[16496] in APO-L
By-Laws
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lee Peters)
Fri Mar 28 09:59:23 1997
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 10:01:46 -0500
Reply-To: Lee Peters <lpeters@CAPACCESS.ORG>
From: Lee Peters <lpeters@CAPACCESS.ORG>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
There are really two issues here. One is by-laws and the other is a
membership retention issue.
In has been my experience that for some reason, by-laws can divide a
chapter like no other issue. People love them and people hate them. I
offer one suggestion to help you reduce the gray hair and
ulcers that you might get when you revisit by-laws.
1) KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid - I truly believe that the more basic
chapter by-laws are the better. Define your purpose, the elected
officers (don't forget the Chair of the Advisory Committee) and standing
committees. Shoot for one page (yes, I believe it can be done and I saw
a draft version of a one page by-law just recently).
Membership Retention
1) Participation - When setting active requirements, keep in mind that we
want everyone to participate in Alpha Phi Omega. By penalizing those who don't
participate as much as "we" do may send a message that the chapter
doesn't value their participation.
2) Survey - Before defining your active requirements, ask those who are not
active why they are not active. Perhaps the requirements are unrealistic
or perhaps they have a scheduling conflict. Maybe the chapter does not
have enough service project options to gain the required hours (ie. if
the chapter requires 20 hours a semester and only plans projects for 25
hours then to remain active you must have attended 80% or the service hours).
3) Plan - Develop a membership retention program. Your section staff and
advisors might be able to give some ideas.
4) Communicate - Many times we fail to communicate with those who don't
attend meetings. I tested this theory after my term as a chapter
president when I took a class on meeting nights. Nobody called me - they
just expected me to show up. Surprise! I misses several events. Even
if someone is no longer active doesn't mean they won't show up to help
with a project once a semester or attend a party.
It would be interesting to hear thoughts about any of these ideas. Our
bottom line goal is to contribute our time and energy building a program
of service. Please do not let by-law disagreements or discussions over
active/inactive impede this goal; let them enhance it instead.
Lee A. Peters
Section Chair,
Maryland and the District of Columbia
