Time Magazine: A Time To Serve

[Capt Rivera]

I have not gotten a chance to look at this article in full and wont be able to for a few hours but after glancing it over, and looking at the "Resource Guide: [also at the following URL] I don't see mention of CAP. What gives? Why do we seem to NEVER get listed on things like this?

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1657256_1657317,00.html

[Lancer]

8. Recruit a Rapid-Response Reserve Corps
The disarray and lack of a coordinated response to 9/11 and Katrina tell us there is a role volunteers can play in responding quickly to disasters and emergencies. The new Rapid-Response Reserve Corps would consist of retired military and National Guard personnel as well as national- and community-service program alumni to focus on disaster preparedness and immediate response to local and national disasters. The program would initially train 50,000 members, who could be deployed for two-week periods in response to emergencies and serve under the guidance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

I love #8.

Umm.... hello? We already exist. Again...'America's best kept secret' strikes again...

[BlackKnight]

...I don't see mention of CAP. What gives? Why do we seem to NEVER get listed on things like this?

Why? Because our CAP PAOs get more brownie points from their commanders for getting articles published in The Volunteer or CAP News Online than they do for reaching out externally.  We are a very internally focused organization. We behave almost as a secret society most of the time.  Heck, our regular members aren't even informed of "what happened or why". Why in the world would we see any value in getting mentioned in Time Magazine?  Don't you know that would be violating OPSEC?    

[Pylon]

Of course, somebody could write a nice letter to the editor of the magazine letting him or her know that Civil Air Patrol already fills the gap noted in their article.  A well crafted letter may get published.

[RiverAux]

Uh, CAP does not fill that gap.  We do not have 50K trained volunteers ready to respond for a 2-week period.  We can do some of it, but CAP does not even come close to the goal stated.

[♠SARKID♠]

Yeah, but they dont even acknowledge the "some of it".  The shouldnt be "recruiting a Rapid-Response Reserve Corps", they should be "bolstering CAP".  Im not joking, thats why we're here!!!  We are an under appreciated resource and could easily fill that #8 if we had the internal resources to do so (MORE MEMBERS, proper training).  Perhaps that could be solved with some, oh, I dont know...advertising money?  That way we would get our resources, AND we wouldnt have TIME magazine completely passing over us without even knowing it.

*End vent*

[Major Carrales]

Perhaps that could be solved with some, oh, I dont know...advertising money?  That way we would get our resources, AND we wouldnt have TIME magazine completely passing over us without even knowing it.

Cadet,

Where do you suggest we get that ad money?  Dues?  Personal donations?

Remember, money has to come from somewhere.

[IceNine]

The tooth fairy gave me a dollar I can thrown into the pot!

[♠SARKID♠]

Membership Dues

Add on $7.50 to the yearly dues (Not that much!)

$7.50 x +56,000 members = +$420,000

That's enough for localized advertizing on lower cost mediums (newspapers, public access TV, public radio, etc.)  I know its a stretch, but isnt it better than nothing?

[Lancer]

Perhaps that could be solved with some, oh, I dont know...advertising money?  That way we would get our resources, AND we wouldnt have TIME magazine completely passing over us without even knowing it.

Cadet,

Where do you suggest we get that ad money?  Dues?  Personal donations?

Remember, money has to come from somewhere.

Probably from the same source as the money that was spent on our attempt at NASCAR sponsorship. Cut the cadet some slack Joe, at least he's contributing to the conversations around here, and intelligently for that matter. I agree with him, as I've said the same thing myself. Some well spent advertising dollars will really help.

That being said, it's apparent that NHQ realizes this. Heck Joe, you should know this as you were at the PAO Academy that I missed out on. Your going to see more of a focus on our image soon, that I'm sure of.

[Major Carrales]

Membership Dues

Add on $7.50 to the yearly dues (Not that much!)

$7.50 x +56,000 members = +$420,000

That's enough for localized advertizing on lower cost mediums (newspapers, public access TV, public radio, etc.)  I know its a stretch, but isnt it better than nothing?

Better yet, let local folks advertize in their local area as was discussed at the PAO academy.

[IceNine]

Its not that much when mommy and daddy are paying to add it onto the 35 dollars that cadets pay. 

But add that to my already 65 dollar a year dues, and it becomes pretty significant.  Especially considering that a majority of the senior here will spend hundreds a year in things like GAS to take you youngins to encampment,  and the REQUIRED conferences (hotel, conference cost, banquet, ect... $400 easy) that we have to go to for promotion, and SLS,CLC,UCC Also required $25 bucks a pop.  Those are just the required things let alone all the stuff we do just because.

So, adding anything to my yearly dues is not a good idea

Nice try though.

[Major Carrales]

That being said, it's apparent that NHQ realizes this. Heck Joe, you should know this as you were at the PAO Academy that I missed out on. Your going to see more of a focus on our image soon, that I'm sure of.

One of the first thing discussed at the PAO Academy was that national advertizing...Television, Radio et cetera...would cost MILLIONS.  Millions we do not have.

