you need:
- One to five people not in USY that have friends in your chapter and whom you know
would make great USYers.
- One great program designed to raise money for TO. This program must meet the
following requirements:
- It must take place all in one night.
- It must raise between 15 and 100 dollars, depending on how many members you are
trying to get and how much your chapter membership dues are.
- It must be social, where people get to talk to other people.
- Most importantly, it must be FUN!
- One SA/TO VP willing to let you look through her or his files for a program that
fits the description above.
- One or more great personalities, but that's necessary for every Mem/Kad VP all
the time.
What you do:
Invite your prospective members to this program, telling them that they will be the
guests of honor. For the sake of this example, let's say this person's name is Miriam,
the program is date-your-dessert, and your chapter's dues are $20 dollars. Okay, so you
make Miriam the guest of honor at your date-your-dessert program, which is (like all
your programs) highly attended and fun and exciting. Miriam has a friend in your chapter
(Sarah) and Sarah is there and hangs out with Miriam, but is sure to introduce her to
all her wonderful friends in USY. Be sure to make sure someone new is always meeting
Miriam and she is having a good time.
Anyway, let's say your date-your-dessert program raises $35. Hurray!! You now have
enough money to buy Miriam's membership right there! Without Miriam having to do
anything, she's now a member of your chapter. Plus, you have $15 dollars left over which
can be used either as SA/TO money or you can give a discount on membership to Akiva,
too, who couldn't make it that night. Now Akiva only has to pay $5 for membership.
It's your choice!
Why this will work:
If it's done right, this program could be a huge success for a chapter on any level,
especially now, later in the year when you've identified the people who just won't ever
pay their dues no matter what. It also shows Miriam that your chapter really cares about
her personally, and it makes her feel welcome and appreciated (the two themes of
Mem/Kad). She can meet all the great people in your chapter and knowing that this was
all for her means she will for SURE come to the next program. And if she doesn't? Oh,
well, she's a member!! It also gives your own chapter a chance to kick back and relax
while doing something really important (raising membership) for the chapter.
Important things to remember:
- You're not actually stealing money from SA/TO; you're just "borrowing" the program
idea. The program is designed to raise money for TO, but you could give the money to
anything (like membership).
- DO NOT put on your flyers that this is a SA/TO program! Just write
date-your-dessert (or the name of the program) on the flyer and tell everyone to bring
either money or desserts depending on their gender (this makes sense if you know what
date-your-dessert is).
- The program will only achieve its highest level of effectiveness if "Miriam" is
present at the program. While I guess it's not necessary for her to be there for you to
raise money for her membership, just calling her and telling her about it later is
totally lame, even if it does get her in the chapter. Also, Miriam doesn't have to have
a Sarah, she can come even knowing no one, it's ok.
Another way to explain it:
A program for TO is designed to raise money, and normally this money is given to TO.
However, my suggestion is that you can use the same fun program to raise money to pay
for someone's membership dues. This helps with chapter bonding, as well as raising
membership. Most importantly, however, it makes the new member(s) feel welcome and
appreciated.
Good Luck!!
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