by Ardis Bazyn
Our affiliates use a number of strategies to invite new members and other interested people to their meetings. If your group has not tried some of these methods, perhaps one or more of the strategies listed below will work for you.
Advertise!
Publicity works! Even if your members cannot, because of their visual impairments, read newspapers and bulletin boards, their friends and family members can!
Nearly all local newspapers contain columns which include information about weekly or monthly events. Make a connection with the editor of such a column, and publicize details about your meetings and special events.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to call local radio-reading services and dial-in telephone newspaper reading services. These organizations often run announcements of special importance to blind listeners, either between programming segments or as a specific choice on a dial-in menu.
Local radio stations often run public-service spots or feature community bulletin board announcements. Radio is a very accessible medium for blind people. Having your meetings and special events listed among these announcements is a good way to attract newcomers and new members.
Some cable TV stations present a scrolling screen display which lists coming community events. (When you call to have your events included in these listings, you will have a good opportunity to explain that blind people will need to rely on the services of sighted readers unless the station has the sensitivity and foresight to read such announcements aloud!) When you advertise in a newspaper or radio station or reading service, be certain to proofread your announcements so that they will be complete and clear. State the date, day, time, location, any special transportation arrangements or assistance options, and potential cancellation and rescheduling information.
Phone Trees
Phone trees are a useful low-tech way to notify members and other interested people about upcoming meetings and special events. There are electronic phone-tree programs available for a small monthly fee from local telephone service providers which can distribute pre-recorded messages to lists of phone numbers.
Educate
When you teach members of the community at large about blindness and the issues that are important to visually impaired people, you have an opportunity to advance the general state of knowledge about the capabilities and needs of people who are blind, and to tell your audience about your affiliate and the American Council of the Blind. Some of our affiliates have sent volunteers to talk to drivers’ education classes, schools and service clubs. Members have gotten mayors, county commissioners, governors, and legislators to enact proclamations and to publicize their relevance. Newspapers — especially the local dailies and weeklies — are willing to publish news releases and copies of proclamations.
A useful strategy for improving awareness about blindness and the capabilities of disabled people, while promoting the benefits and services of your organization, is to write to colleges and universities to offer your services as mentors or consultants to visually impaired students, and to help educate their disabled student services offices or organizations.
Network
Most people come to their first ACB affiliate meeting because of a personal contact with another member. Inviting a friend or acquaintance to come to a meeting or special event is still the best way to recruit new members.
When your group is planning a special event, remember to plan ahead for the publicity which will attract new members! Affiliates have told me that most media companies need at least two weeks’ notice prior to scheduled events.
Printed press releases can be circulated to various media outlets. These news releases can generate additional coverage, including radio and television interviews and features.
In addition, highlight upcoming special events in affiliate and chapter newsletters.
Contests and Awards
Promotion activities which involve winning prizes or receiving special recognition are excellent ways to inform the general public about your affiliates and to attract new members as well. Young school children can be encouraged to write essays, color pictures, or create art works which demonstrate heightened sensitivity to the needs of disabled people, or relate in some positive way to the mission of your organization.
Or your affiliate might sponsor contests or special events for blind and visually impaired children. These activities will introduce younger children to older, more experienced, and successful blind people, and can involve participation and membership by their friends and families as well.
Scholarships
Encourage high school and college students who will be applying for the scholarships which your affiliate offers to come to your meetings and get to know your members. Let students in your communities know that your organizations are interested in learning who they are and in helping them to cope with their visual impairments. Encourage them to talk to your members about the things that are important to them and the ways that your financial assistance is benefitting them.
Share Information about ACB Resources
Your affiliate may have prepared brochures or lists of community resources which can be very helpful to newcomers and to new members. Lists of resources — both local and national — for visually impaired people who may need to know about specialized products and services, health care, education, or transportation can be a godsend to a person who is newly blind, or a family member or friend of a visually impaired person.
If your affiliate does not have an up-to-date brochure, or a monthly newsletter, consider writing a brochure or starting a newsletter. Contact doctors, ophthalmologists, and hospitals. Let them know about your organization, and give them a supply of your brochures and/or printed cards to distribute to patients and family members. If medical personnel seem reluctant to distribute your organization’s information, tell them that people with all levels of visual impairment can use help and support from time to time, and that your organization is focused broadly enough to be valuable to a wide spectrum of visually impaired people.
Chapters sometimes create simple flyers so they have printed materials to distribute when they hold bake sales or other community fund-raising events. These flyers include meeting times and telephone numbers for the affiliate or chapter, as well as listings of advocacy services, and can be valuable tools for spreading the word about your affiliate and ACB. The ACB brochure presents an overview of the national organization and lists all the special-interest affiliates. “The Braille Forum” keeps members, friends and acquaintances up-to-date on issues which are important to people who are blind.
The ABCs of ACB is an excellent organizational resource, as are the constitution and resolutions, the ACB web site (http://www.acb.org), and ACB’s listservs: ACB-L and ACB- Announce.
ACB’s newest media offering, ACB-Radio, is a wonderful resource for information about ACB, as well as an entertaining way to participate in a world-wide community of people who share the bond of visual impairment and sensitivity to one another’s needs and aspirations. Playing the ACB-Radio station on a laptop computer at chapter or affiliate meetings can acquaint members who may not yet have access to their own personal computers with this newest form of ACB’s media outreach.
