HOW TO MAKE MEMBERS FOR YOUR ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANISATION

HOW TO MAKE MEMBERS FOR YOUR ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANISATION

1.	Why do you need members
2.	Focus
3.	How do you make members
4.	Village Membership
5.	Tips

Why do you need members

Many animal welfare organisations start with just two determined people. As time goes on the duties of these founders expand till they cannot cope any more. They have to run the office, fight animal campaigns, raise money, do actual rescue work, attend to cruelty calls, interact with municipalities, run horse and cattle camps, open a shelter......the list of duties increases as they become more effective and the people of the area start trusting them. In such a situation it is important that the base of the organisation grows and its members increase to a point where they have a constant stream of volunteers and people in every part of the city/district who will handle problems and do fund raising.

Very often the original founders tire of the work and simply shut it down or leave as they are unable to cope. It is important that when this happens there are other people to carry on with the work. Also, for any organisations to remain vigorous, it needs a constant inflow of new people who can bring in new ideas and fresh enthusiasm.

Membership drives are necessary for various reasons:

the more members the more animals are protected and more local sensitisation takes place about the NGO.

individual animals can be rescued more effectively by local members.

Fundraising can be done.

Institutionalised cruelty can be brought to public attention and stopped.

Issues of animal welfare can be brought into political focus.

Human education can be done in educational institutions.

Homes can be found for street animals.

Newsletters and public relations can be made effective.

Focus

Before you start recruitment of members, it is assumed that you have formed a club, decided the rules and regulations and made a mission statement about its aims - Are you going to focus on rescue work, creating foster home facilities and encourage animal adoption? Are you going to do education and advocacy? Are you going to focus on just one species of animal like a dog, cow, monkey, snake or bird? Are you going to concentrate on wildlife protection like raiding illegal sellers, catching madaris, stopping circuses, overseeing and helping reform the zoo? Are you going to be a group that concentrates on legal action for animal protection? Are you going to concentrate on draught animals-horses, mules, donkeys, bullocks, buffaloes and their overloading and care? Are you going to tackle the meat trade and stop illegal butchershops, chicken overloading, check the slaughterhouse, stop overloaded trucks and trains carrying animals for slaughter? Are you going to concentrate on stopping animal sacrifice? Are you going to stop practices like bull races and fights, cock and ram fights? Are you going to conentrate on habitat management for animals: planting trees, cleaning waterbodies, stopping the use of plastic, protecting reserved areas? Or are you going to do all of these?

If all then you need members/volunteers in different subdivisions.

The next thing you need is an address and a phone. Otherwise how do people call to find out what work you are going to do to enroll themselves: You need to make a brochure with the description of the organisation and its aims.

You need to explain to the member as to how he will benefit from the activities of the club and what he will get as a distinguishing mark (badge etc.). You need to put a membership form in the brochure which people can fill and return.

How do you make members

Let us suppose that you start from a zero base: you know nobody, you have no VIP/celebrity/journalist to get you instant recognition, you have very little money and you are in a hurry. What you need are 100 handmade attractive and informative posters and lots of legwork. Here are some ideas of what you can do if you want a town/city based membership:

Look at the local directory and get the addresses/ phone numbers of the local associations (Rotary, Lions, NCC, Golf/Gymkhana, Sports, Bar Associations, NGOs). Call on the presidents/ secretaries of these associations and request them to ask their members at the next meeting whether they would like to take part in animal welfare activities. Alternatively you can take a list of their members and write to them enclosing your brochure.

If there is a Jain or Marwari association or a vegetarian club contact them.

Take appointments with principals of schools and ask them if you can do a membership drive with their students. Either the school will do the announcements at assembly time and hand out brochures or you can request to make a small speech about animal welfare and then ask if any one wants to become a member. Once you have a few members, they will recruit the rest.

You can talk to a college union body and ask them to put up posters giving the details of your organisation and the address/phone number.

Go to the local Gaushala and ask their members/ vounteers if they would like to join your organisation as well.

