Chapter Recruiting and Retention

Contacting Prospective Members, New Members or Non-Renewing Members

Chapters are urged to use NARFE Reports M-112 and M-114 to keep track of their members. The M-112 is received on a monthly basis and shows a variety of information including the names of prospective members, new members and members that have received their second renewal notice. It is highly recommended that every chapter have a person responsible for membership tracking in their chapter.

The M-114 report is a list, issued twice yearly, of chapter members. Whenever this report is received by the chapter, a check can be made of anyone who has been sent a letter or card, to see if they appear on the chapter membership roll. This is a good way to check whether or not the mailing is working.

Letters have been prepared and are accessible through the links below to send to those on the list who fall under the prospective member, new member or non-renewing member (It is recommended that a chapter not send a card to a non-renewing member until their name appears on the list of second notifications). Along with the letter to a non-renewing member, a NARFE Form DW-2, "Dues Withholding Application" should be enclosed, since dues withholding is mentioned in the letter. If your chapter has a newsletter, you may wish to include it for prospective or new members. You might consider taking a prospective or new member out to lunch to meet them personally and welcome them to NARFE.

After a reasonable passage of time, say two weeks, the chapter membership chair should call the person who has been indicated as a non-renewing member and see if they have both received the letter or card and if they intend to re-enroll.

Click on the link shown to display and download the letter you wish to use.

                In PDF Format                                                                In Word Format

                Prospective Member                                                   Prospective Member                                                                                                                      

                New Member                                                                New Member

                Non-Renewing Member                                              Non-Renewing Member

The letters are in PDF or Microsoft Word format, simply click on the format you want. The PDF format is mainly for reading and the Word format can be manipulated on your computer. At the very least, the name of the person the letter is being sent to and the name, phone number and e-mail of a chapter contact person may be inserted. In addition to these three letters, a large postcard is available to send to the non-renewing member. Contact George Wilken at (501) 851-8019 or arkwxman@sbcglobal.net to obtain one or more of these cards. The cards have space to insert chapter contact information.

Setting Up a Chapter Recruiting Effort

Chapters are urged to seek out health fairs, mall exhibits and other similar meetings to set up a recruiting table for their chapter. Ashdown Chapter 1668 sets up a booth on a yearly basis at a health fair in Little River County, at the courthouse. They provide a give-away, such as an attractive plant, to draw people in to sign-up. The card they provide asks if those who stop by are a federal retiree, active federal employee or a spouse of either one. This provides leads that the chapter can follow up on. This is a straightforward and often inexpensive way of presenting NARFE to a group of people. Pictures of their effort follows.

Thanks to Chapter 1668 President Wynell Choate for sending along this look at one chapter's efforts at recruiting.

More information on chapter recruiting and retention will be placed on this page as it becomes available.

END

To return click home