Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 07 | Page 11

April 1 - 15, 2018
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
IMMIGRATION
11
Membership recruitment: FilCo-opBC’s approach to
meeting potential members’ needs
One Filipino Co-operative of BC
(FilCo-opBC) is a membership-
based credit cooperative that has
continuously grown over the last nine
years. Starting with close to a hundred
incorporators in 2009, FilCo-opBC
now has over 300 regular members in
Vancouver, Surrey and other cities in
the Lower Mainland, the Fraser Valley,
even in Alberta.
Membership
in
FilCo-opBC
requires attending a Pre Membership
Education
Seminar
(PMES),
contributing an initial membership
share of $100.00 and paying a one-
time administrative fee of $25.00.
Fulfilling these requirements entitles
a regular member to avail of FilCo-
opBC”s member services such as
regular and emergency loans, money
remittance facilitation, referral to
professional services, vacation and
emergency travel financing, mutual
aid fund and connection to community
information and services,
Attending a PMES is essential
to potential members knowing and
understanding the principles and
practices of cooperativism. They also
learn about the values, vision, mission
and corporate practices of FilCo-opBC.
PMES participants also walk through
the history and development of FilCo-
opBC, its various member services and
activities, governance, financial affairs
and social development activities, a
video presentation about the rights
and responsibilities of cooperative
membership is shown depicting the
experiences of other cooperatives. At
the end of the PMES, those who are
ready to make an informed decision
complete membership and other
forms, pay the membership fee and
put in their initial membership share.
Key to achieving FilCo-opBC’s
annual membership growth targets is
the planning, scheduling, promotion
and regular delivery of its PMES. The
criteria adopted for the above are
location of the venue, accessibility by
public transit, day and time, availability
of volunteer PMES facilitators and free
venue.
In the early years, most, if not all,
of the PMES were held in the homes
of members or potential members
who volunteered to host a session in
their place. Subsequently FilCo-opBC
learned about and booked venues of
community agencies which provided
them for free or for a token fee.
In 2017, FilCo-opBC’s officers
decided to adopt a pre-scheduled
PMES
approach
which
was
implemented starting January this
year. This means PMES sessions will
be delivered in Vancouver, Surrey
or Richmond on a definite date of
the month in a booked venue that
is reasonably centrally located,
accessible by public transit and free
of cost. These regular PMES are held
on Saturdays, either in the morning
or afternoon, depending on the free
venue’s availability.
These prior arrangements are often
made by members of FilCoopBC’s
Area Coordination Teams (ACT) who
live in the 3 cities. Once arranged,
the ACT communicates with the
General-Manager who then issues
the announcement to its members by
email, messenger or on FilCoopBC’s
Facebook.
The announcement includes how
interested PMES participants can
register for a scheduled PMES of their
choice that is consistent with their
individual, family, professional or work
commitments as well as the location
and accessibility of the venue.
In deciding to hold a series
of scheduled PMES during the
year, FilCoopBC’s officers placed
paramount importance to a potential
member’s being able to attend a
PMES with the least inconvenience
such as missing work, conflicting
with children’s activities, and meeting
other family and social obligations,
like attending Mass or grocery
shopping. Also, enabling a potential
member to book a scheduled PMES
of their choice ahead of time hopefully
prepares them to come unstressed
by other worries, more focused and
open to learning about One Filipino
Co-operative BC before embracing
it not only as a credit cooperative,
but as a meaningful part of their lives
now and in the years ahead.
As a member-oriented cooperative,
FilCo-opBC attains to be responsive
to current and potential members’
needs. It demonstrates this respect
for the members by recognizing and
addressing the challenges of joining
a social movement such as FilCo-
opBC. It ensures that making that
first step --- becoming a full-fledged
member --- starts with a meaningful
and comfortable attendance in a
PMES that they chose based on
location, accessibility and schedule.
PMES is a key factor for members to
be aware and be informed about the
One Filipino Cooperative of BC.
Sa mga nais maging bahagi at
maging member ng FilCo-opBC,
mayroon pong monthly Pre-
Membership Education Seminar.
Makipag-ugnaya sa Tel. 604-780-
2061,
email: filcoopbc@yahoo.
ca, facebook: Filipino Cooperative
website: www. filcoopbc.com
“One Filipino Co-operative of BC
(FilCo-op), the first-ever Filipino co-
operative organization in BC was
launched on October 31, 2009. FilCo-
op’s objective is to enhance the lives
of the members, our kababayans,
and support one another through
cooperative effort or bayanihan. It is
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
founded on the principles of self-help,
responsibility, equality, democratic
governance, focus on services to
members, equitable distribution
of benefits and earnings, and
commitment for community growth
and development.
MAT