Membership recruitment

How to get more members for yor branch? On this page, you will find tips for membership recruitment.

Membership is a statement for the values and principles of the Red Cross. Paying the membership fee is an easy way to support volunteer work in your local area, and it costs €20 per year (for under 29-years-olds €10 per year)

How to succeed in member recruitment

• Make membership visible and heard at events, courses, and activity groups.
• Remember to ask people to become members. The most common reason for joining is that someone asked!
• If your branch has Facebook or a website, tell about membership there and include a link to https://www.redcross.fi/our-work/join-us-as-a-member/ where joining as a member is possible online.
• Go around inviting members personally or drop invitation letters into mailboxes. Remember to include a membership flyer or bank transfer form for joining.
• Organise an open doors evening at your branch where you tell about membership. Remember to bring cash receipt booklets!
• Delight people at events by handing out balloons or sweets – and attach an invitation to become a member to the balloons!
• Include the member recruitment slide found in all your presentations. jasenhankinta.pptx (in Finnish)
• Set a goal for your member recruitment and celebrate your success!
• Order the membership flyer from the Red Cross shop (Home – For the Organisation – Member Recruitment).

There are images for social media about membership recruitment in the Material Bank

• There are several images for social media with ready-made texts in the Material Bank.
• All images can be found here: Finnish Red Cross Material Bank – Social media images (punainenristi.fi) (login required) - Aineistot - kampanjat - Punaisen Ristin viikko 2023 - Jäsenhankintamateriaali.

New members and volunteers through the Helping skills for daily life course

The Helping skills for daily life course is an event open to everyone, offering the opportunity to practise everyday survival skills. Every Finnish Red Cross branch can organise a Helper Course, provided there is expertise and interest in the themes within the branch's area.

The Helping skills for daily life course is a low-threshold course where, in addition to practising helping skills, you can also tell about other branch activities such as psychosocial support or first aid groups, or friendship activities. The course material includes a dedicated activity station for member recruitment.

You can find the Helping skills for daily life course materials in the Material Bank (login required). Every volunteer can register as a Material Bank user and thus access the course materials.