Before you return to campus, your council should have a complete schedule of officer and business meetings, plans for a recruiting drive, and the dates of significant events. Additionally, your council should make plans to attend the College Councils Conference in New Haven, Conn. Finally, your council should develop a budget to present at one of the first council meetings of the semester.
Every council should have at least one general council meeting and one officer meeting per month. Plan these meetings out for the entire fall semester. Once you have the meeting schedule settled, share it with council members via your council's Google calendar, Facebook page or website. While you may not know all your council's activities for the coming semester, add in as many as possible. Plan signature events that occur at the same time each year, including celebrating Columbus Day, organizing a service project around Thanksgiving and hosting game watches for away football games or Monday Night Football. Adding in events upfront will show weeks that lack activity and what types of programs are missing. Make sure you have a good balance of social, service and faith programs. Planning today helps your council do more tomorrow.
Start the fall semester off with a recruitment drive. The key to a successful drive is preparing before your council returns to campus. Consider holding a Rush Week or Go Roman style recruitment drive. Start the drive with a promotional campaign that includes Facebook posts, flyers, and announcements at student Masses that advertise a week of council activities leading up to a First Degree. Hold a variety of activities that ones geared to faith, fraternity and service. Host its own First Degree. If you do not have a degree team, work with a local council to host a degree as part of the recruitment drive. Following the First Degree exemplification, your council should have additional scheduled events to keep up the excitement built during your recruitment drive. If your council can participate in club or activity fairs on campus, organizing your recruitment drive around that time may also work.
Kick-start your council's fall semester by attending the College Councils Conference in New Haven, Conn. The Supreme Council offers travel stipends for two students, your council chaplain and your financial secretary. Each grand knight should have received his council's invitation and complete details about the travel stipend policy. Registration is available at kofc.org/collegeconference. Councils that annually attend the conference and regularly compete for Star Council and other programming awards are those which make the greatest impacts on their campuses.
Make a council budget part of your council's plans. A budget helps keep your council financially stable ensures you are working to support a variety of causes. In drafting your council budget you may see that your council supports more national charities rather than local endeavors. Or, you may realize that your council supports numerous culture of life initiatives but few youth causes. A budget can be a valuable tool that guides your council to success throughout the fraternal year.