Night Owls

[thetygerlily]

What have you done to:
- Boost your Night Owls membership
- Make your group more attractive, both to those not involved and to those involved in other associations
- Bridge the gap between different groups within the association
- Maintain the membership you have

And what challenges still remain?

It seems like some groups are inherantly strong, while others tend to face more challenges. I'd love to hear from all angles what works and what doesn't work.

[thetygerlily]

I'll start...
- We launched an association website, FINALLY, using kappa.org's hosting. We've received three emails from the site over the last month with people interested in checking out events.
- We broadened our activity options. It started out with just a day group which was very restrictive by nature. We added a monthly dinner group, which got some interest. Then we added a book club and have been contacted by people we've never met. We also tried adding a mom's group, but unfortunately the organizer's husband was relocated so they moved.
- We beefed up non-daytime activities in our newsletter, as well as online. There's a page for each so it doesn't show a heavy slant one way or another.
- We've increased use of technology- the website has been a huge help, and we've also been using evites for a few years. We started an association email address as well so that they don't all come straight from me :-)

Some challenges we face:
- The business meetings are over lunch on a weekday, and last several hours. I have never been able to attend, even though I'm Night Owls chair, and they are unlikely to ever change the date/time.
- Most events are during the day- cultural, philanthropic, social, and business. The only annual event that is not during the day is the annual holiday party.
- Because it is a historically older association, many younger members automatically join a different association that is close by.
- The majority of the association is not part of Night Owls, so while we are technically supported we have had difficulty with basic things like getting budget for a membership drive mailing or trying to have business meetings alternate between day & evening (or find a common time).

[LucyKKG]

I literally JUST joined my alumnae association, but I went to a Night Owls event last week. There was only one girl I recognized (from my chapter! Yay) but it was good to see her. I found out yesterday that some other people were there, but we didn't see them! So I think communication is a good thing. The woman who organized it ended up getting sick, so she couldn't come.

Most of our events are at night or on the weekends. The business meeting was last night. We're having a founder's day luncheon next Saturday. I think using E-vites is a great idea. That will get younger alums out there.