[ Back | Home | Email Rainbow.org's owner | Complete Site Map ]
The Newbie's Guide to Planning a delightful Prospective Member Party
(also known as a "Faith's Tea")... and following through on it!
As you by now realize, the key to your Assembly's future is increasing your membership. Bringing in new members can sometimes be hard; you don't know how to explain Rainbow to your friend, she asks a question you don't know, she goes to a different school than most of the other members of your Assembly and doesn't know anyone, etc. People just aren't as active in organizations (either youth or adult) as they were, say, 40 years ago, and we don't have anything as "big" as the Girl Scouts' cookie sale, and those delicious Thin Mints.This is why a Prospective Members Party (or "Faith's Tea", named because Faith is usually in charge of membership, and it used to be a "tea party" up until the mid-60's) is such a helpful event to have. You can invite your friend, introduce her to the other members of the Assembly, take turns answering her questions, show her all the fun things and service projects that Rainbow Girls do, and make her feel welcome from the start.
These parties have taken many different forms over the years; some successful, others not. Slumber parties, swim parties, picnics, BBQ's, and pizza parties are all great. Going somewhere public and busy, like a mini-golf course, roller-skating or amusement park, is usually not. Too many distractions!
To have an informative and fun party, you should plan ahead. Six weeks is probably a good time to accomplish things.
This text file is written under the assumption that this is a party planned by one or more Line officers.
First off, talk with your Mother Advisor about the brochures available. Whether they be Supreme Assembly's brochures, your Grand Jurisdiction's brochures, or both, you should have several "take-home" items for them to talk to their parents about. If your Assembly has no recent brochures, ask your Mother Advisor to call Supreme Assembly and request their catalog, and/or the brochures. Or, you can request a catalog yourself. Supreme Assembly's phone number is (918)423-1328. They also have a video about Rainbow, and other useful items. Your Grand Assembly may have these items as well, or special ones about your state. FIND OUT! Also, now would be a good time to make sure you have plenty of petitions.
Plan a date and time, a type of event (example: slumber party), and a location (example: Sister of Faith's house). Make sure you have the parents' permission to have this party! Will you need chaperones?
Check with the Worthy Advisor and inform her of the date, type of party, and where it will be held. Ask the Worthy Advisor about planning an "Open Meeting" sometime after the Prospective Member's Party. For those who don't know, an Open Meeting is a short meeting, open to friends (like an Installation is), and has a small amount of memorization work, where each station recites a sentence or two explaining what her station represents, and/or the duties of her office. Oftentimes, reading of the minutes (and other business) is tabled until the next meeting. This is when you invite the girl and her parents to come and learn about Rainbow. It is a fantastic idea to have a potluck dinner beforehand (with food provided by the members, the Board, and/or the Parents/Boosters Club). If you've never done an Open Meeting, talk to your Area Deputy, or Supreme Deputy/Inspector to find out more.
Plan out a menu for the party; either to use for sign-ups, or to give a copy of to the Board, Parents/Boosters Club, etc. Will you have pizza and sodas? Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, dip, and salad? Dessert? Do you need condiments, napkins, paper plates, cups, and utensils? Decide who will be responsible for the drinks and food -- the hostess(es) and her family? The girls in the Assembly? The Advisory Board? The Parents/Boosters Club?
Plan out a timeline for the party as well. Rainbow should be discussed first, in case anyone has to leave early, or you're too worn out towards the end from swimming/staying up all night/playing volleyball. Otherwise, it will just have been a "party", and they'll have no reason to be interested in petitioning for membership.
You want this party to be enticing to the members of the Assembly so they will come. In some Assemblies, the Line officers are required to be there (as with all other functions), but other members could not attend unless they brought a prospective member (sister, friend, classmate, etc.). Would this plan work in your Assembly? If your Assembly is very small, probably not. But it might encourage them to try harder to find a friend or two to invite.
Create cute and colorful invitations for the members of the Assembly to give to their friends. Make sure they have the time, date, location and directions to the place, as well as what type of party it is (example: swim party & BBQ), and what they need to bring (example: swimsuit, towel, sunblock).
Consider creating fliers/signs about the party to be posted at school, or other locations (church, youth activity hall, etc). Make sure it's okay to hang the signs beforehand! They should say what Rainbow is (a youth service organization for girls between the ages of 11 and 20), and what kind of party it is (examples: picnic, swimming, etc), as well as any other relevant information (date, time, etc.) Do not give the location of the party, or any members' last names, but a contact name phone number (preferably the Mother Advisor; get her permission first) that can be called for further info.
