How to THRIVE: Guide to Campaigns

Membership and chapter campaigns are great ways to grow and improve your chapter. Use this as a quick guide to understanding how to participate in the campaigns and reach the THRIVE level. For more details and submission, see https://www.deca.org/campaigns.

What is the Point of Campaigns?

Campaigns can help to grow your chapter and build lasting relationships within your school and community. By meeting campaign goals, you can gain success on two levels. The achievement level can be earned by meeting one of the three requirements, earning you a pennant and certificate. The THRIVE level is achieved by meeting two of the three requirements, with rewards of a pennant, plaque, flag, and two allocations to attend the THRIVE Academy at ICDC. Campaigns can be split into three categories: membership, chapter, and advocacy.

Membership

The membership campaign focuses on recruitment. One strategy would be to create a digital marketing plan. The goals for the membership campaign are 20 more students than last year, 20 alumni, and 20 professionals. To reach the achievement level, your chapter must meet one of the categories. To reach the THRIVE level, your chapter must achieve at least two. The submission deadline for membership campaigns is December 1st.

Chapter

The chapter campaign category has a lot of opportunities for chapter activities, consisting of promotional, community service, and innovations + entrepreneurship. The promotional campaign requirements include conducting 3 school outreach activities, 3 success stories of alumni, and 3 community outreach activities. An example would be partnering with a school or community event using chapter members as volunteers. The community service campaign requirements are 1 or more community service activities, 75% or more participation of your deca members, and 1 form of publicity or promotion. One way to reach them is by organizing a fundraiser that benefits a local organization. The innovations + entrepreneurship campaign requirements include 1 innovations activity with 75% participation, 3 interviews and profiles of local businesses, and 1 entrepreneur guest speaker. To reach the achievement level for any of these, your chapter must meet one of the requirements. To reach the THRIVE level, your chapter must achieve a minimum of two. The deadline to submit a chapter campaign is December 1st.

Advocacy

The advocacy campaign is a little different from the other two categories. Its focus is on advocating for DECA during the Career and Technical Education Month in February. The requirements include 3 school outreach activities, 3 public policy makers outreach, and 3 community outreach activities. One idea would be writing to your local legislators about the importance of DECA and CTE. When meeting all the requirements in the advocacy campaign during February, your chapter will receive a pennant, a special plaque, and a letter of recognition sent to your school administrator and government officials. The deadline is March 2nd.

Now it’s your turn! Talk to your chapter advisor and members about reaching the requirements in a membership, chapter, or advocacy campaign. Reach out to me or one of the other Indiana DECA state officers with any questions. We can’t wait to see how you campaign and Go The Extra!

Written by Lucy Etling, Region 4 President