RESOURCE KIT
Saver Drive OPLAN Military Saves Campaign
I. Campaign Overview
Summary: Military Saves is a social marketing campaign to persuade the military community to establish new norms around money by saving and investing consistently over time, and reducing or eliminating dependence on consumer debt.
Desired outcomes:
- Increased household savings for short- and long-term needs;
- Decreased consumer debt;
- Command climate and overall culture that supports prudent financial behavior over consumption;
- Demand for financial literacy education and counseling, and
- Supply of financial products that encourage saving, especially regular (automatic) deposits, systematic increase in amount of deposits, and advance planning for purchasing and investing.
Method: Year-round promotional campaign and periodic Saver Drive. Saver Drives are suggested to coincide with America Saves Week, and can be repeated at other times during the year.
Schedule:
Jan-Mar Saving and Investing theme Sun 20 Feb to Sun 27 Feb America Saves Week Apr-Jun Youth Saves theme Jul-Sep Debt Reduction theme Oct-Dec Save for Retirement theme
Reporting Relationships:
Military Saves is part of the DoD Financial Readiness Campaign. The POC is Brenda McDaniel brenda.mcdaniel@osd.mil.
Military Youth Saves is part of the DoD Military Community and Family Policy Office of Children and Youth financial education program. The POC is Karen Morgan karen.morgan@osd.mil.
The campaign guidelines and resources are provided by DoD's nonprofit partner, Consumer Federation of America. The POCs are Julie Kyrazis info@militarysaves.org and Charles Lowery (202-567-1000).
The Service POCs include:
Army POC Michael Wood michael.a.wood@us.army.mil
Air Force POC Lt Col Karen Terry karenm.terry@pentagon.af.mil.
Marine Corps POC Kelley Faulk kelley.faulk@usmc.mil
Navy POC Arnie Norem arnold.norem@navy.mil
Authorizing documents for the campaign can be requested from your service POC or downloaded from www.militarysaves.org.
II. Saver Drive
Summary: A Saver Drive is an organized effort to enroll as many people as possible in Military Saves.
Desired outcomes:
• 10% or more of military personnel, civil servants, and defense contractor employees worldwide enrolled as Military Savers and receiving electronic newsletters to keep financial readiness in view, to offer savings tips, and to encourage them to get involved in encouraging others to Build Wealth, Not Debt; and
• Project Officers at every U.S. military installation CONUS and OCONUS, and one point of contact (POC) in every shop (suggested ratio of POCs to personnel assigned is 1:50 or fewer to facilitate one-on-one contact; however, a Saver Drive with a ratio of 1:500 POC to personnel assigned is 100% better the no POCs).
Method: Modeled on the Combined Federal Campaign drive, the recruiting method is one-on-one personal contact of all personnel (military and civilian), supported by visible leadership, emails, website, public affairs, partnerships, posters, special events, fun challenges, and various types of outreach to family members, contractors, and the general community.
Recommended Schedule:
Note: this assumes conducting the Saver Drive in conjunction with America Saves Week, normally the last Sunday in February to the first Sunday in March. Military Saves Week in 2010 is 21 to 28 Feb. To hold the Drive another time, adjust the dates accordingly.
October:
1. (Commander) Appoint installation (or largest/highest unit) Project Officer
2. (Commander) Communicate command directive for campaign; request POCs be designated in all subordinate units, tenant units, and affiliated organizations
3. (Commander) Authorize Project Officer to task functional areas and invite community participation (PA, Finance, MWR, Senior Enlisted Advisor, AAFES, DECA, spouses clubs, NCO clubs, junior enlisted and officer clubs, Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee, on-installation bank and credit union, Civil Air Patrol, JROTC, etc.)
November:
1. (Commander, Project Officer, POCs) Take the Saver Pledge at www.militarysaves.org
2. (Project Officer) Train POCs
3. (Project Officer) Ensure no firewalls block access to www.americasaves.org or www.militarysaves.org (this will need to be checked periodically)
4. (Project Officer) Schedule major events ( Saver Drive kick-off, volunteer appreciation event, etc.) to permit Commanders' participation
5. (Project Officer) Meet with Public Affairs and other key partners (see Oct task #3 above) to establish marketing plan and other support
December:
1. (POCs) Get unit manning document to identify the people you're responsible for recruiting
2. (POCs) Plan your program to start in January and go through about a week after America Saves Week
3. (POCs) Get creative about inviting family members, deployed members, and anyone else you don't see regularly at work you might want to recruit a couple of family member volunteers to help you with outreach
January:
1. (POCs) Hang flyers, posters, and banners (start with a few, increase every week through kick-off)
2. (Project Officer, POCs) Meet with any volunteers you've recruited to help maintain their excitement and give them specific tasks
3. (Project Officer, POCs) Confirm with your leadership that they will be attending installation-wide special events as well as unit and shop activities
4. (Public Affairs) Start running teaser stories
February:
1. (POCs) Recruit Savers
2. (Public Affairs) Run feature stories about campaign activities and Saver success stories
3. (Project Officer) Install/display/update Saver enrollment display (similar to CFC thermometer what is the goal, and how close is the installation to reaching it)
4. (All) Attend kick-off and other events
March:
1. (Project Officer) Prepare after action reports as required by branch of service; submit success stories, suggestions, and best practices at www.militarysaves.org
2. (Commander, Project Officer, POCs) Recognize workers volunteer appreciation event, certificates of appreciation, letters to supervisors, passes/time off work, etc.
III. Promotional Campaign
Military Saves is a year-round promotional campaign, and commands are encouraged to keep the Build Wealth, Not Debt message in front of the community at all times. Engage public affairs to promote the campaign, and encourage your defense credit union and military bank to do the same. Suggested promotional methods include:
- Regular feature stories, ads, and other articles in the military and civilian newspapers;
- Hold music messages;
- Reader board messages;
- Billboards, posters, flyers, banners;
- Briefings and motivational speeches at commanders' calls, organizational events, clubs, and special events;
- Take the Saver Pledge at all personal finance and life skills classes and briefings;
- Profile successful Savers and fun Military Saves events and activities in unit newsletters and other promotional avenues.
IV. Partnerships
Military banks and defense credit unions, cooperative extension, Boys and Girls Clubs, 4H, and your local chamber of commerce Military Affairs Committee are natural partners in this campaign. Every military and private organization can participate as well. MWR, AAFES/Navy Exchange, and DECA have marketing departments and sponsorship relationships they can leverage to support the campaign. Partnerships between for-profit companies and military organizations are subject to many restrictions; if you are exploring a partnership that is new to your organization, please consult your command liaison first.
