Survival guide for associations

Are younger members joining your association and then leaving after a year or two, or not joining at all? Are you struggling to get people to your events? Are you battling to recruit quality volunteers?

These are the stirrings of the perfect storm of generational, cultural and economic forces that are combining to challenge the way associations operate. Below are a few tips that will help your association effectively position itself to deal with these challenges and take advantage of the opportunities they bring.

1. Promote active involvement

The more engaged a member is with your association the more likely they are to renew their membership. One of the most important strategies you can implement to move a member from being uninvolved to being actively involved is creating and promoting volunteering opportunities. These are short-term or one-off opportunities for members to contribute to the association. Some ideas include having members:

• Comment or post discussions on your online forums
• Attend events as ambassadors whose role is to engage with new and prospective members, to ensure they have a good time
• Participate in advocacy work
• Speak at events
• Write an article for your publication.

2. Increase communication

The old-fashioned model of association communication is a transactional relationship with members, where the main communication channel is a one-way
trip from association to member. This is no longer sustainable. If your organisation is to thrive into the future you need to reposition it to connect members in ways that will provide them with meaningful and positive outcomes.

Your association needs to be the instigator of meaningful conversations rather than simply a provider of information. By focusing on creating engaging, innovative and strong communities, both online and offline, you will create an association that is attractive to potential members.

3. Keep up with new technologies

Technology provides associations with opportunities to streamline service delivery, decrease costs and increase responsiveness. At the most basic level, a membership database integrated with your website will enable staff to better manage members. Once basics are in place you can start to look at the possibilities presented by online communities, smart phone applications and more.

It is important to take advantage of technological advancements by integrating them into your communications and member service strategies.

4. Embrace social media

Getting involved in social media makes you part of the conversation. It is an opportunity to communicate with stakeholders and current and prospective members in a way that conveys your personality and lets people build a relationship with your organisation.

Executed well, it can provide you with some great opportunities, including leveraging membership and event registrations. Just remember to implement a clear social media strategy that is integrated with your other communication channels and backed up with adequate staff and financial resources.

5. Host innovative, interesting and fun events

Younger generations require events and learning formats that are tailored to their needs and learning preferences. They like the opportunity to get together in small groups to learn from each other in an interesting, convenient and practical venue. They like to have fun.

In order to thrive, your association needs to review the venues, format, frequency, duration, content and engagement mechanisms of your events, and establish whether they are relevant and engaging for younger members.

There are many new and innovative learning formats that are proving popular, from ideas as simple as scattering chairs and tables (instead of putting them in rows) to entire conferences being run without a program. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.