Guide for Local Vegetarian Groups

Beyond the City Limits

How to become more efficient by forming a regional or statewide network

Most vegetarian groups are limited to a single city and rely entirely on volunteer labor. Given these facts, how can our work be streamlined and our efficiency increased? We'd like to make the case for expansion beyond the city limits to a multiple-branch regional or statewide network.

Consider the development of the local group we serve with, the Vegetarian Society of Colorado (VSC). Back in 1988, it was a typical group, although a bit larger than the average, with about 160 members. While nominally representing the entire state, in practice there were no activities of any sort outside of Denver, the largest city. Tabling activities were largely limited to a single major effort each year at the People's Fair in Denver.

In the succeeding years, the VSC has more than tripled its membership and dramatically increased its outreach activities. Now it has at least one tabling activity per month, often several in a month, and in many different cities around Colorado. The major reason for this was that the VSC developed from a single-city group into a statewide vegetarian organization with multiple branches. Our goal in doing this was to avoid duplication of the necessary tasks of group organization, such as:

• Publishing a newsletter
• Answering the phone and the mail
• Acknowledging new members and sending renewal letters
• Keeping financial records
• Incorporating and obtaining tax-exempt status
• Fund raising
• Ordering merchandise to sell.

All of these things can be intimidating to a group just starting, and are a serious obstacle to starting a vegetarian group in smaller cities and towns. By centralizing these functions, we encourage branches to form in less populated areas in Colorado and we put forth the strongest possible vegetarian presence in a state dominated by the livestock industry.

Except for one case in which active Denver members organized and conducted an introductory meeting in a neighboring city to get a branch group underway there, all of our outlying branches were formed by persons in those cities who contacted us. In other words, the main requirement in undertaking this approach was not "proselytizing" in the other areas of the state, but simply being open to the possibility that people there might want to start their own branch. The Denver headquarters then gives maximum support in branch development, but local leaders plan the events and do the real work.

What is the attraction that draws people in outlying areas to start their own branch? Starting a branch group is much easier than starting a new group. Starting a vegetarian group from scratch would include having to think about all the things mentioned above. Even ordering a few basic cookbooks, bumper stickers, and pamphlets for a tabling event could set a group back over $100--which is not a trivial expense for a group just beginning. But a central organization can support the outlying areas by performing, or at least giving major assistance in, all these tasks.

In return, each branch plans vegetarian outreach events monthly or as often as it can, and forwards to headquarters whatever funds it is able to raise. Branch status guarantees a seat on the statewide Board of Directors, so that each branch has a voice in decision making.

By putting our credibility, cash, and materials "up front" at these branch events, the whole organization has benefited.

Problems

The biggest potential problem we anticipated at the time--that branches would run up expenses without any measurable result--has thus far never materialized. Although we occasionally (and gladly) paid booth fees and other expenses for branches as a cash advance, in nearly every case enough funds were raised at the event (memberships, sales, etc.) to justify the initial expenses.

We were also afraid that going to a branch structure might create more work. What actually happened was that our membership, money, and support increased much faster than our work load, because a lot of the really time-intensive things had to be done only once instead of many times for each branch. And the increase in our workload was more than compensated for by the increased number of potential volunteers. We also considered the potential problem of cooperation among all the branches and the central headquarters. However, the branches and the headquarters have been able to function together very well.

The only real problem we never found a way around, but which simply had to be confronted, was the sales-tax license situation. Since each city has its own sales tax laws, establishing branches (and selling merchandise) in many different cities made the situation for the Treasurer quite a bit more complicated. Instead of one or two sales tax forms, he found himself confronting seven sales tax forms, some filed monthly, some quarterly, and some annually. But this was a small price to pay for having a statewide organization.

Advantages

The most obvious results of our expansion are the increase in VSC membership and more than quadrupling of its annual income. Starting as a single city (Denver) group, we have added six more branches in smaller cities. It is highly unlikely that groups would have begun and continued in all of these cities, particularly those with a population of less than 15,000, without the support and encouragement of the state organization. We have outreach events going on all over the state every month. Our newsletter, Vegetarian Living, lists in a single publication vegetarian events, including cooking classes, happening statewide. Such a comprehensive publication is very advantageous in appealing to potential new members.

Through input from branch leaders we publish a vegetarian restaurant listing that covers the entire state. Distributed free, it has proved to be one of our best outreach tools. The state headquarters has a canopy and a huge banner which it lends to any branch whenever the branch has a large public outreach event.

We can obtain better discounts on merchandise to sell because we order in quantity for all the branches at once. We can better mobilize support for campaigns and events sponsored by national groups, because our network of branch contacts is already in place.

Conclusions

The personal contact and support offered by local vegetarian groups is extremely important in persuading individuals to change their diets. The more a group can centralize its necessary organizational tasks within a state or region, while still having a presence at the city level, the better it can reach more people more effectively.

If you are in a state that already has a medium-sized group in a somewhat distant city, you might want to approach them about whether you could start a branch of their group in your city. Or if you are in the reverse situation--you already have a vegetarian group with a newsletter and some potlucks every now and then--you might want to be open to the possibility that someone in a neighboring city might want to become part of your group and start a branch of your group in their city.

Discuss what this would involve in terms of money and materials. Remember that to work effectively, you need to be able to cooperate. In practical terms, this means that (a) the money belongs to the central group, (b) the central group must materially support the branch, and (c) the branch group participates in the central group's decision making.

You may be in a state or region with several well-developed groups already. In this situation, the groups might not want to simply merge; but even in this case, they could share resources or functions. For example, they could have a single newsletter announcing everyone's events and containing other news of interest.

The three principles of credibility, open leadership, and outreach are all important in going to a regional organization. Credibility is important so that the different branches in the organization can trust each other. Open leadership and democracy within the group are important so that the branches know they will be represented (in the VSC, each branch is guaranteed at least one representative on the Board of Directors). Outreach is important so that the group understands that its ultimate purpose is not limited to this city or that city, but truly to reach out to all the public, bringing them information about vegetarianism and vegetarians. We discovered that administering a statewide organization is not much more work than a single city group (with a possible exception for the treasurer in keeping branch accounts), yet is a much more efficient use of volunteer effort. Consider "branching out" beyond the city limits with your group and see what happens.

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