Just curious what successful methods have been utilized to attract new and/or younger memembers to non profit railroad organizations?

1.) Safety first.

2.) Followed by keeping things fun and not overly hierarchical.

Stephen :)

You need to get notice of the existence of your organization, its mission and its scope of interests, out to the general public. Currently one of the most effective ways of doing this, particularly with younger railroad enthusiasts, is an attractive and up to date website that appeals to a wide range of interests. Other effective ways to get the message out are suitably interesting brochures distributed through businesses and libraries, and the use of public bulletin boards through local cable television and other media. Special events held on or off site can also be effective vehicles for promoting your organization provided that you can adequately publicize them and clearly identify them with your activity.

PC

How young?

#1 is transportation, especially now that we all live so spread out. Transportation was a major factor in my choice of organization as a teenager.

These are all ancillary things.

If you want to attract a younger crowd, you've got to make what you're doing attractive to a younger crowd.

Hanging around in bib overalls, moving a few bolts an evening, and talking about "the good old days" isn't gonna do it. You've got to offer people an opportunity that they otherwise wouldn't have.

That's one of the things the CRHS has been striving to do, open up the chance to get involved in "cool" stuff that you otherwise wouldn't have a chance to do.

Ed certainly brought up an interesting point. In my area we have a railroad "club" (not a railroad "historical society") that notifies of their meetings only by an e-mail list and has been attracting a relatively large and enthusiastic turnout competitive with the local railroad historical groups that are much older and part of larger organizations and publicize their activities more widely. I think one of the reasons has been the mix of programs and activities, some of them very technical, some quite unusual, and some aimed at relatively recent events in the industry. Which of course presents the classic problem of preservation, attracting people with relatively modern interests to take part in the preservation of relatively ancient equipment.

PC

Speaking for myself, I was attracted to my local railway museum at an early age. We became members and the newsletter sustained my interest. We returned to visit for special events and I got to see lots of neat train operations and even operated a trolley. One time out, a volunteer coordinator showed us around and told us about volunteering in one of the many departments.

I managed to drag my dad out to volunteer, but he did not have the time commitment that I would have put in. Later, I got a museum member to sponsor me in high school, and with my parent's permission he would take me out to work about once a month. When I could drive that all changed.

So, I would agree with other posters that having good communication and fun special events are important to getting the youth interested. Telling them how they can volunteer is also very important.
O.

Some museums and railroad groups get stuck in a rut where they are preoccupied excessively with events and topics that are relatively ancient history. Considering that there is supposed to be an educational purpose in many of these groups, the fact that they are involved with "interpreting" the railroad industry to the public could open the door to a much wider scope of activities. One of the most memorable events I have seen hosted by a group in the last few years was a very unconventional "radio night" that was taught (yes, taught is the right word) by the senior electronics technician of a major commuter rail agency. For someone who normally does not teach professionally, he did one of the best teaching presentations I have seen, starting with the basics, explaining everything very clearly, and never going "over the heads" of the audience. It attracted a large turnout of very enthusiastic people, and seemingly a younger crowd than normally turns up at museum events. It was particularly memorable for the excellence of the presentation and how completely different it was in topic and scope from most railroad related programs.

PC

Chances are potential young recruits will bring girlfriends or wives with them to visit a museum site. Accompanying females have strong influence on boyfriend/husband's leisure time. To make a favorable impression, therefore, make sure museum restroom facilities are clean and serviceable.

An investment in quality fixtures as well as daily cleanliness will both build a favorable regard from female visitors and may attract them to join their husband/boyfriends in becoming active in the museum.

Sloan

Don't make it take too long or be too hard to join, if you do manage to attract anyone. You may not be the only attraction for a prospective member's time and money.

I think Ed has hit the nail on the head. You really have to make people feel welcome and give them opportunities to actually do stuff that is interesting to them.

I'm a member of several non-profits, two of which I joined at the minimal age allowed, and that was the part about them that actually led me to stay on with them. It was that feeling of knowing that you're part of the group and not just the "new guy." If you get to the point where the general feel of the organization is "cliquish" you're going to have a hard time getting people to return because they'll get the feeling they aren't welcome.

A good example for me is when I joined up with the NHVRY, I walked into the dispatcher's office, did the intro, signed the paperwork and within 15 minutes of arriving I was 3 miles down track doing repairs with the track crew. True story.

