In the fall of 2005, LWVUS confronted a single question that perhaps has been the biggest challenge for the League over the past 30 years: Can something be done about membership decline? As a result, the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO) and the League of Women Voters of US (LWVUS) have joined forces to spearhead the Membership Recruitment Initiative (MRI) in Ohio.
The MRI initiative is a combination of basic marketing techniques, communication strategies, and suggested activities. MRI is designed to maximize the organization’s most precious resource (i.e., members’ time) while generating the greatest return (i.e., new members). The MRI initiative complements your local League’s “program” by providing training and guidance about how to overlay best practices for outreach and visibility onto existing or planned activities and events.
The three main “building blocks” for the initiative are:
• Focusing on a target audience
• Conducting regular and intentional outreach
• Being visible in the community.
The MRI is a partnership among the local, state and national Leagues. For it to succeed, all levels of League need to work toward the common goals of the initiative. This is vital to ensure that participating local Leagues reach their membership goals. Click here to download the MRI handbook.