The National Marketing plan is along the lines of a unified message administered at the local level.  Building realtionships with the community and media...speading a unified message.  Lots of good tips were exchanged...including one I have been looking at called "CAP PAO on the Cheap."

As for the cadet...it is a service to a young person to introduce them to the "economics of reality" at a young age.  Money...does it not...has to come from somewhere.  I give much more than my dues to insure my squadron works.

Now, he applied a solution to my question...which was great...addition of some $7.50.  But as I pointed out the "$420,000" is not enough.

As for NASCAR, you hammer me with that as if I had anything to do with it.  Please...do not assume CAR out of CARrales.

[♠SARKID♠]

So, adding anything to my yearly dues is not a good idea

Nice try though.

What's to stop the squadrons from having a simple fund raiser to cover/lessen the extra cost?  If everybody pulls their share, the funds could cover the extra cost and then some.  Not to mention having a fund raiser is advertising in itself.

[IceNine]

As for NASCAR, you hammer me with that as if I had anything to do with it.  Please...do not assume CAR out of CARrales.

I knew it was a big conspiracy.   

OK now for something completely different (seriousness)

It is an unfortunate reality that we must live with that we don't have the means as an organization to launch a national recruiting campaign.  We could however do a better job a using the means we have available to draw people to CAP.

For instance, Our parent service, all other branches, and CGAUX all have dedicated recruiting websites that are in existence for the sole purpose of teaching the general public what they need to know about said organization, in 10 pages or less.

They then have a more in depth website where people can answer their own questions in more depth.

Nationals has the means (PA Toolkit) to design posters, Public addresses for radio, a video for local TV etc. 

Providing a standardized and CHANGING set of announcements etc and letting us figure out how to use them is not a bad idea but, trying to produce one of these can cost some serious dough that we as members don't have, but nationals as one entity does.

We have Tools on a national level that are being used out of balance to try and keep our members.  There needs to be a balance of Retention (our current focus) and Recruiting (a more worthy cause).

Things like sponsoring a NASCAR only work if people have heard about the sponsoring agency.

Everyone (that doesn't live in a hole) has heard of all the other sponsors.  Pepsi, valvoline, interstate battery, etc.

We need to focus our attention on becoming a household name THEN we can focus on our image in the public eye.

[Lancer]

One of the first thing discussed at the PAO Academy was that national advertizing...Television, Radio et cetera...would cost MILLIONS.  Millions we do not have.

The National Marketing plan is along the lines of a unified message administered at the local level.  Building realtionships with the community and media...speading a unified message.  Lots of good tips were exchanged...including one I have been looking at called "CAP PAO on the Cheap."

I have no problem with 'local level' because that is where you and I are at. But we have to be given 'some' tools to do this, and it requires 'some' money to do it. It won't cost MILLIONS to put up some carefully placed billboards and generate some radio or TV PSA's. I know we have the talent in house to produce the latter.

As for the cadet...it is a service to a young person to introduce them to the "economics of reality" at a young age.  Money...does it not...has to come from somewhere.  I give much more than my dues to insure my squadron works.

Now, he applied a solution to my question...which was great...addition of some $7.50.  But as I pointed out the "$420,000" is not enough.

Well...you just seemed to dismiss him without so much as a 'hey...thats a good idea, thanks'. We'll never get cadets to post here more frequently with that attitude.

As for NASCAR, you hammer me with that as if I had anything to do with it.  Please...do not assume CAR out of CARrales.

Hammer you for NASCAR? lol How did you get that idea? I'd rather hammer you for not using spellcheck. 

[IceNine]

So, adding anything to my yearly dues is not a good idea

Nice try though.

What's to stop the squadrons from having a simple fund raiser to cover/lessen the extra cost?  If everybody pulls their share, the funds could cover the extra cost and then some.  Not to mention having a fund raiser is advertising in itself.

So, we fund raise to earn money that gets sent off to nationals, instead of used to buffer the cost of running a squadron that are already underfunded?

I like the idea of a budget for advertising but think there are loose ends to cut before asking for more money from my pocket

[BillB]

What National PA office has missed out on is distribution of decent radio and TV spot announcements. Radio and TV stations are required by the FCC to carry a percentage of time for public service announcements. At one time National distributed to Squadrons audio tapes that squadrons could take to their local radio station(s) after the squadron added local phone numbers to call. Video tapes were sent directly to TV stations since most TV stations cover a geographical area of several to many Squadrons.
I have done radio audio tapes for local radio stations with local information, and they were used, on a regular basis by the stations. To many PAOs depend on National for materials and never consider what they could do to get the free advertising. No-cost advertising is available, but no one seems to try to get it. Even National seems to have overlooked this in the past few years.

[♠SARKID♠]

Thank you BillB for bringing that up.  I was going to mention the free public service announcements but I didn't think that CAP ads would count.  Can you still get those tapes from Nationals?

[JC004]

Thank you BillB for bringing that up.  I was going to mention the free public service announcements but I didn't think that CAP ads would count.  Can you still get those tapes from Nationals?

It depends on what the media outlet's priorities are in PSAs.  You can download it in MP3. 

ftp://ftp.iqstorage.com/CAP%20PAO%20Toolkit/Radio%20PSAs