In my Civil War unit, I usually take new prospective members, put them in our company loaner gear and let them take a "test drive" at a reenactment. It's a good way to weed out the ones that are just tire kickers. But giving them the opportunity to actually go out with us and do the things that we do has been fairly successful and it gives the kids coming in the chance to decide if this is really what they want to do instead of forking out a year's membership dues and then realizing it's not for them.

Last thing then I'll shut up. Websites are going to be the key to survival for non-profits. When you're talking about kids in their late teens and early 20's, if it ain't on the internet, it ain't real.

For a long time the kids were all about software. But it's come around. Physical tech is hot again, symbolized by the "maker" thing.

* Make Magazine http://makezine.com/
* Maker Faire http://www.makerfaire.com/
* TechShop and copies http://www.clubworkshop.com/
* "Make Podcast" http://blog.makezine.com/podcast/

Take a close look at the "Make Podcast"... they are real beginner stuff. What we do is a major upgrade from that.

Having a foot in that world is a very good idea. If the Western Railway Museum had brought a streetcar to Maker Faire, we would have had 500 new members on the spot. All under 50.

I think the best way to find out good methods is to ask someone "young" now. Being a 17 year old myself, I think most of you are generalizing and possibly stereotyping most of us younger people as all Fun-only, internet-only, and only interested in the new and modern. It is, for one, a possibly very smart thing NOT to generalize and stereotype us as you may find quite a bit are not exactly that way. We are all people too, with unique personalities like the rest of you, not all of us follow the "trends." I, for one, can be very serious (especially when doing operations/work) and dedicated to my assigned task until completion, internet is great advertising, but the main attraction to me is the trains themselves, and I find most modern Class-1's rather boring.

To me, the most attractive thing for a tourist railroad or museum to do to attract people my age is the ability for us to come and be welcome to learn and work. Shop/maintenance work is kind of attractive, but the real draw for me and I believe most of the others my age whom I work with at TVRM is the opportunity to learn to do operations. I know that there's a lot of places that don't do this (because of insurance reasons), but if your organization does or can allow this, advertise it to interested individuals, it's really attractive for those interested in trains.

Build and encourage interest as young as possible, I have literally been visiting TVRM my whole life, and always have been captivated by the trains. TVRM has a good variety of equipment to see most of which are in a good, presentable condition and, at one time, a lot of it had access stairs. Nice equipment and facilities not only are attractive to younger people, but also encourage repeat customers (something which yes I'm aware not all organizations are blessed with). Good operations and friendly employees are also very nice.

As for debate on it has to be "modern" and "new" to be attractive, I probably would NOT volunteer my time if it were not operations with 1st gen. diesels or steam locomotives and heavyweight coaches, it's not the same at all. I enjoy the history of the equipment probably more than even some of you older guys, because 1. I like the old mechanical stuff (trust me I love electronics and computers and stuff, but it's a lot more interesting to physically see how it works and I'm captivated by complicated mechanical linkages and such which I can experience now) and 2. most of this stuff I never had the chance to see on the main lines.

So, in my own personal opinion, the best thing to have is the opportunity to work on what many have always loved and dreamed of working on. The chance to be a pivotal member in operations, whether (in my case) a brakeman or steam fireman, on a working railroad is what keeps me around.

Kyle

Kyle -

Well said! We have a number of younger folks at HVRM including one young man who started in high school and is now a conductor/engineer and who is completing his second year of college.

We have had other even younger volunteers doing various jobs. Of course, not every youngster stays with it, and many move on to other things. But, we try to give them the chance.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, IN)

Don't make it take too long or be too hard to join, if you do manage to attract anyone. You may not be the only attraction for a prospective member's time and money.

Actually, there's a significant body of research that indicates that is not true. There's a reason that college fraternities engage in "hazing" (I'm not suggesting you paddle the posteriors of prospective members while they respond "thank you, may I have another"), but reasonable waiting periods, mandatory orientation/training, formal admission processes all serve to increase the sense of investment & value.

We've all heard the dictum, "easy come, easy go". Its better to "weed out", those with transient interest early, before you have a lot of time invested. This is of course assuming you actually have something going on other than monthly slide shows.

The question is do you want a constantly changing roster or one with a significant core of dedicated members who ensure continuity of mission and operations.