Start a postcard chain. Ask each member that you make to write ten postcards to people that they know in the district to become members. Give a prize to the person who recruits the most members in a year

Write to all-India, organisations like:
People for Animals, A-4, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi - 110 065, Ph: 6840402

Animal Welfare Board of India 3rd Seaward Road, Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur Chennai - 600 041, Ph: 4612842, 4612684, Fax. 4612807 Telefax: 4454330 email:awabi@md3.vsnl.net.in

Wildlife Fund for Nature-India, Pirojsha Godrej National Conservartion Centre 172-B Lodhi Estate, New Delhi - 110 003 Ph: 4616532, 4693744, 4691760-2, Fax: 4626837

Ask them for information on the lists of their members in your area. If they know people they will certainly respond. You can contact these people to join your group.

Study your media and get to know the journalists. Send each one a letter introducting yourself and asking for a one to one meeting. Try to get a journalist of a local paper (however small) to write about your association giving your address/phone number. Give out press releases so that the newspapers write about you constantly. Write letters to the editor about local problems and make the letters interesting so that the papers will carry them. Send press kits to journalists by name.

Every time you get a phone call for the rescue of an injured animal, take the brochure/membership form along and give it to the person who has called and ask him/her to become a member.

If you have a local restaurant/shop which is very popular ask them if you can put posters in their window/door/counter.

Most colonies have community centre. Put a poster up in each community centre.

You can make a small filmslide and ask a local movie theatre if they will show it at interval time.

Go to all the private veterinarians and ask them to become members and to put a poster about the organisation in their clinics. You can ask the government veterinary hospital to do the same.

Write to a well known animal activist and ask him/ her to come to your area and give a talk. You can advertise the event in the papers through a journalist. If you know of any VIP coming to your area then write and ask them if they will include a visit to your office. You can do the same with any local politician.

Meet members of the local administration regularly and keep them informed of your activities. They will then refer people to you. Try to organise an animal welfare information seminar which is attended by a senior member of the administration. Remember the more visibility your organisation has, the more funds and members it will attract.

Village Membership

It will be harder to make members in villages. You will have to go to the village, talk to the local school teacher and the village pradhan and see if members can be recruited. You can do one village a week and then when you have members there they can go with you to the next village. One dedicated volunteer is worth more than a large monetary contribution.

Tips

Only one tenth of the people who become members are going to be active in any way. This does not diminish the importance of the others as you need the funds that comes in from the membership money. You need to create a feeling of importance in your members so that even if they do nothing actively, they will talk about the organisation and get people interested in it. Basically the organisation will be run by a small core group.

Only take from a member what they can give easily. For instance a member may be working in a hotel. They can be asked to get leftover food from the hotel for the shelter. Or if you have a fundraiser that needs a hotel, they could help to get the premises free.

If you have a member in a school as a teacher or student, they could make a kindness club and also mobilise volunteers for a special project like fund collection or collecting medicines or cleanliness campaigns or to go once a week to help in the shelter.

A journalist could write on animal based issues. A veterinary doctor or student could give services free on particular days or for camps or could treat rescued animals free. A painter could have an exhibition and give part of the proceeds to the organisation. A printer can do the newsletter free. A member with a computer could do some research work or help with the newsletter.

Few members will work with the intensity of the core group so do not expect the same sense of commitment. Some will only write letters. Most members will be working at their own jobs and will not have the time or energy to do much after that. So you have to use their on-job skills to benefit animals.

Unless you have regular meetings with specific agendas, the interest of the members will wane. If it is a large city, make colony groups and make them interact with each other and give the core group a monthly report. Even if there are two members in a colony, make them meet. The way to do this is to regularly inform old members as to who the new members in their area are. You can also ask each member to make ten more in their own colonies/ workplaces so that the network grows.

Each member should be taught first aid. You should have workshops and inform members of the time and place. A local vet can be asked to teach simple home remedies for colony animals, how to make out when an animal needs help, how to catch and handle animals etc. Once a member learns this and puts his information to use in the colony a number of people will be attracted to the organisation.

