AFS Partners in Practice: Host Family Finding
from the MIU…
As the Network prepares for the NH11 placement season, this issue of Partners in Practice shares host family finding best practices from Partners with consistent ontime placement performance in 2009 and 2010. Although placement realities vary across Partners and some methods may be more effective than others in certain markets, we hope that you will find these ideas useful as your team works to achieve 100% on-time placements. Special thanks to AFS-AUT, AFS-DEN, AFS-DOM, AFS-ECU, AFS-ESP, AFS-FIN, AFS-ITA, AFS-MAS, AFS-PAR and AFSTHA for sharing your best placement practices as part of our Partners in Practice series. If you would like to share ideas on new or successful practices within your Partner organization, please contact Oi Yen Lam (oiyen.lam@afs.org). We look forward to hearing from you! Planning Ahead Establish chapter goals and analyze past placement performance: Seven months prior to participants’ arrival, AFS-PAR establishes hosting goals for chapters based on their hosting averages for the past five years, and reviews their past performance to identify chapters those in need of additional support. Every October, AFS-ITA analyzes placement performance during the past NH season and works to improve the existing process. The resulting analysis and recommendations are then shared and discussed with all chapters.
Starting Early Address host family leads, share participant profiles: Starting in December, AFS-ITA distributes host family leads and sends weekly updates with participant profiles to volunteers for detailed follow up. Similarly, AFS-DEN contacts chapters on a regular basis, starting in January, with a list of host family inquiries. Volunteers are encouraged to conduct the next level of follow-up, applications, interviews and matching as soon as possible to prevent families from losing interest. Maintaining Momentum Convert natural families into host families: AFS-DOM, AFS-ESP and AFSTHA convince natural parents that they can better relate to their child’s experience abroad and extend the same intercultural learning benefits to family members at home by hosting an AFS participant. This approach has allowed AFS-ESP to increase the percentage of natural families who host exchange students from 12% in 2009 to 47% in 2010. In an effort to convert natural families into host families, AFS-AUT informs program applicants who are applying for a program to a “high-demand” country (e.g. USA, CAN, AUS and NZL) that they will receive a spot when their natural family hosts or when they are able to nominate a host family. If an applicant is unable to fulfill this request, he/she is placed on a waiting list until the recruitment phase has come to an end. However, this method is best applied when volunteers and natural families clearly understand that the AFS journey is best experienced as a “two-way” journey when natural families are willing to host.
AFS Partners in Practice: Host Family Finding
Pick up the phone: At times, a warm personal phone call can be more effective than an email message. AFS-FIN’s volunteers coordinate “call center” evenings to contact leads from Global Link, CSEs, chapter records and their personal networks.
from the MIU…
resulting leads. This way, they managed to recruit potential host families within their volunteers’ wider social network who have yet to hear of AFS.
Use your CSEs: Your organization’s Customer Service Evaluations for host families, natural families and participants are a sources for host family leads. Contact Hristo Banov (hristo.banov@afs.org) of the MIU to learn more about gathering host family leads from your CSE feedback.
Youtube it: AFS-DEN posted several videos featuring interviews with hosted students Austria, Brazil, Italy and Thailand and their host families on web-TV and YouTube. The response from the Danish volunteers and their communities have been very positive—by viewing a 5 minute video, the audience can understand the diversity and emotions that they would experience through hosting an AFS-er.
Ask others for help: AFS-DEN, AFS-DOM, AFS-PAR and AFS-TUR, among other Partners, work with external community organizations such as the Scouts, Lions Club and Parent-Teacher Associations to publicize their host family finding campaigns.
Email it: AFS-FIN scheduled an email campaign for host family finding to coincide with the return of Finnish participants, and received positive responses from their natural families who are interested in continuing their AFS experience through hosting.
Marketing Tools
Increase visibility of hosted participants: To publicize the AFS hosting experience, AFS-DOM works with chapters to have former participants featured in the local media as well as during public community events such as bake sales. Similarly, volunteers at AFS-AUT work to arrange media interviews with host families and hosted participants— lively interviews have proven to be a very effective marketing tool in Austria.
Google it: AFS-ITA coordinated a Google sidebar advertising campaign that generated 400 inquiries during NH09. Also, Google offers Google Grants (http://www.google.com/grants), a unique in-kind donation program awarding free Google AdWords advertising to select charitable organizations in certain countries. Google AdWords enables your host-family campaign to appear as sidebar advertising next to search results when users enter relevant keywords, such as “student exchanges”, into a Google search. Facebook it: AFS-FIN introduced a “Become a Host Family” button on the AFS-FIN website and encouraged volunteers to post this “button” and share the host family opportunities on their Facebook “walls”. AFS-FIN also posted frequent Facebook updates and contacted
Rely on returnees: With ~90% of its volunteer force comprised of young returnees and university students, AFSTUR relies on them to recruit host families via schools, former teachers and parents of their peers. The youth and energy of returnees help generate excitement and publicity about the AFS hosting experience.
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AFS Partners in Practice: Host Family Finding
from the MIU…
Working with Volunteers A “triology” approach: AFS-DEN introduced a “triology” approach towards volunteering by encouraging volunteers to work in teams of three for a given task. This way, chapters can better delegate the various processes involved in host family finding and ensure maximum support. Motivate your volunteers: AFS-ECU has introduced incentives that are linked to the chapters’ placement performance. Chapters with notable on-time placement are publicly recognized at events such as the General Assembly, while outstanding volunteers are awarded with various incentives such as all-expense-paid chaperon assignments on AFS participant trips.
Equip your volunteers: AFS-ITA ensures that volunteers have access to all hosting tools through a password-protected intranet, through which they can access and download training materials, the national-level family finding plan, etc. Delegate, delegate, delegate: As the 3week deadline draws closer, AFS-MAS closely monitors its placement status and requests chapters to adhere to a strict placement deadline. At the same time, the national office contacts other chapters with additional hosting capacity to help with placements.
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