It’s time for Cheer New York to start spreading the news and start spilling the beans. We have QUESTIONS and we were not afraid to ask!
Cheer New York is consistently one of the largest (if not THE largest) PCA Member Teams! It can't just be because the city is so densely populated. You must know a thing or two about attracting new volunteers and keeping them around! What is your secret recipe for recruitment and retention?
There are two key ingredients to maintaining between 75-100 volunCHEERleaders: i) Accessibility and ii) Coordination!
i) Our financial and membership leaders try their best to work with all members financially to ensure that if they move through the tryout process and make the team, we work with them on dues and uniform payment plans. We also have an adjustable dues scale based on the previous semester. So if you are dedicated to the cause of charitable cheerleading, your dues will reflect that in a positive way.
ii) Our athletics coaches do not choreograph a full routine or set permanent stunt groups but instead focus on all volunteers using the same technique. This allows cheerleaders being able to step into different sections or positions as necessary. In this way, we are able to organize who may have to miss a practice or attend an event for personal, work or other reasons. This also leads into, you guessed it, accessibility!
Having this many members is a HUGE undertaking felt primarily by these three groups of leaders. It's a lot of work, but the rewards are greatly felt.
Congrats on your recent HUGE donation to @trinitys-place of $13,000, bringing your total of giving to that beneficiary up to $20,000 for 2021! That is an impressive accomplishment, considering the activity limitations of the past year. How was fundraising during the pandemic different? And what are your plans for 2022?
Thank you!! Of course our focus as a fundraising organization is to help our LGBTQIA+ community of NYC through our charitable actions. During the pandemic, like everyone else, we had to pivot and get creative to continue our efforts to fulfill our mission. Our events leaders had to think outside the box, consider what we "usually do," and see how we could go virtual. We had two digital drag shows, which our marketing leaders pitched in to help coordinate, edit and produce. Marketing really helped to take the lead on virtual 'cheers for you' to help keep us connected to our usual collaborators in the community. It was really special to see the community get even closer and we cannot wait to see what we can accomplish in 2022. As more and more fundraising opportunities return to their traditional formats we will be able to participate like we are used to - with the amazing spirit and athletic ability of our team. At the same time some cool new opportunities have come up over the past couple years that we are hoping to continue in the future.
PCA's Equity and Inclusion Committee asks: How does Cheer New York support Black, Queer teammates?
Cheer New York supports Black, Queer teammates by creating safe spaces for them to express themselves.
In the past this question would have been greeted with blank faces. Maybe an annual Black history month post. If there is one thing we learned over the pandemic is that we were not doing enough. This is where Cheer New York Speaks came into play. We held a town hall with the black team members and alumni. They spoke and we simply listened. Cheer New York Speaks is a Virtual series that we started to give our teammates a voice and a platform. Making them more than just a part of the team. Select members were brought on and interviewed; they opened up to us about their life. This session was called “My Black Experience.” Along with filming for the show, we met with Dr. Camille Gear Rich from Rich Diversity Consulting as she led us on implicit bias so we can learn to communicate better as a team. Afterwards we went back to the table to put all our blocks in place. Now, we make sure to showcase our team's diversity using our many platforms. Finally, welcomed a new branch to Leadership called the Social & Culture Department which is focused on team inclusivity for years to come.
As Cheer New York's membership continues to increase and become even more diversified; educating ourselves on how the black community have been victims of racism and sexism is at the top of our priority list. We will continue having safe dialogues and providing our members with platforms where we can have open conversations with members who are uninformed about race, queer identities and the intersection of both. Our selection of pride specific events will also include those which focus on the struggles of Black Americans, especially the queer community.
