Anyone submitting anything for the innovation prize?

I'm not sure that there is one single innovation that is going to revolutionize CAP.  There are some processes that need to be fixed and others that need to be followed.  Some big issues that are just beyond CAP's control and others that with more focus from CAP could benefit the organization.  Some issues are hyper-local that are almost impossible to address except at that level. 

Many CAP issues boil down to insufficient manpower, so my suggestion is a targeted Facebook ad senior member recruiting campaign run by NHQ focused on towns with average to above average membership.  Focus on reinforcing successful units rather than bolstering the small ones that are barely hanging on.  These are the units that have demonstrated administrative capability of onboarding and retaining any potential recruits that are brought in.  Perhaps on the cadet side do the same thing but using a more appropriate social media platform. 

Quote from: RiverAux on March 20, 2022, 02:51:49 PMAnyone submitting anything for the innovation prize?

I'm not sure that there is one single innovation that is going to revolutionize CAP.  There are some processes that need to be fixed and others that need to be followed.  Some big issues that are just beyond CAP's control and others that with more focus from CAP could benefit the organization.  Some issues are hyper-local that are almost impossible to address except at that level. 

Many CAP issues boil down to insufficient manpower, so my suggestion is a targeted Facebook ad senior member recruiting campaign run by NHQ focused on towns with average to above average membership.  Focus on reinforcing successful units rather than bolstering the small ones that are barely hanging on.  These are the units that have demonstrated administrative capability of onboarding and retaining any potential recruits that are brought in.  Perhaps on the cadet side do the same thing but using a more appropriate social media platform. 

The Senior recruiting issues is huge for us, our Cadet program grew over the pandemic while our Senior program declined, several didn't want to be exposed and stayed home, and then didn't renew. Our Cadet program has now outgrown the amount of Seniors we have running it, so in order to expand the Cadet program even further we need to figure out a way to bring in dedicated Seniors to assist at activities and meetings. If someone has an innovative fix for this, I'd love to see it. Targeted FB adds used to be the best bang for the buck, until they caught on and FB changed their algorithm several times. Not if you have organic traffic to your page, paying money to FB seems to kill the organic traffic and make is to that you can only maintain traffic if you keep paying. I'm not sure that's the right response for this issue, but again I'm not sure of a better one.

I like the idea of the innovation contest and hope many will participate. If nothing else, for the next 100 days, whenever someone is on here complaining about something NHQ should do, we can ask if they submitted that idea for the competition.

Quote from: Capt Thompson on March 21, 2022, 01:54:25 PMThe Senior recruiting issues is huge for us, ..... Our Cadet program has now outgrown the amount of Seniors we have running it, so in order to expand the Cadet program even further we need to figure out a way to bring in dedicated Seniors to assist at activities and meetings.

The majority, if not all, of our Senior recruiting marketing materials is geared toward the fun and excitement of SAR. Stop that.

Now that SAR is dwindling (except for the cell phone team) the emphasis now needs to be searching out volunteers who want to help teach the youth. People that enjoy working with kids, and have the heart to help the next generation reach their goals.  Selfless Seniors who are not looking for bling for themselves, but want to help kid's get theirs.

Its way past time for a full reboot of CAP. Emphasis on Cadets, and the Seniors that would like to help kids with Aerospace, Cyber, etc. Look at other youth organizations and see how they recruit adults to help the kids.

The problem with recruiting adults, without children in the program, for the Cadet Program, is that a lot of people
consider it creepy that an adult with no kids wants to "shape young minds".

I joined for the SAR and stayed for the Cadets myself, and even THAT sounds creepy.

A lot of adult members join with their kids and then stick around later, but that's not the same thing.

I know when dudes, especially those with no previous Scouting experience at all, came looking
around my kid's Troop to join, eyebrows were raised.

Quote from: RiverAux on March 20, 2022, 02:51:49 PMMany CAP issues boil down to insufficient manpower, so my suggestion is a targeted Facebook ad senior member recruiting campaign run by NHQ focused on towns with average to above average membership.  Focus on reinforcing successful units rather than bolstering the small ones that are barely hanging on.  These are the units that have demonstrated administrative capability of onboarding and retaining any potential recruits that are brought in.  Perhaps on the cadet side do the same thing but using a more appropriate social media platform. 

What many don't realize is that retention rates across the board are higher now than they were pre-pandemic.

Then vs Now:
71.9% vs 75.4% for Seniors
55.3% vs 59.2% for Cadets
29.0% vs 36.1% for 1st Yr Cadets

There is a natural attrition rate among members and that attrition has continued at a stable rate since the pandemic began.  The attrition is higher for cadets in part because their 21st birthday acts as a natural expiration date... plus there are other distractions like education, work, family, etc. that tend to take priority as adulthood approaches.

