Membership Management 101

Break down your organisation into seven distinct components and set yourself up for successfully managing your membership organisation to the next level.

Managing a membership-based organisation can be overwhelming. Limited resources, funding issues and staffing complications are only a few of the challenges organisations face daily. However, it doesn't have to be that way.

Seven of the most common factors to creating a successful organisation can reveal simple methods for improving the overall efficiency (and ultimately, effectiveness) of managing an organisation.

1. Members & Membership

Growing your membership organisation only happens when you connect with your members in a way that promotes loyalty and longevity for your organisation.

Take the guesswork out of recruiting and keeping members through simple periodic surveys. Create fundamental checklists to streamline and systemise your membership process. Have standardised templates for renewal letters and application forms at the ready. Systemise your processes so that you can spend your time focusing on what matters — your members.

2. Volunteering

Volunteers are as crucial to a membership organisation as what members are. Instead of recreating the wheel, use your insight from managing your members to manage your volunteers. Similar processes, checklists and software can be used to recruit volunteers and then build long-term relationships with them once you have them on board.

3. Communications

If members are the cornerstone to your organisation's growth, how you manage your communications is your foundation. Everything you do relies on effective and efficient communications, but don't let that scare you.

Some of the following might be critical areas of communications for your membership organisation:

• Annual reports
• Blog
• Copywriting (website content)