Daycare Association Rules

[inshakhan]

Hi everyone! I was wanting some advice about our local daycare association. We have been having issues with regular attendance at our monthly meetings, and because of that, it's been hard for us to get good speakers. We have around 50 members, but usually less than 10 at meetings. All of our meetings are worth 2 training hours for our state's licensing. Our dues are only $25 a year, so that's potentially all year's training for $25. Our association also provides a website where all providers are listed, along with how many openings they have, and the website is well known in the community, so it's a good source of advertising for many of the members.

For the last several months, we (the officers of the association) have tried many different things to increase attendance. We once provided food rather than asking for potluck. It ended up being a huge waste of money due to the lack of attendance. We asked members if providing childcare would be a benefit, and several members agreed and reserved a childcare spot. So we hired a babysitter for a meeting, and not one of the members who reserved a spot showed up, so it was again a complete waste of money.

So, we have decided for the new year that we are going to require all members to attend at least 3 meetings per year if they want to remain in the association. At the end of 2015, if they have not attended 3 meetings, they will be removed from the referral website, and can attend future training meetings for $10.

We told the members this new rule before dues were paid this year, in case any member did not agree with the rule and did not want to rejoin. We are receiving a lot of negative feedback - some are really angry.

So, that's why I wanted to get some opinions from other providers, who are in other associations. Do you think this is an unreasonable rule? What kind of rules do your associations have? I know this was a long post. Thank you for reading!

- Insha in OKC

[Magic]

I am in Canada ..West Coast
we get our insurance though our day care ass.
and if we do not have ECE ( 2 yr or such education ) we have to do least 6 hours a year workshops for insurance and to continue being a memeber
and we get referrals and web site ex
they serve cookies cheese and crarckers coffee and tea and have a full house every time

[Leigh]

Hi everyone! I was wanting some advice about our local daycare association. We have been having issues with regular attendance at our monthly meetings, and because of that, it's been hard for us to get good speakers. We have around 50 members, but usually less than 10 at meetings. All of our meetings are worth 2 training hours for our state's licensing. Our dues are only $25 a year, so that's potentially all year's training for $25. Our association also provides a website where all providers are listed, along with how many openings they have, and the website is well known in the community, so it's a good source of advertising for many of the members.

For the last several months, we (the officers of the association) have tried many different things to increase attendance. We once provided food rather than asking for potluck. It ended up being a huge waste of money due to the lack of attendance. We asked members if providing childcare would be a benefit, and several members agreed and reserved a childcare spot. So we hired a babysitter for a meeting, and not one of the members who reserved a spot showed up, so it was again a complete waste of money.

So, we have decided for the new year that we are going to require all members to attend at least 3 meetings per year if they want to remain in the association. At the end of 2015, if they have not attended 3 meetings, they will be removed from the referral website, and can attend future training meetings for $10.

We told the members this new rule before dues were paid this year, in case any member did not agree with the rule and did not want to rejoin. We are receiving a lot of negative feedback - some are really angry.

So, that's why I wanted to get some opinions from other providers, who are in other associations. Do you think this is an unreasonable rule? What kind of rules do your associations have? I know this was a long post. Thank you for reading!

- Insha in OKC

We had a local group that disbanded because of lack of attendance. They were meeting at a pizza place weekly. On a weeknight. No one had time to attend. Are your meetings at a convenient time for members? For ME, a Saturday late morning or early afternoon is the only time that I have to do anything like that. I would think that having childcare available would be a huge bonus.

About your rule...I DO think that the rule seems reasonable, but I'm sure that others would feel that if they pay their dues, they should reap all of the benefits other members do, regardless of activity in the group.

Have you tried asking the members what WOULD make them want to attend? Are the speakers not up to par? Are there some activities that could be subbed for speakers sometimes? Have you considered doing more social activities (maybe a wine and painting night-they're super popular right now)? Perhaps offer incentives for a while-giveaway a pack n play, storage solutions, a TV, something that most members would be happy to win. There IS something going on if a large majority of the members don't want to attend...if you can get to the bottom of WHY, only then can you work on getting them in there again.

[Laurel]

Hi everyone! I was wanting some advice about our local daycare association. We have been having issues with regular attendance at our monthly meetings, and because of that, it's been hard for us to get good speakers. We have around 50 members, but usually less than 10 at meetings. All of our meetings are worth 2 training hours for our state's licensing. Our dues are only $25 a year, so that's potentially all year's training for $25. Our association also provides a website where all providers are listed, along with how many openings they have, and the website is well known in the community, so it's a good source of advertising for many of the members.

For the last several months, we (the officers of the association) have tried many different things to increase attendance. We once provided food rather than asking for potluck. It ended up being a huge waste of money due to the lack of attendance. We asked members if providing childcare would be a benefit, and several members agreed and reserved a childcare spot. So we hired a babysitter for a meeting, and not one of the members who reserved a spot showed up, so it was again a complete waste of money.

So, we have decided for the new year that we are going to require all members to attend at least 3 meetings per year if they want to remain in the association. At the end of 2015, if they have not attended 3 meetings, they will be removed from the referral website, and can attend future training meetings for $10.

We told the members this new rule before dues were paid this year, in case any member did not agree with the rule and did not want to rejoin. We are receiving a lot of negative feedback - some are really angry.

So, that's why I wanted to get some opinions from other providers, who are in other associations. Do you think this is an unreasonable rule? What kind of rules do your associations have? I know this was a long post. Thank you for reading!

- Insha in OKC

I can sooo relate. I am retired now but was an officer for a long time in our association mainly because no one else wanted to be. My 2 provider friends and I pretty much ran it single handedly and when we retired together no one was interested so we decided to close it down. At the last second we heard of another provider wanting to start an association so we told her we had one and she took it over.

At one time we had good attendance but that was years ago. As time went on almost no one came and like you say it is embarrassing to have a speaker come and have no one for them to present to. One time it was just the 3 of us!

Most here at the end were in it because they had to be a member of an association as part of their credentialing process and also they got a reduction for their daycare liability insurance. They mostly got their training online though.

We tried everything. No luck. The new person completely revamped and tried a new strategy but last I heard she was having the same problem.

I really like your idea of the mandatory 3 meetings. I also like the $10 per training idea. I wish we would have thought of that idea. I guess it people get mad ask them for an alternative idea.

Laurel