INTRODUCTION

CONSTITUTION

ACTS

BOARD'S FUNCTION

INVESTIGATION

OFFICERS\ MEMBERS

ORGANISATIONS

GRANTS

POLICY

PUBLICATIONS

CONTACT US

copyright @ 2002 Fusiontec Software.	For more details: ANIMAL WELFARE BOARD OF INDIA
info@fusiontecsoftware.com	awbi@md3.vsnl.net.in


	Why do you need members
	Many animal welfare organisations start with just two determined people. As time goes on the duties of these founders expand till they cannot cope any more. They have to run the office, fight animal campaigns, raise money, do actual rescue work, attend to cruelty calls, interact with municipalities, run horse and cattle camps, open a shelter......the list of duties increases as they become more effective and the people of the area start trusting them. In such a situation it is important that the base of the organisation grows and its members increase to a point where they have a constant stream of volunteers and people in every part of the city/district who will handle problems and do fund raising. Very often the original founders tire of the work and simply shut it down or leave as they are unable to cope. It is important that when this happens there are other people to carry on with the work. Also, for any organisations to remain vigorous, it needs a constant inflow of new people who can bring in new ideas and fresh enthusiasm. Membership drives are necessary for various reasons: the more members the more animals are protected and more local sensitisation takes place about the NGO. individual animals can be rescued more effectively by local members. Fundraising can be done. Institutionalised cruelty can be brought to public attention and stopped. Issues of animal welfare can be brought into political focus. Human education can be done in educational institutions. Homes can be found for street animals. Newsletters and public relations can be made effective.
	Focus
	Before you start recruitment of members, it is assumed that you have formed a club, decided the rules and regulations and made a mission statement about its aims - Are you going to focus on rescue work, creating foster home facilities and encourage animal adoption? Are you going to do education and advocacy? Are you going to focus on just one species of animal like a dog, cow, monkey, snake or bird? Are you going to concentrate on wildlife protection like raiding illegal sellers, catching madaris, stopping circuses, overseeing and helping reform the zoo? Are you going to be a group that concentrates on legal action for animal protection? Are you going to concentrate on draught animals-horses, mules, donkeys, bullocks, buffaloes and their overloading and care? Are you going to tackle the meat trade and stop illegal butchershops, chicken overloading, check the slaughterhouse, stop overloaded trucks and trains carrying animals for slaughter? Are you going to concentrate on stopping animal sacrifice? Are you going to stop practices like bull races and fights, cock and ram fights? Are you going to conentrate on habitat management for animals: planting trees, cleaning waterbodies, stopping the use of plastic, protecting reserved areas? Or are you going to do all of these? If all then you need members/volunteers in different subdivisions. The next thing you need is an address and a phone. Otherwise how do people call to find out what work you are going to do to enroll themselves: You need to make a brochure with the description of the organisation and its aims. You need to explain to the member as to how he will benefit from the activities of the club and what he will get as a distinguishing mark (badge etc.). You need to put a membership form in the brochure which people can fill and return.

