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Church Recruitment Drives: -- For 2018
- Contact your pastor for permission to hold a drive on a particular week-end. ***It is a good idea to complete a prospect list of prospective knights in the parish in consultation with the pastor.
- Provide an announcement for the parish bulletin 2 weeks before the drive. Go to www.kofc.org/drive for sample announcements.
- Prepare a council pamphlet of council’s charitable programs and member benefits.
- Before each Mass, post teams of two to distribute the pamphlets, invitation cards and prospect cards (#921A) to each prospective member.
- Arrange for your pastor, grand knight or membership director to make a brief announcement prior to or after Mass explaining the charitable works conducted by your council.
- Encourage men to complete the prospect card and hand it to the grand knight as they leave church.---names and phone numbers only.
- After Mass, post teams of two at the exit to answer any questions from prospective members, assist with membership documents and collect completed prospect cards.
- Assign recruiting teams for personal follow-up with prospective members. Invite prospective members and their families to participate in upcoming charitable programs, and invite them to an admission Degree which should be held within 2 weeks of the Church Drive.
** Councils can hold Church Drives in any month. It is important, however, for each Council to hold at least two church Drives in each Columbian Year. Statistics show that Councils that hold Church Drives are very successful in recruiting new members and usually meet or exceed their membership quota. Also, church drives bring the visibility of the knights to the parishioners and all the inactive knights in the parish.
22 RECRUITMENT PROJECTS THAT WORK
- Church Drives—We ask that each council hold a church drive in Oct. and one in March. (or other suitable months for your council)
- Grand knights should have ordered the kits and made all necessary arrangements. Hold a church drive in another month if it is more suitable for your council.
- Compile a prospect list---assign a knight and his wife or teams of knights to each prospect couple and arrange visits.
- At one of your monthly meetings, each knight could invite a prospect to attend a meeting where information can be given to the prospect. Be sure to follow up with the prospect on joining the council.
- Free Test Drive----Invite prospects to assist with Knights of Columbus Projects. ---Concentrate on youth projects for younger prospective knights.
- Schedule Admission Degrees-----There should be 1/ month in each district. All councils in the district work towards bringing candidates to the degree. If there are no candidates, hold a practice.
- Show recruitment videos on successful recruiting techniques at meetings.
- Invite State officers, District Deputies, Field Agents, SPDs to visit your council to talk about recruitment strategies and techniques.
- Emphasize why we recruit- we recruit to save lives and souls by bringing families closer to the Catholic Church which is the body of Christ. Incentives are tokens of appreciation for good recruiting.
- Pulpit Announcements- Use the Supreme samples available. Go to www.kofc.org/drive as well as the “Father Needs You Letter”.
- Communicate the State, Supreme and Council incentives to members. Give all council members a list.
- Keep the Membership Personnel motivated through the VIP Club, incentives, certificates, or thank you letters from the Grand Knight, State Deputy, or Membership Director.
- ‘Father Needs You Campaign’—send a letter from your parish priest which explains why the parish priest needs men to join the Knights of Columbus.—follow up with a visit to each recipient.
- Member Reactivation of Inactive Insurance Members---contact them and welcome them back to your council. They would count for an insurance and membership addition.
- Check your Former Members List which is available from Supreme. Invite all former members back to your council with a ‘Welcome Back’ letter. Follow up with a personal visit.
- Readmissions- termination has been for more than 3 months but less than 7 years---council vote, does not take degrees over
- Reapplication-termination has been for more than 7 years—reapplies to a council, does not take degrees over.
- Check for Honorary Life Members who are suspended. Any member who had 25 consecutive years of membership before being suspended and is now over 70 years of age would qualify for an honorary life membership in the council. Explain this to him and fill in a form 100 with him.
- VIP Club----Very Important Proposer’s Club program has a pin and certificate for 2, 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, 75, 100, etc. level of recruitment. Recruitment statistics are kept by the Supreme Membership Department. Financial secretaries must submit forms for recruitment levels and order awards.
- Appoint all council membership personnel: membership director, retention director, insurance pro-motion, admission committee. Also set up recruitment teams of proven recruiters. Conduct a membership meeting and plan a yearly plan of membership activities and inform all the council members.
- Set membership quotas for Star Council and involve the whole council in achieving the goal.
- Hold a Council Open House which will include invitations to prospective knights, program of activities for the children, and a program of activities and information for the prospective members and their wife.
- Be visible in the church---if members of your parish see what the knights are doing and like what they see, they will more likely join.
- Ask your Parish Priest to talk briefly about why he needs more knights in the parish as well as about how the knights help the parish.
- We suggest that Admission Degrees can be held each month in honor of the following:
October--------------------------In Honor of Pope Francis
November-----------------------In Honor of a Deceased Member or Deceased Members
December-----------------------In Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe-(Feast Day—Dec. 12th )
January--------------------------In Honor of Knights of Columbus State Chaplain Bishop Bryan Bayda and Associate State Chaplain Father Ed Gibney
February-------------------------In Honor of Archbishop Don Bolen, Our New Archbishop
March------ -----------------------In Honor of Our Founder, Father Michael McGivney
April--------------------------------In Honor of Your Council Chaplain
May--------------------------------In Honor of Our Blessed Virgin Mary and All Mothers of Knights of Columbus Members
June--------------------------------In Honor of Your Charter Members
Membership Director James Nestmann
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