President’s Message

By Daniel B. Branch, Jr., Navy League National President

The Navy League of the United States, like other nonprofit advocacy and community service and outreach organizations, experiences times of economic strife on a most fundamental level - membership. Yet while the inherent challenges in recruiting and retaining members become magnified, they are by no means insurmountable.

It is under such circumstances that individual Navy League members, councils and area, regional and national leaders should reflect, take stock and then go back to basics.

Ask yourself this: Why did I join the Navy League and would that reason resonate with a prospective member today? If not, then what would?

It’s time for each council to take a hard look at its programs and what they offer not only to members of the sea services and the community at large, but also to council members. A vibrant, active council is one whose members are energized and excited about the message, the mission and the means by which they are delivered and executed.

Does your message resonate with the next generation of Navy League members and leaders who can carry the torch of support and advocacy for our men and women in uniform?

That next generation is concerned about social responsibility, community activism, the environment. Do you have activities and programs that will speak to them, energize them and spur them to get involved? What Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or Merchant Marine programs and activities is your council supporting or involved with that will engage this next generation?

One example of an issue that touches the heart of every ci­ti­zen is the wounded warrior, and the Navy League has a program that allows members to serve as mentors to them. As Seapower Deputy Editor Peter Atkinson explains in his Navy League News report on page 60, the Navy League has established the Anchor Program mentor support partnership with Navy Safe Harbor to help seriously wounded service members readjust to civilian life.

While this program is on a national scale, similar mentor and outreach programs can be implemented on the local level, where council members serve as mentors, helping hands or simply as friends to men and women recently separated from military service, a sort of peer-to-peer networking opportunity.

Every member of the Board of Directors is re-quired by our operations manual to re­cruit 10 new members every year. There are four months left to accomplish this. And I challenge every other Navy League member to re­cruit at least one member in that time frame.

But a strong recruiting effort means little if those new members are not retained year after year. I like to call this the “care and feeding” of new members.

Does your council have a Welcoming Committee? This is a group of people tasked with reaching out to new members, answering their questions, making them feel at home, finding out their strengths and interests, and then introducing them to a council member who can put them to work on a task or an event that holds their interest. The most energized, productive members are those with a job to do.

Does your council have a Retention Committee? Its job is more than contacting members when it is time to renew or reaching out to lapsed members to see if they would consider rejoining. It also has the essential role of creating bonding events - picnics, cookouts, trips to interesting places - throughout the year that help build camaraderie, allow members to network with each other and help make that decision to renew an easy one.

Finally, does your council network and partner with other councils and nonprofit organizations in your region or area? Are you familiar with our Community Service Outreach Presentations? If you have a program that works, why not pass along that expertise? Only by networking and learning what works, as well as what doesn’t, can we grow both in numbers and in strength.