Saving Altrusa:Crisis in Membership,

Solutions for the Future

Michelle May O’NeilAltrusa International Inc. of Dallas Texas

Chair, District Nine Membership Development Committee

Declining Trends…

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Altrusa U.S. Membership

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BPW Lions

Rotary Kiwanis

Service Organization Membership

Work and busy schedules

• Busyness, economic distress, and the pressures associated with two-career families

• “time to relax” has remained steady at 19-20 hours per week over the last 25 years

• highly educated women • busy people – those who work longer

hours and more than one job – are more likely to volunteer

• 10% of the total decline

Urban sprawl

• distance between the home and workplace

• average 72 minutes every day behind the wheel

• Each additional ten minutes in daily commuting time cuts involvement in community affairs by 10%

• 10% of the total decline

Generational replacement

• the slow, steady replacement of the older, more civic generation

• each successive generation is spending less time

• 50% of the overall decline

Television and mass-media

• technological revolution: invasion of televisions and computers into the home

• entertainment shows instead of news • single most consistent predictor of

disengagement• 25% of total decline• additional 10-15%:“the tv generation”

Work and Busy Schedules

Urban Sprawl

Generational Replacement

TV Generation

Television and Mass Media

Reasons for Declining Membership Trend

Understanding the Generations

Veterans

• born between 1922 and 1943• 12.3% of the overall population• all-American values, civic pride,

loyalty, respect for authority, being true traditionalists, good soldiers, and solid performers

• socially and fiscally conservative• more engaged in civic affairs than

any other generation

Baby Boomers

• Born between 1943 and 1960

• 33% of the total adult population

• highly individualistic, more comfortable on their own than in a team, and more comfortable with values than with rules

• personal gratification

Generation X

• born between 1961 and 1980

• self-reliant, masters of technology, and informal

• require feedback and flexibility

• creating family out of a group of strangers

Millennial Generation

• born between 1980 and 2000• the most individualistic generation in history• technological sophistication, positive

expectations, an emphasis on civic duty, street smarts, and a stricter moral code

• perceive less barriers of time and space • more willing to cross ethnic and racial

boundaries• team orientation• millennial girls are generational

pathbreakers

Millennial Generation

• new spirit of volunteerism

• Community service is becoming a popular, if not mandatory, way for many students to build their high school resumes

• one-on-one volunteering

Identity of a volunteer• 80 million adults in the United States

volunteered every year• educated, professional woman

between the ages of 25 to 44 years• annual income above $40,000• church-goer or member of other

organizations• use the internet to research

volunteer activities• having children encourages

involvement in the community

Reversing the Trends

Recruitment

• The Rule of The Ask

• The 30-second Sales Pitch

Short-term Solutions

• Baby Boomers

• Cross-recruiting

Long-term Solutions

• Image Building and Public Relations

• ASTRA

Focus on Altrusa principles

• people are becoming Altrusans for all of the reasons set forth in the principles of Altrusa

Principles of Altrusa 1) Altrusa is a builder of women.2) Altrusa is an expression of the search for the best in character, in business and in citizenship.3) Election to Altrusa is an evidence of confidence which imposes upon the recipient the obligation to strive to be true to the highest standards of life in her personal and business relations.4) Altrusa in the very derivation of its name is committed to the philosophy of unselfishness, of the joy of giving rather than getting, and to the search for that happiness which is based upon spiritual worthiness.5) Altrusa is practical idealism. Its service consists not in saying great things, but in daily earnest practice of its principles.6) Altrusa commends to its members an active interest in public affairs, realizing that the State is but the individual writ large.7) Altrusa develops true leadership, concerned with accomplishment and not with recognition.8) Membership carries with it no obligation to transact business with other members. It makes no promise of returns in any commercial specie. Its rewards are in proportion to the loyalty, the unselfishness and character of the member herself.9) Altrusa expresses goodwill for all mankind. It emphasizes the good and lets the evil sink into the oblivion it merits.10) Altrusa is democratic; it knows no class, no favorites, but is founded upon merit alone.11) Altrusa believes that the way to progress lies not in emphasizing the faults of men and their failure to give proper recognition, at times, to women in business, but rather in arousing women to their responsibilities and their possibilities so that their accomplishments will blaze the trail for greater things.12) Altrusa believes it is not enough to be good; Altrusans must be good for something. Each member must be doing the piece of work that is hers in a way that puts her in the front ranks of accomplishment.

Retention

• Sponsorship and mentoring

• Orientation

• Leadership training

• Club Attitude – Sense of belonging and welcome