Now that you have recruited some enthusiastic new members, you need to give them the best information, training and resources to help them thrive as a member of your team.

When onboarding is complete, every member of your chapter should be able to list our top pick charities and what they do, have a great conversation, and understand the responsibilities of their specific role on the team. This article will explain how to run an onboarding meeting!

Contents:

Two onboarding models

Goals for onboarding

Step-by-step onboarding checklist

Key resources

There are two different models for onboarding new members:

• Holding a single onboarding meeting for new members, and then running a conversation practice

• Holding an ongoing training series, or having all new members participate in a fellowship. This typically lasts around four weeks, with 1-hour long sessions occurring once a week.

For new chapters or chapters with a smaller team capacity, we recommend sticking to a single onboarding session. All members, including continuing ones, should participate in your onboarding meeting, and all members should take part in conversation practice.

Your onboarding meeting goals:

• Establish clear expectations for each member
  • Everyone should know exactly what they are meant to be getting up to on a weekly basis
    • e.g. the VP of social media should make one post per week, and be in communication with the VP of events to start advertising events at least two weeks before. Their goal is to increase your following by x amount, and get x likes per post.
  • Once you have created your strategy and plan for the semester, you should communicate this to your team so that every member understands how their role fits into the chapter's strategy
    • e.g. tabling will happen every two weeks and is meant to foster 1:1 conversations with people we've already spoken to at events, so the VP of tabling should schedule tabling for every two weeks and think about how to funnel people from events to the table!

• Teach new members the principles of effective giving and OFTW's mission
  • all members should understand what we do, and why we do it, so that they can effectively and enthusiastically explain this to others! 
• Teach new members how to have conversations about the 1% pledge, so that they are prepared to get people in their network to take the pledge.
  • Conversation practice is mandatory for everyone. Conversation practice helps us become comfortable and confident talking about OFTW.
  • Use this deck to run Conversation practice, and check out the Conversation 101 page for more info on conversations!
• Have all new members take the pledge
  • Taking the pledge is a necessary requirement for joining your team, and should be set as a clear expectation from the get-go. We cannot ask others to take a pledge that we have not taken ourselves. If someone is uncomfortable taking the pledge or disagrees with the goals of your chapter, they will not be able to affectively advocate for OFTW.
  • Pledges from new recruits will also be a primary source of new pledges, so make sure that everyone takes the pledge during this meeting.
  • Check the raw data dashboard and reach out individually to anyone who has not take it yet, to see if there is an issue you can help them with.
• Have all members fill out your lead tracker
  • Use a lead tracker to set goals for who your team will reach out to about taking the pledge this semester. Make sure everyone adds at least five names to the tracker by the end of this meeting. 
  • Here is a lead tracker template!

New member onboarding checklist:

1. Schedule your onboarding meeting and invite all members of your team. You should also decide on a date for pitch practice (preferably the same week).
2. Make a copy of this onboarding deck and review it. Adapt the content as you see fit and add any chapter-specific details (i.e. edit the last slide with your chapter's upcoming events/meetings, add any other responsibilities to slide 35, etc.) You and your co-president should practice going through the deck at least once before the meeting
3. Make a copy of this 'Welcome to the team' checklist and add in your chapter's details so that this is ready to be sent out at the end of the meeting. This includes making a copy of the lead tracker template and customizing this. You should add some names from your own network to get the ball rolling.
4. Send a reminder text or email to each new member the day before the meeting.
5. Run the meeting! Make sure that everyone takes the pledge during the meeting, adds their names to the lead tracker sheet, and knows when pitch practice will be happening.
6. Check the raw data dashboard and follow up with anyone who has not taken the pledge or added their names to the lead tracker sheet.  
7. Make a copy of this Pitch Practice deck and review it. Adapt the content as you see fit and add any chapter-specific details
8. Send a reminder text or email to each new member the day before pitch practice.
9. Run pitch practice! Make sure you save plenty of time for everyone to actually practice pitching in pairs - this is the most valuable part. 
10. Congratulations, you have successfully onboarded your new team and you are read to move on to executing your core content for the semester!

Key resources

• Recruitment
• Recruiting your first Eboard - useful for outlining the responsibilities of each role
• New member onboarding deck 
• Welcome to the team checklist
• Lead tracker template
• Pitch practice deck
• Pitching 101

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