I thought I'd throw out a question to see what kind of ideas you all might have on this topic. The question is - how do you - or did you - grow and diversify your chapter membership?

The membership in our chapter, like many others, is steadily aging. It is not diverse, lacking members who are women, minorities or non-pilots. We jokingly refer to our monthly chapter breakfasts as the "Old Men's Breakfast Club".

It is a well known problem that the numbers of pilots is shrinking. Reasons and discussions why could justify the existence of a whole new message board! Despite this, I believe there is still a great deal of interest in aviation, even if everyone with an interest can not (immediately) realize their dream to be a pilot.

It seems to me that we need to increase community awareness of our airports and chapters, let these community members know that chapter membership only requires an interest in aviation and not a pilot's license, and that members of all ages - including families, women and minorities - are welcome.

So - how does one accomplish this? What do you do, or what have you done, to grow and diversify your chapter membership? How do you get the community involved? What has worked, or not worked for you?

Thanks. Steve Houghton