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Club Manual

Club Development

The following notes on club development may assist you in establishing or enhancing your club’s programs.

Planning

Developing a successful club requires commitment of each club officer’s time and energy. The importance of setting both personal and club goals cannot be overstated. Create a plan, and work through items together as a team.

March 2021 Presentation on Club Planning & Goals Tracking by Codi Vierra

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fUhyfujTDV119Zm7DTLe6HfXsHuupePaEZ1T2yezG98/edit?usp=sharing⁠

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Template Board Metrics/Goals Tracking Google Sheet

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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PrnGVuh6A2lQ6xahrpubS8vXAlE7nw6AKzhdSqzkpeI/edit?usp=sharing⁠

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This link is view-only. Make a copy to add to your Google Drive, or download as an Excel sheet.

Template S.W.O.T. Analysis Sheet

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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jp4e9zsYYI8_HvzTZVyStGRVEMSPF8sMlPSA_QJapvM/edit?usp=sharing⁠

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This link is view-only. Make a copy to add to your Google Drive, or download as an Excel sheet.

November 2020 Club Needs & Goals Assessment Slides by Kelly King

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bit.ly/ClubNeedsAssessment⁠

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Club Expansion

To be successful a club must increase its outreach and this will grow membership. Democrats join a club to share mutual concerns and work toward common goals. Offering enthusiasm and a sense of belonging, while presenting meaningful programs at meetings, helps to expand the membership.

Membership Records

Use the same spreadsheet that is submitted with membership contact info records to the SDCDP/CDP to record meeting attendance, when dues were paid and how much, skills and interests, languages spoken, and other information relevant to your club. You may also choose to store this information in MailChimp, or another cloud-based service you are using for your club, to provide centralized access to your club officers and as a backup in case of loss of paper records.

Welcoming Newcomers

The club Executive Board (more specifically the Membership Director or officer to whom these duties have been assigned) should take responsibility for welcoming newcomers at club meetings. The President is normally busy therefore he/she must have help in greeting both members and newcomers.

Some ideas are:

Station friendly members at the door to greet people as they arrive. Two or more relaxed gregarious members greeting newcomers at the door can make them feel welcome and "at home" at the meeting. Introducing newcomers to others helps shyer people become acquainted.

Place a table near the entrance with a sign-in paper for all attending to write their name, address and phone number. The table should also contain name tags and wide felt pens (be sure names are written legibly in large block letters), membership applications, club brochures and other appropriate Democratic literature.

Serve refreshments; refreshments induce people to stand around and talk, enabling members and newcomers to know each other. Servers may help to give new folks someone with whom to speak.

At a small meeting whoever is presiding may ask each new attendee to introduce themselves, and add something about where they live, when they have come to the area, etc. In larger clubs, in the interest of time, newcomers, guests, and new members may simply be introduced.

Follow-up calls to new and interested persons helps make them feel welcome. The sign-in sheet provides a good cross-reference. Be sure they receive the next newsletter.

Send a welcome letter via US or email. See D.1 Welcome New Members Letter.

Intra-Club communications

Emails or phone trees, consisting of volunteer members, are helpful and efficient for reminders of meetings, changes which occasionally occur, and communications about events that may happen between meetings. Long-time members, as well as new ones, appreciate reminder calls.

Phone Listing

Listing your club’s phone number wherever possible may be very valuable, especially in an election year. It’s still possible to get listed in the phone book (whatever that is?) but better may be to get listed in all the places your community goes to look for events and information. Check with your local library, places of worship, schools, colleges, and community coffee shops as to where the go to sources of information are and make yourself known within those groups. This may be done online, or may involve printing flyers and leaflets.

Programs

Many resources are available to aid in identifying interesting speakers; they include colleges, community groups, newspapers, speakers list, other club newsletters, and the monthly Council of Clubs meetings. Keep a file of program ideas. Contribute to the Council of Clubs

Speaker Directory⁠

and access their list of speakers from their

Discourse⁠

Traditions

Club traditions should be built with annual activities, such as sponsoring a club booth at a street fair, an annual picnic, participation in a 4th of July parade, a barbecue or yard party, a theatre party, or by sponsoring a headquarters during the presidential election year.

Fundraisers

Raising funds to support club activities and candidates is very important. Examples of fundraising activities include raffles, sales of donated books, plants sale, holiday boutique of handmade or homemade items, and dinners such as spaghetti, pizza, etc.

Roosevelt Dinner

The Roosevelt Dinner is SDCDP’s major annual fundraiser that keeps the office open year-round, and clubs have long been a base for attendance and support. Clubs are offered discounted tickets for their members to sit together at tables. Clubs are also asked to put together a club basket to be part of the silent auction. A “Club of the Year” award, chosen by the Council of Clubs (see Section 13.1), is presented annually at the dinner.

Political Action

Club volunteers are the cornerstone of successful action. Political action may include local fair booths, voter registration at malls, precinct organization, and establishment of a speaker’s bureau for outreach to other organizations. Members should also be encouraged to serve at other levels of the party, such as the GO Team, Voter Registration Team, on SDCDP committees, and to become a member of the Central Committee of the State Party and/or County Party.

Publicity

Publicity takes persistence and patience. Development of long term relationships with reporters should be a goal. The wording of a press release can make the difference between a news item being accepted or discarded.

Transition for New Club Officers

After the election of new officers it may be helpful to have a board meeting with both the old and new officers present. This will be the time for counterparts to pass on their files and to explain the ins and outs of the jobs.

Recognition and Thanks

Club members and volunteers receive no compensation for their efforts; therefore their rewards are recognition and gratitude as well as their satisfaction when Democratic candidates are elected. Outstanding volunteers may be recognized with awards presented at club meetings.

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