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Want Members? Want to Keep Them?

Include Fellowship!

By Marylin Nease

If I were to sum up the most important “best practice” for recruiting, retaining, and reinstating members,
I would say, “Fellowship!”
Almost 100 years ago, Dr. Annie Webb Blanton and her 11 co-Founders developed seven Purposes.
Purpose 1, these 12 women said, is “To unite women educators of the world in a genuine spiritual
fellowship.” Purpose 1 is not, they said,
• honoring women educators,
• advancing women in the field of education,
• promoting legislation that supports education,
• giving scholarships and fellowships to women,
• stimulating women educators’ personal and professional growth, or
• informing members about economic, social, political, and educational issues.
Again: Purpose 1, these Founders agreed, is “To unite women educators…in…fellowship.”
Our Founders were brilliant. They knew educators need each other. They knew no one understands a
woman educator like another woman educator. Purposes 2–7 are vital to DKG’s Mission, and they will
naturally fall into place once Purpose 1/fellowship
...No one understands
is available to all members and once all members “
feel the fellowship. Without that fellowship, many
potential members will not join DKG, or they will a woman educator
join and drop out because they do not feel welcomed
into the fellowship. like another woman
Of course, not all members will agree that educator.
fellowship is the most important of our seven Purposes ”
just because it is listed first. They will remind us that
these Purposes were crafted nearly 100 years ago in a much different professional environment. However,
in today’s professional environment, fellowship with other women educators is as important as ever.
Inviting members and non-members alike into the DKG circle of fellowship offers support to members
and their fellow educators. Other members will say that the fellowship ideas offered in this article might
not be applicable in all the countries where DKG operates. They will add that the cost of membership is
high for some families, and paying such a sum per year to have fellowship together can seem excessive.
These concerns are valid, but in our efforts to “get things done” in DKG, the importance of fellowship can
sometimes be overlooked. We must remember that fellowship is a component of DKG and that it lends
itself to the work of the other six Purposes. Accordingly, each chapter must adapt the following examples
of fellowship activities and practices or devise new ones that will be effective in their own teaching and
meeting environments and that will be feasible with members’ economic realities.

Best Practices to Make Ongoing Fellowship Available to All Members
When recruiting members, we need to focus first on the joy—the fellowship of DKG membership. As
we recruit these new members, we should keep in mind one thing we love about DKG fellowship. Is it the
sharing? The laughter? The listening? The understanding? The refreshing break from a to-do list at school
or home? Whatever defines for each of us the joy/fellowship of DKG, that is what we should share with
potential recruits.

Collegial Exchange · 15