SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITIES
Every chapter now has the opportunity to offer one 1-Year complimentary membership to a non-profit or Chamber of Commerce.
In order to Restart the US, we need to positively impact every community in the country. To support every community, we want to support business owners and non-profits alike.
- Invite non-profits and/or Chamber to your Visitor Day
- Conduct a non-profit “Stack Day”. The process is the same as any other Stack Day.
The Application process is identical to the current process, but after the Membership Committee (MC) approves the Applicant submit a support ticket to activate the Member.
NON-PROFITS AND BNI
Members should remember to convey the message of “giving to the community”.
It is best to accept applications only from employees of a non-profit, and not a volunteer (who often have a higher turnover rate in a BNI Chapter).
Take extra time explaining how BNI works to the applicants, as non-profit employees may not understand “word of mouth marketing” and how it works.
Non-Profits can put members in more than one Chapter.
Chapters can have more than one non-profit if the Membership Committee has certified that they can work together.
Chapters should open the category as if it were any profession (e.g., a painter). There should be no chapter discussion as to what non-profit should be allowed to apply or who should be invited (this is for MC).
- Chapters should allow all to apply and the MC should select which will be the best fit in the Chapter.
- MCs should vet them as any other member.
- If the Chapter should take in multiple applications, be sure to send the rejected applications to your Regional Chapter placement specialist.
CHAMBERS IN BNI
Be careful to make sure the local Chamber does not run a group that competes with BNI
Remember: you are not inducting the Chamber. You are inducting a Member, who will represent the Chamber just as an employee would represent a business.
It is best to accept applications only from employees of a Chamber, and not a volunteer (who often have a higher turnover rate in a BNI Chapter).
Chamber Members are drawing on their contacts and social groups to pass referrals; it is not the Chamber passing referrals.
My non profit is Center for Independent Living Opportunities and I became a member in 2008. BNI has been a tremendous asset to me because our funding sources do not allow us to pay for advertising, so the opportunity and value of word of mouth networking BNI offers has been wonderful in getting our mission out to our local community. Being a locally operated non-profit (no statewide or national affiliations), networking is paramount for people to truly understand the ‘who’ we serve, ‘how’ we serve, and ‘why’ we serve. It has been so much easier to get our message across with the structure and guidance that BNI instill in us! I would highly recommend local non-profits take this opportunity to get involved in a local BNI chapter to be able to speak to several people on a weekly basis that can help further their mission, introduce them to key people within the community, and advance their fundraising initiatives.
Hillary Hasson
BNI York II.
