MC Talks
The MemberClicks Blog

Engaging your members throughout the year is hard enough. But throw in the holidays, and it often feels downright impossible.

Your members are on vacation, enjoying time with their loved ones, taking a much needed break from their jobs/professions - and rightfully so!

So how can your association or chamber still engage with members, even during the busy holiday season? Here are a few tips:

Does your association or chamber currently have a volunteer recruitment strategy in place? Or is that strategy, we ask for volunteers as we need them?

If it’s the latter, while that might work on occasion, chances are, at some point in time, you’re going to come up short. For that reason, it’s best to have an ongoing recruitment strategy.

What exactly does that look like? Well it could be as simple as a page on your website and a series of email marketing campaigns. The key, though, is what you include on that web page and in your emails. See below for ideas and suggestions:

Raise your hand if working with your board is like pulling teeth? Or a headache waiting to happen?

Ok, maybe don’t raise your hand (board members could be looking!). But we get it, boards are tough - and you’re certainly not alone!

That’s why DJ Muller, Chief Strategy Officer at MemberClicks, dedicated his breakout session at MC LIVE! to best practices for dealing with a difficult board (which he referred to as more of a therapy session).

Today, we’re bringing a little bit of that therapeutic advice to you. While Muller outlined several key tactics worth trying, here are four in particular that could have a major impact not only on how, but how well you work with your board:

MemberClicks is thrilled to be sponsoring SURGE Optimism, a free, interactive, virtual conference hosted by AssociationSuccess.org! The following blog post was written by one of the AssociationSuccess.org team members, Lucie Robathan! 

At AssociationSuccess.org, we feel very strongly that virtual conferences are a game changer. Technological solutions for interaction and communication mean that a virtual event can stimulate a unique kind of knowledge-sharing, across a huge range and variety of minds. We host a semi-annual virtual conference called SURGE, which began as an experiment in online collaboration - and has since taken shape as a platform in which knowledge is co-created in real time, through the active contribution of the participants.

The best way to understand the special kind of collaboration made possible by technology is to experience it - and in fact, by participating in an interactive virtual event you are strengthening the experience through your own contributions. We are therefore delighted to invite you to our upcoming conference, SURGE Optimism, running on November 7th-9th. Attendance is free, and your insights could actively shape the direction of the discussion. It’s win-win, really.

Since November is still some time away, below are some top tips for making your online event a truly collaborative one - and to whet your appetite!

If you follow us on social media, you likely know about the conference we just held in Indianapolis - MC LIVE! (If you don’t follow us on social media, well...you should! All the links are at the bottom of this page.)

That said, at MC LIVE!, there were a number of breakout sessions covering a variety of industry-related topics: how to work with a difficult board (yeah, we’ve all been there), how to improve the member experience, how to more effectively manage your organization’s data - all that good stuff.

Now as you can imagine, we left with pages and pages (and pages and pages) of notes, but if we were to pull only a few key takeaways, they’d be as follows:

Note: This post was originally published on 1/13/16; Updated 10/16/18 for added value.

Membership dues are a big part of your organization’s overall revenue stream. But in order to attract more members, it’s important to keep those membership dues down. And in order to retain existing members, it’s important to try your best to keep those dues consistent year after year.

Embracing non-dues revenue streams is a great way to keep membership dues down, while still bringing in the revenue you need to run your organization. To help you get started, here are 13 non-dues revenue ideas for your association:

Every organization has a unique structure in terms of staff, board of directors, committees, task forces, etc. And what works well for one association may not work well for another. That said, however your organization is structured, there are three types of committees we believe most associations could truly benefit from:  

Pumpkins, sweaters, apple cider, oh boy! Fall is OFFICIALLY here!

Now it may not feel like fall yet (depending on where you live), but trust us, even if temps are still in the 90s (which they are in Georgia, by the way), people are eager and excited for that seasonal change. (Just check your social media feeds if you don’t believe us.)

Why not tap into that excitement at your association? Allow people to celebrate and get in the spirit, while also raising money for your organization.

Here are 13 fall fundraising ideas worth trying:

Note: This post was originally published on 7/26/16; Updated 10/2/18 for added value.

We talk a LOT about the importance of onboarding new members - and that all starts with sending a warm welcome email. But what should you say in that new member welcome email?

Here are a few tips to get new members started off on the right foot:

If there’s one common goal for associations across the globe, it’s grow, grow, grow.

But we know as well as you do, easier said than done. So where are some of the best places to find new members? Are there any “hot spots” you’re currently leaving untapped? Here are three ways to bump up your association’s member recruitment game: