Need advise on getting more attendance to meetings.

hey, 
We are fairly new RSO at Illinois State University (we have existed since Spring semster last year) and we were doing great but this semester attendance to meetings has dropped as well as involvment in fundraisers.  I need help coming up with fundraising activities that would seem more interactive with members since bake sales are not keeping involvment with our members. If anyone has great advise on how to attract more students to come to meetings and some great fundraisers that are successful and would be more exciting, this would be very helpful to our club! thanks everyone
- Cara 

Hi Cara!

Thanks so much for your leadership at Illinois State! This is a great question, and I have a few ideas for you. The Campus Initiative program has several resources to help brainstorm ideas for fundraising events and member engagement. The first resource is the attached '35 Fundraising Ideas' which is also uploaded in the Campus Initiative files on this Action Center. The second resource I would love to share is your National Council member, who happens to be Soraiya from VCU. I also serve as the Global Citizenship Fellow in the Chicago office and am happy to support your efforts. I'll send an e-mail to you and Soraiya to make sure we are connected.

Also, it's great to hear ideas from other Campus Initiative leaders. Thanks for starting the conversation.

For other Campus Initiative members, what has worked well in keeping members involved at meetings? What are examples of creative fundraisers that keep your campus engaged?


Best,
Mandy
Global Citizenship Fellow, Chicago

thank you so much for the ideas,  I would love to hear from other campuses and what worked for them....

Hi Cara!
I'm from UNICEF at Diablo Valley College at North California, we're also fairly new at this.
We found that tabling at crowded spots in campus works well, and don't forget to join club days.
Facebook page, flyers, and posters really helps too.

As for keeping involvement, we put fun games in our meetings and got the members to really be involved in events, such as giving out responsibilities and officer positions.
Sometimes we would have little gifts and free foods.

Best of luck,
Felippa
UNICEF at DVC

Hi Cara,

Thank you so much for all of your hard work on behalf of UNICEF! My name is Miko, and I am the Campus Initiaitive Public Ally at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF national office. I am here to support you in any way I can, so please feel free to reach out! You can email me at volunteer@unicefusa.org.

The 35 Fundraising Ideas that Mandy posted is an excellent resource.

Here are some tips for effective member recruitment and retention:

• share info about your meetings in as many palces as possible (in class, on school website, emails to school listservs, etc).
• table or have a presence at every possible student involvement fair or other big school events
• establish a regular meeting time and a central meeting place
• partner with like-minded organizations on events and form good relationships with them
• Social Media is key!
• learn your member's names (makes them feel included)
• have opportunities for members to contribute and have leadership roles
• socials are a fun way for members to get to know each other and want to continue to come because it's fun and they have friends in the organization

I hope some of these help! Again, feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns!

Best,
Miko
Campus Public Ally

all of these ideas have really helped me come up with things to do...thanks again! Ill bring this information with me to the next exec board meeting and we can begin to brainstorm and make these things happen.  thank you! 

Please continue to keep us posted about your success and how we can assist further! There are over 120 clubs across the country  facing some of the same questions and many of them would love to exchange ideas and share best practices. We look forward to seeing you at the annual campus summit in October 2013 as this will also be a great time to see other campus leaders and to share best practices.