Membership Recruitment

Recruitment

Recruiting new planning official members into APA is important. The more informed planning officials are of good planning, the better the planning in our communities will be. And, APA is the best place to get information and stay informed. While the national organization does recruitment, many chapters supplement this recruitment with their own efforts.

Recruitment Letter

Materials

The APA Marketing Department has a free video that you can use for marketing memberships. This 12- minute video is aimed at planning commissioners and officials. The APA staff also send out a brochure and packet to people inquiring about membership in APA. If you are holding a planning official event of any kind, staff can send you packets of these membership materials. Contact the Marketing Department in the Chicago office at 312-431-9100.

Ideas

Some chapters have developed imaginative programs for recruiting planning officials into the organization. There is no limit to the creative things you can devise for your would-be members. Here are some examples:

1. Minnesota provides reduced rates for planning official registration at chapter conferences
2. Oregon has a planning commissioners breakfast event at its annual conference
3. Some chapters have chapter-only memberships
4. Many chapters give planning official awards
5. APA leaders bring copies of planning official materials to all meetings and mention the value of this material when they are doing presentations.