Attendees:Joe Kraut, David Zwerin, Bob Richter, Stan Light, Jerry Farris, Rich Morrison, Hannah Deutch, Bernard Epworth, Nelson Mellitz, Max Colon, David Hymes, Martin Kupferberg, Monte Mayer, Irwin Barath, Allen Falk, Peter Gilbert, Steve Zeitz, Fred Fine, Mrs. Bailor, Alan Cornblatt, Norman Rosenshein, Marshall Berman, Ed Kranson, Joe Fleischmann, Erwin Gaston
Staff: NED Herb Rosenbleeth; DOO Larry Richardson; Nikki Salzman, Greg Byrne
Subject: Membership Initiatives
- Set recruitment goals and communicate them to your Post.
- Include the auxiliary in those goals.
- Create a reward system for people who recruit new members.
- We need to give people a reason to join.
- Break down recruitment efforts into Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq & Afghanistan, etc. Potential new members will feel more encouraged if they’re approached by someone who served in the same war.
- Use Jewish War Veterans instead of JWV. People outside of JWV don’t know what the acronym means. Using our full name will eliminate confusion and get our name out there to people.
- Publicity
- Send information/letters to local synagogues and federations for publication in their papers.
- If you’re located near a military base, get into their newspapers
- Send stories and photos into the local paper
- There has been some success going to various synagogues and Jewish community centers.
- Speak at synagogues, Jewish centers, and Jewish organizations about JWV.
- If you can get the Rabbi onboard, he or she can be very helpful recruiting members from the community.
- Create a membership recruitment team to go to Friday night and Saturday morning services to get the word out.
- Some Posts have had difficulty working with Rabbis in communities where JWV is seen as competition for existing programs. (In the case of uncooperative Rabbis, you can try to appeal directly to men’s clubs and other organizations within the synagogue.)
- Jewish service members are being discharged without knowing we exist. We need to do more to get our name out there to people when they’re still in the service.
- The easiest way of finding vets is to talk to people, find out if they’re Jewish, find out if they’re vets, and then sign them up.
- Make personal appeals to people who aren’t members and are Jewish veterans.
- A personal connection makes people more likely to join.
- New online programs should be helpful in getting people to join. Everyone who has a website should put up a link to the new online Post.
- Always carry JWV applications in case there’s an opportunity to give them out.
- One post printed 2500 cards that say who they are, where they meet, etc. The card says everyone is welcome: patrons, civilians, IDF, etc. The card includes contact information for three of their members.
- Posts located in areas with condo associations can ask to use group spaces for meetings. This makes JWV a visible organization and could lead to interest from fellow community members.
- Connect with the Chaplains council to get the names of Chaplains in the field.
- Participate in other veterans and Jewish groups. Getting involved in other organizations can give us more exposure.
- Reach out to Muslim veterans organizations to come up with ways to bring peace. There could be huge benefits and the PR would be great. Taking a public position of peace will increase our membership because we’d be doing something instead of just talking.