Ask the Worthy Advisor to allow you time during a meeting to speak about the party, and take sign-ups. When it's your turn to talk, stand up, describe to the girls and adults what you've planned. If you've decided to require non-Line officers to bring a member in order to attend, state this. If girls get points towards their merit bars for bringing a prospective member to a Rainbow function, or signing a candidate's petition, now is the time to point that out. Take sign-ups for the girls, asking them how many friends they will bring. Tell them what they will need to bring (example: swimsuit & towel; sleeping bag, pillow & typical "slumber party" items).
Ask the Board if any of them are attending (the Mother Advisor should, of course, be there). Ask the adults if they know of any girls that they, or a member, can invite to this party. If needed, take signups for chaperones and/or helper (setup/food prep/etc).
If also taking signups for food and drink, etc., have prepared ahead of time a sign-up sheet, broken up into sections (example: 2 packages of hot dog buns; 2 packages of hot dogs; two 2-liter bottles of soda; chips & dip; two more 2-liter bottles of soda; another 'chips & dip'; salad (green or other); ketchup, mustard & relish; brownies or cookies; paper plates & plastic cups). Say, "I also need sign-ups for food," and QUICKLY tally the number of people attending (include Line officers and parents of the hostess(es) in this count) to see how much food you will need. Then ask, "Would anyone like to be responsible for bringing... a salad? two 2-liters of soda?" (etc.) Write this down on your list.
If it's a slumber party, consider asking people to bring board games and videotapes. Group games, like Pictionary or Cranium, and games where you can be clustered into groups are fun, and put the prospective members at ease. Make sure the movies aren't R-rated!
Finally, ask the girls if any of them would like to bring their merit bars, other awards, scrapbooks, or anything that is Rainbow-related to the party, to show them to the prospective members and explain how they're earned, all the fun things you do, or whatever.
Call the girls and adults the weekend before and remind them about the party: time, place, etc. Ask them if they're still bringing their friend(s), and remind them to pass along what they need to bring (swimsuit, sleeping bag, whatever), as well as anything the member has agreed to bring (food, scrapbook, etc). If they're bringing food, ask them to make sure to be there on time. Call the Mother Advisor and remind her to bring the pamphlets, video, or whatever else you need.
The day of the party, get there early and help with set-up or any last-minute detail. Make sure the pamphlets have contact information filled in on the back (very important).
The beginning of the party should be casual; people arrive, everyone gets introduced (remember to introduce the adults as well), and people are offered something to drink. Then you should sit down and talk about Rainbow for a while, while the adults are preparing the food and laying it out for you girls. Have the members describe what Rainbow means to them, and display their awards, pins, and so on, explaining what they represent, and how they're earned. Don't forget to introduce the Mother Advisor and give her a chance to talk for a bit. Then, have everyone go fill their plates with food & drink. If you've got a videotape about Rainbow, show it during the meal if possible, because it can be awkward to just sit there with a bunch of people you've just met and watch a tape. Then, ask if they have any questions about Rainbow.
Continue on with whatever you've got planned for the party; swimming, games, etc. Towards the end of the party, when the prospective members are getting ready to leave, enthusiastically mention the Open Meeting coming up (if you are, in fact, having one), and invite her and her parents to come to it, and the dinner beforehand. You should have an invitation flier with the info about the dinner and Open Meeting printed up (date and time, place and directions to it, RSVP information, etc.); give that to her. Make sure information about the 'dress code' for that meeting is on that paper; you wouldn't want anyone to feel awkward by showing up over- or under-dressed. Also give her the pamphlets about Rainbow, and tell her that she, or her parents, can call with any questions they may have. Tell her how great it was to meet her, and you hope she had a fun time! (If you are not having an Open Meeting and dinner, mention what the next fundraiser/fun event is that will be "open to Prospective Members" and invite her to it!)
After the party's over, help with clean-up. The Prospective Member Party is over, but your job's not quite done yet!
The Worthy Advisor should be the one in charge of organizing the Open Meeting and potluck. Coordinate with her; are you in charge of finding out which girls and their families will be attending? If so, call the members who brought their friends and ask them to remind the girls about the potluck and Open Meeting. Find out how many people are coming, and report back to the Worthy Advisor. She will use this information to help with sign-ups for food for the potluck.
If you are not having a potluck/Open Meeting, you should check in with the members who brought friends. Ask them if they've brought up Rainbow with their friends since then, and if they think they might want to give their friend a petition to look over.
Hopefully, you will have some petitions coming your way soon!
Version 1.0 - 08/03/01
This text file is copyright © 2001-2002 by www.rainbow.org. Rights to reproduce this text online or in print are granted, provided you do so in its entirety, giving credit to the author, postmaster@rainbow.org, and providing the URL: http://www.rainbow.org/prospective.html on any copies you make.
[ Back | Home | Email Rainbow.org's owner | Complete Site Map ] [EoF]
