By: Brendan Switts
One of the most memorable quotes of the Ordeal is “Those who chose you, need you.” This fall, the Order plans to find out how. In September, the Order of the Arrow’s membership retention task force created an online survey with the goal of giving units an opportunity to give feedback to their lodge and the national committee on the OA program. The survey will be distributed by the Lodge Key 3 and will also serve as a guide to improve how the Order serves the unit.
Earlier this year, the survey was piloted at the Grand Canyon, Garden State and Dan Beard Councils. It was very successful with a total of 524 units participating. It gave a fresh new look on the Order, including challenges of scheduling unit elections, troops’ view on the OA and why some troops choose not to take part in OA programs. The results gathered from the pilot were used to improve the survey before the national launch.
This survey will be conducted online and will provide feedback for everyone involved, from the lodge to the national committee. The survey link will be distributed to Lodge Key 3 members by early November, who will then work with council staff to send the survey to units in the council. On the lodge level, the data gathered from the survey will be given to the Lodge Key 3 so that they can improve the lodge program to better accommodate local units. This will give valuable information on how to best serve the needs of councils, since not all lodges are the same. The results will also be sent to the membership retention task force, so that they can produce relevant resources for lodges to use in the future.