Was disappointed that we lost a few members in the recent
renewal period. But I look at the
members we have gained over the past few years with great appreciation and am
encouraged by their spirit to get involved with the camp’s activities and
projects. For these past few years the SCV
has struggled with initiatives to increase membership and retention. The SCV embraced Dr. Tom Hiter’s Vision 2016
plan to grow membership and encourage thriving camps by sharing best practices
from across the organization. Though
overall membership has remained somewhat level or stagnant, not surprisingly,
when our heritage has been under assault and our Confederate monuments and
flags attacked, we realize an uptick in membership. The Division has held workshops and Brigade
Commander Stover held a Brigade leadership meeting with breakouts to discuss planting
new camps and engaging and retaining members thru camp activities.
Millennials are the largest generation in American
history. Millions have Confederate
ancestors and are potential members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In reading the recent Confederate Veteran
magazine report by Lt. Commander McCluney, I noted that he indicated he was a
former educator. Former Alabama Division
Commander Gary Carlyle was a former high school teacher. Our own Brigade Commander Stover teaches
children. I believe these folks have an
insight into how to reach millennials particularly as they have had personal
experience reaching them as educators. 1Lt.
Commander McCluney noted, “To marketers, millennials are the holy grail of potential
consumers (but) marketers still don’t know how to court them, what creative
tactics and marketing principles should be used to create enjoyable shareable
content for millennials. Many associations
are waiting for Generation Y to come of age and change their engagement habits
to mirror habits of previous generations who joined associations as their
career and age advanced. (But) Generation Y has a different set of needs,
interests and values with implications for every functional area of
associations from advocacy to technology of websites. How (we) attracted young
members a decade ago isn’t working for (us) today.”
McCluney emphasized that “the next generation of members values
Real Involvement. They need to feel needed and want recognition and reward.
They value a variety of challenging work, an environment fostering a spirit of
creativity and innovation. To engage millennials use mission focused
messaging, targeted campaigns and opportunities to get hands on.” He referenced a Millennial Impact Report
(themillenialimpact.com/2014-research) citing key trends, “Millennials engage
with causes to help people, not institutions. Millennials support issues rather
than organizations.” Millennials prefer
limited remote engagement. They are influenced
by their peers. They “see no value in becoming a member of what they see as an
inefficient organization.” He
summarized an action plan to “explain qualifications for joining the SCV and
your camp, create strategies (such as a reward system) for referrals, make
young people want to participate and not miss out and, advertise your
camp/program on social media”
Victoria Lammona wrote “6 Ways to Increase Association
Membership” ( site-seeker.com/increase-millennial-membership-associations) and
touched on many of these same points but it was interesting to see how the SCV offers
very much these desired attributes. “Create
an exclusive environment” (such as descendancy from a Confederate veteran). “Employ Cause Marketing and Social Responsibility
Efforts” (such as our charitable initiatives including Salvation Army
bell-ringing and canned food drives and charitable donations). “Offer Educational Opportunities” (like our
monthly meetings, the Division Education Conference and the Stephen Dill Lee
Institute). “Promote and Incentivize
Engagement” (like thru Brigade and Division awards for supporting activities
and fundraisers). “Personalize
Everything and Anything” (reaching members on a personal level and providing
personal membership content). “Forfeit
Control’ (allowing younger members to assume leadership positions and drive
initiatives and own activities). These same initiatives surely apply to attracting
members of all ages who want a rewarding association that creates a sense of
worth, value and ownership.
I would like to continue to broaden our social media exposure,
perhaps creating an Instagram account. Need
an owner. We could post videos of our
meeting presentations on YouTube to further increase reach and provide accessibility
for members and potential compatriots. Need
an owner. We need to do better at
approaching and attracting all potential members and especially millennials and
younger men. We are all responsible. We can do better in ensuring that all our
members understand the importance of their contributions and participation in camp
activities and make sure they are valued as important individuals and as part
of our SCV organization. I would encourage everyone to propose ideas and
step forward to grasp ownership for new initiatives to further the Charge, to improve
our exposure and outreach in our community and, to make the SCV and the Dragoons
a bigger and better organization.
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