The Concord Squadron has in the last year instituted a policy by which we endeavor to only accept new members during 4-5 week long "new member periods" conducted several times a year. Crazy, you say? Read on.
This policy grew out of the aftermath of our October 2000 open house, in which new members (cadet and senior) were still trickling in the door the week before Christmas. This put a serious tax on our resources, both training and administrative. It seemed that our membership board was constantly meeting (which, of course, took time away from those folk's primary duties), and we were mailing off another packet of membership paperwork to National HQ every other week.
The most serious toll was on our training programs. Of 14 cadets who were eventually brought in as a result of our October open house, only 4 were there from the very first week. The remainder of the cadets were each on different weeks. Cadets who were there for many weeks were seeing the training repeated for them several times as the newer cadets were brought up to speed. In short, we had 14 cadets, none of whom were on the "same team." Some cadets were taking their Curry test and were not even nearly ready to do so, while another cadet spent a whopping 14 weeks as a "basic" (he was from before the open house.. we needed to get him graduated!)
In December, a decision was made by the commander to stop accepting new members until the 25 January Open House. Anybody who came in the door after early December was talked to, shown around, and handed a Winter Open House flyer with the instructions "Come back on 25 January, see our presentations, and you can join then."
Crazy you say? Crazy like a fox! There are a couple reasons why this isn't as nutty as it seems: In a worst case scenario, an individual showing up about 3 weeks after the open house will have to wait for the next one, usually no more than 8-10 weeks away. And if the person isn't willing to wait a few weeks to join CAP, or doesn't show back up, exactly how interested in joining CAP were they, really? If that person cannot wait a few weeks to join, then they might not be happy waiting a few weeks to get their books or uniforms, or for their encampment packet, or their promotion, or whatever.
Presently, we open our "new member" period about a week before the open house. We require new members to attend at least three meetings before they can even turn their paperwork in, and we build in a cushion of a couple weeks in the event someone cannot make the open house but still wants to join. The second week after the open house is the last night we'll hand out paperwork for new members (remember the three meetings!). Anybody coming after that week gets the nickel tour and a flyer for the next open house, or we take their name and number and send them a flyer 30 days prior to the next event.
The January 25th Open House was our first under this new policy. We recruited 15 new cadets, one senior and two sponsor members that night. All had their paperwork in and processed by the unit before 22 February. Between 15 and 22 February, we ran everybody through membership boards and got all their paperwork off to National by 23 February. The Basic Cadets were given a date of April 26th as their graduation date. Now they had a target to work towards. They knew what night they were going to take their PT test, what night they would be given the Curry test, etc. They graduated on 26 April, all together, at same time, under the glare of TV lights from the local ABC affiliate.
The May 24th Open House was run in the same manner. Potential members had to have their paperwork to the unit by 28 June, and that CBT cycle was scheduled to graduate in only 8 weeks on the 2nd of August (in time for encampment). We managed to recruit 14 new cadets and one senior.
For this upcoming October event, our target is another 15 cadets and 2 seniors. We'll see how that goes.
Comments? Email me: dninness@mediaone.net