	How do you make members
	Let us suppose that you start from a zero base: you know nobody, you have no VIP/celebrity/journalist to get you instant recognition, you have very little money and you are in a hurry. What you need are 100 handmade attractive and informative posters and lots of legwork. Here are some ideas of what you can do if you want a town/city based membership: Look at the local directory and get the addresses/ phone numbers of the local associations (Rotary, Lions, NCC, Golf/Gymkhana, Sports, Bar Associations, NGOs). Call on the presidents/ secretaries of these associations and request them to ask their members at the next meeting whether they would like to take part in animal welfare activities. Alternatively you can take a list of their members and write to them enclosing your brochure. If there is a Jain or Marwari association or a vegetarian club contact them. Take appointments with principals of schools and ask them if you can do a membership drive with their students. Either the school will do the announcements at assembly time and hand out brochures or you can request to make a small speech about animal welfare and then ask if any one wants to become a member. Once you have a few members, they will recruit the rest. You can talk to a college union body and ask them to put up posters giving the details of your organisation and the address/phone number. Go to the local Gaushala and ask their members/ vounteers if they would like to join your organisation as well. Start a postcard chain. Ask each member that you make to write ten postcards to people that they know in the district to become members. Give a prize to the person who recruits the most members in a year Write to all-India, organisations like: People for Animals, A-4, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi - 110 065, Ph: 6840402 Animal Welfare Board of India 3rd Seaward Road, Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur Chennai - 600 041, Ph: 4612842, 4612684, Fax. 4612807 Telefax: 4454330 email:awabi@md3.vsnl.net.in Wildlife Fund for Nature-India, Pirojsha Godrej National Conservartion Centre 172-B Lodhi Estate, New Delhi - 110 003 Ph: 4616532, 4693744, 4691760-2, Fax: 4626837 Ask them for information on the lists of their members in your area. If they know people they will certainly respond. You can contact these people to join your group. Study your media and get to know the journalists. Send each one a letter introducting yourself and asking for a one to one meeting. Try to get a journalist of a local paper (however small) to write about your association giving your address/phone number. Give out press releases so that the newspapers write about you constantly. Write letters to the editor about local problems and make the letters interesting so that the papers will carry them. Send press kits to journalists by name. Every time you get a phone call for the rescue of an injured animal, take the brochure/membership form along and give it to the person who has called and ask him/her to become a member. If you have a local restaurant/shop which is very popular ask them if you can put posters in their window/door/counter. Most colonies have community centre. Put a poster up in each community centre. You can make a small filmslide and ask a local movie theatre if they will show it at interval time. Go to all the private veterinarians and ask them to become members and to put a poster about the organisation in their clinics. You can ask the government veterinary hospital to do the same. Write to a well known animal activist and ask him/ her to come to your area and give a talk. You can advertise the event in the papers through a journalist. If you know of any VIP coming to your area then write and ask them if they will include a visit to your office. You can do the same with any local politician. Meet members of the local administration regularly and keep them informed of your activities. They will then refer people to you. Try to organise an animal welfare information seminar which is attended by a senior member of the administration. Remember the more visibility your organisation has, the more funds and members it will attract.
	Village Membership
	It will be harder to make members in villages. You will have to go to the village, talk to the local school teacher and the village pradhan and see if members can be recruited. You can do one village a week and then when you have members there they can go with you to the next village. One dedicated volunteer is worth more than a large monetary contribution.

	Tips
	Only one tenth of the people who become members are going to be active in any way. This does not diminish the importance of the others as you need the funds that comes in from the membership money. You need to create a feeling of importance in your members so that even if they do nothing actively, they will talk about the organisation and get people interested in it. Basically the organisation will be run by a small core group. Only take from a member what they can give easily. For instance a member may be working in a hotel. They can be asked to get leftover food from the hotel for the shelter. Or if you have a fundraiser that needs a hotel, they could help to get the premises free. If you have a member in a school as a teacher or student, they could make a kindness club and also mobilise volunteers for a special project like fund collection or collecting medicines or cleanliness campaigns or to go once a week to help in the shelter. A journalist could write on animal based issues. A veterinary doctor or student could give services free on particular days or for camps or could treat rescued animals free. A painter could have an exhibition and give part of the proceeds to the organisation. A printer can do the newsletter free. A member with a computer could do some research work or help with the newsletter. Few members will work with the intensity of the core group so do not expect the same sense of commitment. Some will only write letters. Most members will be working at their own jobs and will not have the time or energy to do much after that. So you have to use their on-job skills to benefit animals. Unless you have regular meetings with specific agendas, the interest of the members will wane. If it is a large city, make colony groups and make them interact with each other and give the core group a monthly report. Even if there are two members in a colony, make them meet. The way to do this is to regularly inform old members as to who the new members in their area are. You can also ask each member to make ten more in their own colonies/ workplaces so that the network grows. Each member should be taught first aid. You should have workshops and inform members of the time and place. A local vet can be asked to teach simple home remedies for colony animals, how to make out when an animal needs help, how to catch and handle animals etc. Once a member learns this and puts his information to use in the colony a number of people will be attracted to the organisation.