============================================================================= Information Item Sponsor-assisted NCF Membership Drive ============================================================================= Theme: Membership "Drive" with a play on words to be developed around a sponsor. At this juncture, Myers Motors is undecided as to their possible involvement, but if their response is negative, an alternative sponsor will be recruited. Sponsor: We will require a sponsor to join us in this membership drive as a partner. The sponsoring partner should be a business with significant profile in the Region and a desire to assist the community by helping FreeNet. We must ensure that as much positive public exposure as possible is given to our sponsoring partner so that the partnership is beneficial to both parties. In order to provide the public publicity which is needed, the sponsor will already be advertising prominently in print, radio or TV, or a combination of these. This plan relies on our partner allowing us to piggy-back the Membership Drive information on advertisements and insertions, which are already contemplated for their business. The sponsoring partner will donate a prize which should be both spectacular and of universal interest, so as to attract both computer-literate and less technical people to NCF. Should Myers Motors agree to support us, the prize will be the use of an automobile (lease) for a year. The idea migrates nicely to other automobile dealers, grocery stores, major discount retailers etc., as long as their product has universal appeal and they are presently advertising. Concept: We will invite all existing NCF members to assist or enlighten their friends and associates, to the benefits of an NCF account. Both the new member and the referring member will be eligible to win the prize. Members will be eligible to enter more than once, and will earn one entry for each new member referred. New members will be entitled to enter again, by themselves recruiting new members. The mentoring aspect will be emphasized with members having to help their recruits learn how to use both the BCF system and the Internet. Mechanics:A referring NCF Member will login to the system under his or own userid. The referring member will assist the prospective member to complete online registration. The system records the referring members userid on the new registrant's application for subsequent verification. The referring member will be encouraged to explain NCF's funding objectives to the new recruit and suggest that donation be offered. The referring member will help the recruit to print the written application that will be mailed out delivered in the usual way. When the new member's written application has been processed and the account has been validated, a "Welcome to NCF" letter will automatically be generated by the system. In addition to the information usually found in this letter, it will also provide instructions on the use of "go" commands and will specifically refer the new member to a go command, which will take him/her to the contest menu. This area will contain the contest rules, a discussion group about the contest a FAQ etc. The final choice on the menu, will be a link to a another menu which explains the next step towards winning the prize. The next step, as explained on the menu above, will be to use a newsreader to read articles in ncf.announce. The contestant will be referred to a specific article (both by article number and subject line to accommodate threaded newsreaders). The article, which will be changed frequently during the currency of the contest will explain the next step. The next step, as explained in the article referred to above, will be to visit a particular Website, using the browser of the contestant's choice. This website will be Lynx-friendly to accommodate modest equipment. This page, will provide instructions about the next and final step. The contestant will be instructed in the preceding step, how to send and e-mail, and will be asked to send a letter to a particular system alias. The contestant will be asked to include a "clue" word which will be changed daily and which must conform with the date of the letter. Once this letter is received, it will be verified (automatically, if the software can be developed) or manually by the volunteer office staff. and the referring member and the new member's names will be entered in the contest. Throughout the process, the various instructions offered will promote the mentoring aspect and the new members will be encouraged to seek the assistance of their referring sponsor. Publicity and announcements will encourage the sponsoring members to make sure their recruits learn how to use the tools, not just to complete their contest entry, although that will be important, but to help them learn how to be "Net-savvy." Promotion:It will be important to promote both the Membership Drive itself and our sponsor. The project name and every document, announcement, advertisement, sign etc. should bear the name of our sponsor as well as NCF. Announcements will be placed in several NCF newsgroups frequently throughout the drive. Members will be encouraged to re-post the message in their favourite SIG, or by e-mail. Press releases and public service announcements will be placed. The "cash-ometer" will be resurrected and activated to display the current status of the drive on every login. Similarly, the webpage will display a thermometer-like display, to show the status. All of the contest elements; the welcome letter, the rules menu, the newsgroup, the webpage will all feature our sponsor and our membership/donation objectives. Advertisement will be placed (piggy-back on our sponsor's existing ads) explaining the contest. On-site registration demos will be held in our sponsor's premises, with on-line registrations done on the spot. Up to 10 line-sponsorship messages will be devoted to publicize this event. After the event is over, 5 of these will remain for our sponsoring partner's benefit for a period of one year. Our sponsoring partner will be offered an organizational account and assisted with the creation of a menu and/or webpage. The partner will be encouraged to participate in our affinity program "Cool Deals" for NCF members.