Our greatest negative impact on membership isn't people leaving CAP, it's the lack of new members joining to backfill the natural rate of attrition.  Granted, our 1st Yr Cadet retention still stinks and that's the result of squadrons oversell the cadet program and new members becoming disillusioned 60-90 days later.

Sadly, the biggest challenge we have regarding recruiting and retention is the fact that a significant number of units (and headquarters) don't have anyone assigned to the R&R role.  It's really hard to drive a recruiting program from NHQ when:

• 25% of CAP Region HQs have no one assigned to the Recruiting and Retention role.
• 19% of CAP Wing HQs have no one assigned to the Recruiting and Retention role.
• 42% of CAP Units have no one assigned to the Recruiting and Retention role.

As you can see from those percentages, we basically have one hand tied behind our backs before we even take the first step.  In reality, the percentages are actually worse since it's guaranteed that some units out there have these positioned filled with "empty shirts" (people who hold the job in name only and who don't actually DO anything).

NHQ is starting a recruiting emphasis campaign on April 1st, with the goal being to just start getting CAP's recruiting wheels turning again... we have many units who have forgotten how to attract members.  We also now have VolunteerMatch accounts set up for R&R staff at each of the region and wing HQs, with hopes that we will be able to do more targeted recruiting of adult members (at least for those with people assigned). 

I'm not at all surprised by those percentages, but there are a fair number of CAP staff officer positions, especially at the squadron level, that are never going to get filled by someone actively working on that job (and hopefully no others). 

R&R probably best represents this sort of position -- no one joins CAP to focus a significant amount of their attention on recruiting more CAP members.  If you're lucky you find someone that has taken a step back from other more "operational" roles and who wants to continue active in CAP in some other way. 

The thing is, if you've already got a decent unit with a well-run program, you don't really need someone devoted to R&R.  If you've got a small unit that barely does one thing well, an R&R officer will have a very hard time of it.  Sort of a chicken/egg problem. 

However, I think we can safely assume that incredibly high percentages of people in most towns have no idea CAP exists and there are only limited ways to get that word out so that you have a chance of getting them in the door. 

BTW, I ran VolunteerMatch ads for CAP for years in an area with several hundred thousand residents and probably only generated a couple of contacts.  Facebook volunteer "job" posts have worked infinitely better at getting leads (for CG Aux), though I suspect FB has changed something as the contacts have tapered off in recent months. 

As a former cadet (and senior member), that has come back to CAP, one area to recruit IS former cadets or even former senior members.

CAP is not the CAP from when I was a cadet.  CAP has airplanes. They have a defined and fully operation Orientation Flight program.  And other things that can be done, rocketry, cyber, etc.

I don't even remember why I looked for CAP online last summer(NEVER saw any advertising since the 60s), but found a totally different organization.  Some of the same things from before also.

I first found CAP (I had been in scouting) due to network TV ad.  It was Cliff Robertson flying a Cessna, and talking about CAP.

As a former cadet that came back in when I was about 27 or so, I agree that this is a resource that we need to tap.  But, the problem is that most former cadets are probably not going to be in a life stage conducive to rejoining for 20+ years.  If there was a way to keep track of them over that long time horizon we might have more opportunities to bring them back. 

Perhaps automatically transfer any cadet officer that does not renew into some sort of free basic lifetime membership that gets them the electronic newsletter and perhaps some basic benefits similar to CAP retirees. Then, we maintain some contact with them over the years (unless they opt out) and at some point in the future they decide to come back.   

Quote from: Capt Thompson on March 21, 2022, 01:54:25 PMThe Senior recruiting issues is huge for us, our Cadet program grew over the pandemic while our Senior program declined, several didn't want to be exposed and stayed home, and then didn't renew. Our Cadet program has now outgrown the amount of Seniors we have running it, so in order to expand the Cadet program even further we need to figure out a way to bring in dedicated Seniors to assist at activities and meetings. If someone has an innovative fix for this, I'd love to see it. Targeted FB adds used to be the best bang for the buck, until they caught on and FB changed their algorithm several times. Not if you have organic traffic to your page, paying money to FB seems to kill the organic traffic and make is to that you can only maintain traffic if you keep paying. I'm not sure that's the right response for this issue, but again I'm not sure of a better one.

This is exactly the issue my unit is facing. We have a strong group of cadets (13 out of 15 on roster every week). But we are down to 3 SMs including myself. We weren't in great shape before the pandemic but we definitely atrophied over the last two years. We need SMs, but we also need to have reasons for people to join as SMs, it can't just be "come volunteer your time for the sake of the kids". There has to be a tangible benefit for SMs to stay.