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June 15, 2009: Networking for Recruits |
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Previous entries in this bog emphasized the need to bring in
trustees that bring communication networks
with them. A related, inverse challenge,
is finding the networks to identify individual trustees when seeking to diversifying
membership. Let’s say you want to
recruit more people of Zoombahnese descent, from the fictitious island nation
of Zoombah. You want to do this because
your organization provides direct services and you notice a trend that many of
your customers are from Zoombah and speak primarily Zoombahnese. How would you find potential trustees, or
even donors, volunteers or staff who speak the language and understand the cultural
sensitivities of these people? Using
your own adjacent connections of staff, board and volunteers has not produced adequate
leads.
So, try to locate intact, effective working networks of the
Zoombahnese in your community. You might
find other nonprofits that uniquely serve the Zoombahnese. You might ask government agencies or other
nonprofits that serve a lot of Zoombahnese.
You might visit with owners of Zoombahnese businesses, such as featuring
the cuisine and cultural expressions/products of Zoombah. You could visit with clergy of the Last United
Temple of Zoombah. All of these
organizations have boards, managers, employees or patrons that you can network
with. When they learn of your desire to improve
services benefiting people of Zoombahnese descent, they may welcome the chance
to help you identify potential board members or employees and may facilitate
your soliciting donations that benefit your Zoombahnese clients and outreach to
recruit even more clients.
As I have said before, Internet research is great for many
things but sometimes, to find the humans you need, it works well to tap into
the existing human networks in your community.
After all, it is their community too.
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