Talk to Other ACB Affiliates
Share convention-planning strategies and memories with your friends and acquaintances from other ACB affiliates. When you discover shared interests or local issues which are important to more than one chapter or special-interest affiliate, consider holding joint meetings or common special events. Such shared programs may cut costs for individual organizations and increase overall attendance.
Transportation Problems
We are all aware of the transportation problems which plague every organization of blind people, and cause apprehension and frustration for each of us individually. Successful strategies which some affiliates have used to solve transportation problems have included contacting local Lions Clubs, church groups, or chapters of AARP, and asking for volunteer drivers. Some affiliates have offered to pay sighted spouses who are willing to drive, or to pay portions of cab fares for members who otherwise would not be able to afford to come. Some towns and cities subsidize accessible vans for elderly and disabled people, and some affiliates have used these modestly priced community transportation services. Holding meetings at restaurants or public buildings which are on accessible public-transit routes is another important component of solving transportation problems.
Support Services and Opportunities to Socialize
Sponsor supportive services and events which will encourage visually impaired people to come to your get-togethers. Invite speakers from local service organizations, such as the special-needs library in your community, community colleges, county recreation programs, Green Thumb, or the local paratransit provider, to come and tell members about their programs and services.
Many chapters set aside a 10-minute “share time” at each meeting, so that members can get to know one another better. Each of your meetings might include a segment during which attendees are encouraged to talk about programs or organizations which have been particularly helpful to them. Sometimes chapters invite members to share their hobbies or special talents, or to exhibit special collections, which can range from tapes of old radio shows to porcelain dolls, saltshakers, shot glasses, or just about anything that is collectible!
Meetings at which members or specially invited speakers can share information about acquiring and operating assistive technology are very popular, especially among younger members. The importance of assistive technology is not limited to those who are well-informed about hardware and software, however. We all need to learn to function — to work, to play, and to get through our days — in a world which requires an increasing degree of technological sophistication. Chapters and affiliates who can help close the so-called digital divide will attract new members and encourage their “regulars” to attend.
We can all use information about grocery delivery services, particularly excellent home-repair services, handy-men (or women!), pet groomers, volunteer readers, transportation providers, and so on. Members will welcome the opportunity to compare notes and to learn from one another. Affiliates may want to incorporate such information into a list of services and resources which can be updated periodically and disseminated in a variety of media to interested members and newcomers.
Special events do not need to be elaborate, expensive undertakings. The best events are those which encourage friendly camaraderie. Think about hosting potluck suppers, where members bring their favorite dishes, along with copies of the recipes for making them. Sometimes progressive dinners involve traveling from home to home, eating a different course at each place. Another approach is to travel from table to table, where people share each course with different groups of dinner companions.
Our affiliates host box socials; soup suppers; trips to theaters, restaurants, movies, or museums; holiday parties; and summer picnics. These events are successful because they are attended by people who are genuinely happy to spend time with one another, and because planning committees are careful to find adequate transportation and to recruit enough sighted volunteers to make everyone feel comfortable.
A favorite event for many chapters is sharing audio-described videos. A group can rent an audio-described videotape, or members may share videos from their personal collections.
Other affiliates host game nights, at which all the latest electronic talking games make an appearance, along with more traditional accessible versions of Scrabble, checkers, or chess, and large-print/braille playing cards.
Fund-raising events can also encourage new members to participate and first-timers to investigate your organization. Some of our affiliates have experienced great fund-raising success by hosting Stanley or Tupperware parties. More traditional companies can also be encouraged to donate a percentage of sales to your affiliate.
Use the Internet to Your Advantage
Making listservs and chat rooms available to your members will enhance intra-organizational communication, and give people a way to share experiences, compare notes, ask for and offer advice, and generally, to stay in touch.
If your affiliate can make a web page available on the World Wide Web, you will be able to communicate with and inform a large circle of friends, members, and interested people. You can link your site to ACB’s site and make an abundance of resources available to your visitors and supporters.
Outreach and Membership Development Awards
Reward excellence! You might want to give a certificate to a member who brings in the most first-timers. A certificate may also be in order for members who perform extraordinary services for the organization. Honoring someone with a life membership in ACB will not only be especially gratifying for that person, but will also allow your affiliate to inform everyone in ACB about your good fortune in having that person as a valuable and valued member of your affiliate.
You can give writing awards to people whose articles or columns in your newsletters have been especially informative or enjoyable, or whose brochures or pamphlets have improved the quality of life for visually impaired people in your community, in general.
Special promotions of awards ceremonies or banquets may energize peripherally involved members or help to bring those shy people among you out of their shells. ACB is a successful, viable, important organization! You would not be a member of your local or special-interest affiliate if you were not convinced that attending meetings, knowing other members, and taking part in service activities enables you to be the kind of person you want to be. Spread the word! Bring newcomers to your meetings, and re-invigorate inactive ones! Membership development is one of the most important activities any affiliate, and any affiliate member, can participate in.
Membership committee members are: Deborah Grubb, Ardis Bazyn, Alan Beatty, Ed Bradley, Paulette Monthei, Janis Stanger and Tom Tobin. Terry Pacheco is the national office liaison. Please contact any one of us to share your ideas, compare strategies, and further the important cause, and the growth, of your individual affiliates and the American Council of the Blind.