Annual Leader Drive

 

Engaging Monthly Leaders: Annual Leader Drive

 

 

Every October, we require that established chapters hold their Annual Leader Drive. The goal is to inspire your chapter members to sign up to lead a monthly activity the following year. The Leader Drive takes about 2-3 weeks and the goal is to have next year’s calendar full by the end of the Leader Drive.

 

Blank Template: Chicktime- Schedule 2016 Template

 

We encourage your leadership team to divvy up the months and be responsible for finding monthly workshop leaders BEFORE conducting an workshop leader email campaign to your volunteers. For example, the Canyon Lake leadership team has 3 co-leaders. They each committed to finding 4 workshop leaders. They started the first week in October and made phone calls to the ‘go-to’ friends, family, neighbors, colleagues and even their favorite shop owners (bakeries, yoga studios) and did everything they could to get 4 committed workshop leaders each. They texted each other every time they got a commitment and for what month to keep the other co-leaders in the loop (mainly so they knew which months were taken and which still needed workshop leaders). At the beginning of the 2nd week in October, an email campaign to the chapter volunteers began to fill whatever months were still open (needed a workshop leader).

 

Prior to sending out the first email, fill out your 2016 schedule template with the months each co-leader will lead along with the months your friends and colleagues have committed to lead. You want to look somewhat successful before you begin (you don’t want to start with a blank slate, that can be overwhelming for small chapters). The first email should share the goal: Your chapter is holding their Annual Leader Drive with the goal of having committed leader for every month next year. Ask them to check their next year’s calendars and email back with the month they would like to lead. As soon as you hear back from someone, email the group again and thank that person. Then let the group know which months next year still need leaders. Wait until you hear back from someone and again, email the group and give them an update and ask again for more monthly activity/workshop leaders to sign up for next year. Keep going until your entire calendar for next year is filled with monthly workshop/activity leaders. Close to the end of drive, you may have to make a few phone calls and encourage the more dedicated volunteers to commit (if they haven’t responded to the emails). This is a proven and very effective method for engaging monthly volunteers for established chapters.

 

The process includes sending out lively emails that result in action.Click here for a sample: Monthly Leader Drive

 

 

There are a templates in the CRM labeled ‘Leader Drive Templates’ and we encourage you to use them. You will need to customize them to fit your chapter. You are welcome to copy/paste these templates and send them out using your regular email provider, or you can copy the templates and send them out through the CRM.

 

Once your calendar is full, create a schedule listing the monthly workshop leader, the activity, and the co-leader host.

 

Sample: Sample Annual Schedule with co-leaders as monthly hosts

 

Don’t forget the very important step of adding your events with details and RSVP contact to the calendar at Chicktime.com. This is where we pull your event details to create custom invites for your events and add your events to volunteermatch.org.