Board of Directors/Level of Participation

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[edit] Goal

In February 2017, the Board set a goal for strategic planning: "to develop a plan to address the level of participation, number of members, and rejuvination of the organization".

[edit] Description of the Problem

We've addressed the problems of compliance with provincial requirements by splitting off the Community Response Group. However since 2014 our core group has greatly been reduced in part by the difficulty of reconciling ourselves to the need to change our organization and in part because of the provincial requirements on our members.

We're seeing attendance numbers of 4-10 vs previously 15-20. How can we move forward with these number? Workload has now been downloaded to this small group. Burn out for this group is becoming very real.

[edit] Strengths

  • we develop inherently interesting skills that are attractive to many potential members
  • we have exciting responses
  • we have lots of good equipment
  • we have solid financial support
  • our community thinks highly of our activities and offers strong moral support
  • our community has a high percentage of outdoor people that we can recruit from
  • we have easy access to great wilderness for training
  • the provincial and national parks bring part-time and full-time staff that are professionally motivated to develop SAR skills

[edit] Barriers

Barriers we are currently facing include:

  • amount of work
  • burn out
  • mindset
  • life has changed for long-time volunteers
  • the disparity between paid and volunteer responders on the same incident
  • volunteers are demotivated when they train but don't get used

[edit] Potential Strategies

brainstorming some solutions:

  • recruit new members (2017-12 board decides to give this the highest emphasis)
  • Look at a paid model
    • merge with CNP Fire to get paid model
  • lots of community members with Basic SAR training like the first aid model
  • we should target 18 to 40 year olds for members
  • we should use social media to reach our target audience
    • get control of and post to PCSAR's Facebook page
  • invite general public to our events, exercises and training
    • risk: over engagement; mitigate: limit vacancies
    • post on Echo's community events
  • promote & advertise our group

[edit] Tactics

[edit] Better understand the problem

  • Ask new members what attracted them, what got them involved (2017-12 PCSAR Doc-128 Recruitment Tactics Questionnaire part of New Member Package)
  • survey members
    • survey what they want / need, what are you looking for?
    • what got you excited?
    • ways to better engage
    • by phone (see below)
    • by Survey Monkey
      • include in monthly mail-out
  • discuss tactics with LASARA
    • speak with Chris Jorgensen ACTION(Brett)
    • monthly social events
      • "Escape from LA"
      • Bike Ride
      • Coffee

[edit] Recruit new members

  • key messages
    • benefits of joining
      • training
      • help your community
      • protect your friends
  • improve our membership inquiry / intake process
    • (done 2017-11) need more Recruitment Brochures
    • (done 2017-12) need more New Member Packages
    • establish mentors for new members to get them more engaged

[edit] Recruiting Tactics

Describe profiles of who we might be looking for

[edit] Getting the word out

  • Attend mass registration events (March and September)
  • Ask members to reach out to their friends / acquaintenances
  • Recruit at Walmart
  • poster / brochure
    • need to develop a poster
    • Post Office
    • Swimming Pool
    • Outdoor Outlet
    • gyms
      • Monster Fitness
      • Joe's Gym
    • gun club
    • bow and arrow club
    • Castle Mountain Resort
  • fliers
      • insert in Coop grocery bags
[edit] Recruit from other organizations

Prioritize reaching out to organizations that have a high number of members that share our skills/interests.

  • develop generic letter - ACTION(Rose)
    • update to include request to organization to distribute info to their members, or let us meet with them
  • consider meeting with groups


Recruit from other outdoor groups

  • Quad squad
  • CNP snowmobile users
  • Volunteer Ski Patrol
  • Calgary Scramblers (locals)
  • CNP Hiking Group (on Facebook)
  • Alpine Club of Canada
  • ski hill customers
  • endurance races
  • Youth groups - recruit leaders, parents
    • 4H
    • Scouts
    • Guides
[edit] Visibility

General visibility of PCSAR as an organization. People know we exist even when we're not specifically recruiting for members.

  • Have a sign on the firehall
  • articles about SAR in the media
  • Advertise our activities for community participation to recruit new members
    • include upcoming hikes
    • media
      • look at costs ACTION(Cindy)
      • Echo
        • Echo's Community Events (talk to Nichole) ACTION(Rose)
      • Shootin' the Breeze
      • The Pincher Voice
      • local radio station - Mountain Radio
        • ACTION(John) to provide contacts
        • Do they do public service announcements?
    • social media
      • Facebook
        • be active on Pincher Creek community events page
      • post our activities ACTION(Rose)
      • Town calendar - ACTION(Igor)
      • Establish or presence on other social media with the same name

[edit] Expectations of SAR members

Clearly communicate what being involved in SAR is like. Most people don't know what they're getting into, so they choose the safe route -- don't join.

  • Option of degree of training
    • Provincial certification
    • Community Response Group
  • Move forward at your own pace.


  • MYTH: SAR on TV is highly technical.
  • REALITY: A level of participation to suit your lifestyle and skills.

[edit] Encourage participation of current members

  • (done) 2017-04-21 Volunteer Appreciation
  • (done) 2017-04-25 ICS Workshop
  • fun activity for July -- ACTION(Brett)
  • social functions
    • involve spouses and kids
    • picnic
    • entertainment
      • something to occupy for 1 to 1.5 hr, then activity
      • e.g. movie
    • visiting time as part of training
  • pictures of what we're doing (mountains we're going to climb)
  • change of location
    • e.g. Beauvais
      • fish afterwards
  • directly speak to members
    • phone call -- ACTION(Brett and Rose)
    • invite to activity
    • include survey (see above)
  • create a "culture of participation"
    • an expectation of participation

[edit] Status of this Document

This is an unofficial summary of board discussions.

[edit] Log

Retrieved from "http://pcsar.dyndns.org/mediawiki/index.php/Board_of_Directors/Level_of_Participation"
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