Membership

Friday Buzz: Embrace Volunteer Passion

Why your organization should consider ways to keep passionate volunteer leaders active even if their term is over. Also: the value of membership mapping.

Even though a volunteer’s term on a board or committee may be over, that doesn’t mean they want to be done with the association. In fact, they may still be passionate about the organization they’ve been a part of.

According to Jeffrey Cufaude of Idea Architects, associations should consider redirecting and leveraging that energy and find a way to make room for them.

“Instead of talking about how to rid themselves of these people, organizations should focus on how to retain the best of what they can bring to their community,” he argues. “It yields a much richer and more respectful conversation.”

Read his full post for more thoughts.

Understand the Paths

Your members may start with your association from a variety of vantage points, and the better you understand those, the more effective you’ll be in ser.

Over at the YourMembership blog, the company’s director of product marketing, Peggy Smith, breaks down the perks and benefits of member journey mapping—particularly in helping you better understand how members interact with your organization and where you could serve them better.

“Members have different reasons for joining your organization, so it’s important to create maps for each of the member experiences after their initial joining period,” she writes.

Other Links of Note

Google changed the way its image search works, as part of a legal settlement with Getty Images. Here’s what’s different.

Sometimes, engagement isn’t the best option. According to Emma Thompson, director of Ashridge Communications, there are always pockets of members who simply aren’t looking to be engaged.

Email design matters. Web Scribble rounds up some important thoughts on the email marketing front.

(stocksnapper/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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