The AHEPAN Fall 2020 - 23

MEMBERSHIP APPEAL

Membership Engagement and Recruitment in the Virtual World
During the pandemic, engaging with members and recruiting
potential members has been a challenge. Ahepans need their
chapter's presence to assist in these endeavors, now more than
ever.
Bring solutions to your members as well as energy and
enthusiasm in engaging with them. Because of the pandemic,
your members could be stressed, burned out, unsure of the
future, or have no control over the situation. Understand your
members' pain points and their profession or industry needs.
Communication is key to elevate your chapter member's successes and needs as well as the goals of the chapter itself.
Reach out (via phone calls, hand-written notes, cards) to five
members per day and ask them how they are doing. Chapter
and district lodge officers can ask them to engage with your
AHEPA chapter by submitting an article for your newsletter,
content for a blog or a member spotlight, or for your website or
social media channels.
Engaging with members, pandemic or not, is at the heart of
each one of our jobs as recruiters!

Virtual Membership Drives
AHEPA is now allowing, and encouraging, virtual initiations of
new members. Also, new members joining in November and
December will be current through the end of 2021.
Use of telephones and emails for perspective members has
never been easier. Membership committee volunteers can call
from their homes from their homes, offices and even their cars
to help grow AHEPA and share how the AHEPA continues to
work in all of its programs.
It also is a good opportunity for the chapter to create additional material to email to members, encourage younger members, and most importantly, to have some one-on-one time with
a perspective member.
Make sure the application is filled out. Encourage the
new members to participate in our programs. You should be
celebrating the new members with announcements to keep
them engaged. Don't hesitate to have a new member orientation session online either. Training topics include constitution
and bylaws, budget, past successes of the chapter. Icebreaker/
socials, a "meet the new members" meeting, listing the names
in the chapter newsletter or minutes and an invitation to an
executive board meeting are successful methods of integrating
the new brother Defenders of Hellenism.

Retention
Send out chapter billings quarterly. Do not wait. Be persistent
and offer up electronic forms of payment if you are able to do

www.ahepa.org

so. Log onto the AHEPA website under the AHEPA technology
tool kit for further guidance.
Now is the time to reach out to each and every member that
may be delinquent. They are your brothers too. They took the
oath. Therefore, stress to them they are needed more than ever
and that you want them back in the fold.

Global Headquarters and District Communications
Go through each chapter member's contacts and make sure they
get our AHEPA E-News, Action Alerts, and Supreme President's
Messages. Also, post those messages on your chapter and district websites and forward them on to your Facebook and other
social platforms. Members need to know the latest and how
AHEPA works for them and the community exhaustively each
and every day.

Clean up your rosters
Now is the time to update your rosters. Reach out to each and
every person, get their updated information and engage them.
Involve them on a committee or just get to join the next event,
in the virtual or in person.

Don't Be a Dominator, Be a Facilitator
We have seen many committee, chapter and district virtual
conferences. On occasion, there are a few of us that like to
dominate the conversation. Others may have something to say
too. Encourage their participation and engage them, you never
know what you will get. Recognize everyone on the virtual call,
remember you cannot see their hands all the time.

Have Fun
Chapters continue to meet in person, others in the virtual
world. Visit a senior brother's home, have a virtual Happy
Hour, broadcast your AHEPA Cares or other communitybased projects to your members on Facebook. Take the time
to examine other platforms that make events interactive. Join
in on the many seminars we have on the web and encourage
chapter members to do the same. Host joint virtual meetings
with other chapters as well, or with the AHEPA Family. The
Daughters, Sons and Maids may have ideas for you and your
chapter and vice versa. In short, get creative and keep it
fun.
AHEPA's Top Priority - Membership. Make this another
year to remember on membership growth in your district and
chapter. Each and every week, continue the drive, reinstate
members and collect dues now to add to the roles of AHEPA
as Defenders of Hellenism! Recruit Today!

Fall 2020 · THE AHEPAN | 23

http://www.ahepa.org

The AHEPAN Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The AHEPAN Fall 2020