How to Find Out What Your Association's Members REALLY Need

I came across this post over on Elizabeth Weaver Engel's blog (which you should follow, if you don't already). In it, she talked about a recent Twitter discussion on capturing and keeping track of what members really need. It's a good question and is one I know many association professionals face, so I have pulled from this post a few examples of how some of our clients have used processes that actively incorporate member feedback into the decision-making process - this is by no means a comprehensive list but hopefully gets the juices flowing.

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Let's Do The Time Warp! It's 'Best Of' Month on the ARC Blog!

Let's face it: December is a busy time of year for most of us. Work deadlines, tasks we have put off but need to finish off by year end, holiday shopping, Christmas parties, school concerts...I don't know about you but I need all the extra time I can get!

December is also a reflective time, at least for me: I spend a lot of time thinking about the ups and downs of the year behind and really start to gear up for what I want to see in the year ahead.

During a recent reflective few minues, I was poking through the site and realized two things: First, there are a lot of really great resources here; and second, we have never done a 'best of' series for this blog.

So I have put together twelve posts that we have written over the past two years that I feel reflect some of the best of what we have done so far here on the ARC blog. I hope it will give you some food for thought and will spur some ideas about how you can make your nonprofit even better into 2012 and beyond.

Enjoy! 

Photo - Chwalker via Flickr

Are You an Association Executive in Winnipeg, Calgary or Edmonton? Join Us for Breakfast on April 5,6 or 7!

  

Session: Listen Up! Your Members Have Something to Tell You

If you are an association executive in Winnipeg, Calgary or Edomonto, Geoff and I are coming to see you!

We will be presenting in early April as part of CSAE's Association Excellence breakfast series. Our interactive session will focus on helping you to get your members involved in the strategic planning process:

Traditional organizations tend to operate like a triangle: A small number of company leaders sit at the top and make decisions which trickle down to the end users. Many not-for-profit organizations operate in a similar fashion, forgetting that in the 3rd sector, the members are the de facto owners of their associations.

This session will help you to turn that triangle upside-down by showing you how to involve your members in the decision-making process. Based on their work with over 60 not-for-profit associations across Canada and abroad, we will also share with you some of the common challenges and pitfalls associations face in the arena of member needs and satisfaction by examining best practices in areas that include member representation, member influence, ease of being heard, programs & services, and communication.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND REGISTRATION

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Why Member Feedback is the Secret Sauce of Successful Associations

When members think about your association, which word do you think is more likely to pop into their heads: Meh? Or Marvellous? Your association might have all of the key ingredients: leadership, resources, organization, focus...but does it have the secret sauce that spells the difference between a good association and a great one?

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Listen Up! Series on Member Needs & Satisfaction #6: Three Reasons Why Representation of Member Needs is the Biggest Challenge for Associations

The average satisfaction benchmark in the more than 47 member needs and satisfaction studies we have conducted is just 57% for member representation. This is almost always the lowest score of the five benchmarks we measure. Representing member needs to different stakeholders is often central to an association's mandate...so why is it such a challenge?

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