Outreach

Outreach is incredibly important for every aspect of your chapter, and including an outreach plan in your strategic plan is critical.  

Who are you talking to?

The way you talk to your chapter or about your chapter should depend on who you’re talking to. In your plan, list out the different audiences you may encounter in your role as a chapter leader. You speak to chapter members, faculty, and staff regularly, but also think about donors, potential donors, school administrators, other VSO members, such as a local VFW, Team RWB chapter or the American Legion, or even community leaders like a mayor or city council. Having this list handy and having prepared communications with these groups will make your outreach plan easy to execute! We dive more into this in the Chapter Guide section on Communication. 

Talk about yourself!

Think back to your campus culture. What you choose to brag about (yes, BRAG) also depends on your school’s culture as well as your audience. Did your chapter just volunteer for a Veteran Stand Down? Who cares if you were just the muscle, tell your school – your advisor, your school’s administration, or even a school paper – about what you did, how many hours you served collectively, and the impact it made.

Was your chapter or one of its members nominated for an award? Tell everyone! Shout from the rooftops! Did one of your chapter leaders win a scholarship? Make sure your Dean knows and that they know how much! SVA-partnered scholarships are nothing to sneeze at – those dollar amounts can impress your school administration.

Do you have something going on? Share that with your school. Share it with other nearby SVA chapters. Share it with National Headquarters. Let us amplify your message.

So…you want swag?

Every organization wants to show off their brand. Below are some things to think about as you plan for creating or upgrading your chapter’s swag game. 

1. Do you have a logo? If not, we can help!  Visit your Chapter Guide section on Marketing Resources to get started with one of our templates!
2. What is your campus culture like? This is going to keep coming up…If you’re at a big football school, your needs may be different than an art school or a school specializing in business or social work. What would your chapter members or others on campus actually wear?
3. How much can you afford? Refer back to the budget you created to get an idea of how much you can spend or if you’ll have to find a donor to help.
4. Does your school have student organization swag guidelines? Make sure you know what you can and can’t do with shirts, bags, koozies, etc. Do they have contracts and deals with companies to make swag for you? Talk to your student organization office to find out!
5. Think about your audience? Sure those custom earbuds look great, but if everyone already comes to campus with their ears plugged in, would they really use them? Instead, think about a custom phone wallet. Or, how often is your phone dying by the last class of the day? What about a small portable charger? You can Google some really great ideas for swag that suit your chapter and campus.

Wanna fill the awkward silence in your next elevator ride?

Tell your fellow climbers about your chapter! An elevator pitch, also known as an elevator speech, is an opportunity to share a quick summary of yourself and your chapter. But a pitch can also be your chance at making a real connection that you can use later down the road. This can be great for recruiting new members, finding donors, changing policy on campus or in the community, or just filling the silence on an elevator.

Our partners at Microsoft did a study and found that you have only eight seconds to catch someone’s attention, so prepare the template below, put your shoulders back, head tall, and razzle dazzle those fellow lift-passengers with what you’ve got in 5 easy steps!

1. Introduce yourself. Start with a custom greeting to fit the occasion or time of day. (A solid, “Good morning!” works well unless it’s nighttime.) Then say your name and position within the chapter. The more personal you make it, the more people will connect with you, but be careful not to fall into the trap of starting off with, “The blizzard’s snow began beating on the window panes of St. Ann’s Hospital that cold, dark morning in January.” Your life’s story is most definitely fascinating, but would need the Sears Tower (or whatever it’s called now) to have time for the whole thing. If you need help start with your story: “When I separated from the U.S. Air Force and started at Florida State University, I didn’t feel like I belonged and so mostly kept to myself. It took two years and a marine dragging me to our Student Veterans of America chapter’s meeting for me to open up and get involved at school…” That’s Abby’s – what’s yours?
2. Present the problem. The problem depends on the audience. Sometimes, this could be a big problem – to an administrator, it might be that veterans and their families aren’t finding the resources they need at your school. Sometimes this could be a smaller problem – to a potential donor, you might tell them you are short on school funding to pay your way to NatCon. Other times, the problem is simply that the person doesn’t know about your chapter. “You’re a veteran and don’t know about our SVA chapter!? [gasps in chapter outreach]”
3. Present your solution. Again, this really depends on who you’re talking to and what you decided the problem was. This is usually about a sentence. Make it clear and concise and easy to understand. Don’t beat around the bush. If you want a veteran center, ask for one. If you need $5,000 to send your chapter to NatCon, tell someone. If someone doesn’t know about your chapter, invite them to a meeting or event or just to hang out with some chapter members.
4. Share your value. What does the other person get from acting on your solution? Why should an administrator build you a veteran center? What’s so great about sending your chapter to NatCon? (uh…everything!!) Why should someone join your chapter? We can help with that one! Check out our resources below for some things to include or bring along with you when you’re giving an elevator pitch.
5. Add a call to action. What do you want the person to do as soon as they leave the elevator? Is it to develop a committee to research the process to build a veteran center? Is it to write you a check for $5,000? Is it to put the details of your chapter’s fall-kick off event in the calendar on their phone?

Elevator Pitch Example & Template

“Most student veterans feel so out of place on campus because they’re older and usually don’t fit in with traditional students. I’m Abby Kinch, the president of the Student Veterans of America chapter at State University, and our chapter brings together veterans, military-connected students, their families, and friends to make sure that veterans feel included on campus and to open doors to other amazing opportunities! It was my life-saver my first semester because it was so hard trying to be friends with the 18-year-olds I was in class with. We’re having our Fall Kick-Off meeting next Friday. Do you want me to send you an invite?”

“The national conference of Student Veterans of America is happening in just a few months, and it would be so beneficial for our chapter at School Name to go! The conference offers training on issues important to us like list some of the sessions you’re interested in. We would also get to visit the SVA Campus, which showcases partners for career opportunities and professional development. And, it’s the largest gathering of student veterans anywhere in the world – and we know that growing our network is so important for our future. We would like to send number of people to the conference at $ cost per person per student. I’d like to sit down and discuss the benefits to our chapter and its members more. Do you have time later this week?”

You should now have a logo (if you didn’t before), some ideas for swag, the SVA National Headquarters social media hashtags, and an elevator pitch. Put that all together, and you’re on your way to an outreach plan!

Outreach Resources:

• SVA Branded Marketing Resources
• Great elevator pitch tips and tricks!
• NatCon Page (for cost estimator and other information)

Assignment

Follow along in the chapter strategic planning guide on page 9. 

In the space provide write an elevator pitch to “sell” your chapter to your school administration, a prospective member, or a donor.