---
title: "Membership Hack: Volunteer Matrix"
id: "38897"
type: "post"
slug: "membership-hack-volunteer-matrix"
published_at: "2017-07-14T21:37:27+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-11-09T16:17:43+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2017/07/14/membership-hack-volunteer-matrix/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2017/07/14/membership-hack-volunteer-matrix.md"
excerpt: "The American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives uses a volunteer matrix, which is a spreadsheet that helps to track and recruit members."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Membership"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "job recruitment"
  - "Membership"
  - "volunteering"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "Director"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
---

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 » Membership Hack: Volunteer Matrix

**How to hack it?**Last summer, Addy Kujawa, CAE, CEO of the American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE), realized she had a problem when looking around the room during a volunteer committee meeting. “We were trying to select topics for our annual conference and realized that we were in a room with only veteran volunteers,” she says.

To add greater diversity and inclusion to volunteering, Kujawa revamped AAOE’s committee structure and volunteer recruitment process by creating a matrix that identifies professional and demographic information for each volunteer. It’s a simple spreadsheet that tracks things like age, practice size, practice type, and professional experience.

**Why does it work?**The volunteer matrix gives Kujawa a clear view into each of her councils, especially when there’s an open seat to fill. “Once we’ve identified an area of need, I can then use our membership database to personally invite or recruit new members,” she says. “It’s proven to be a successful way to attract rising leaders.”

**What’s the bonus?**So far, the volunteer matrix has helped Kujawa identify a replacement chair for her communications council. She selected a younger member who is a social media manager at a large academic practice. “He brought in new ideas and initiatives, like shooting video at this year’s conference,” Kujawa says. Those videos have turned into [membership testimonial (opens in a new tab)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hvep3cDLDk)
s that AAOE can use to recruit (which, by the way, is [another proven Membership Hack](http://associationsnow.com/2017/06/membership-hack-member-videos-techassure/)
).

(iStock/Thinkstock)

[Tim Ebner](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tim Ebner is communications director and press secretary at the American Forest & Paper Association in Washington, DC. He is a member of ASAE’s Communication Professionals Advisory Council and a former Associations Now senior editor.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tags: [#job recruitment](https://associationsnow.com/tag/job-recruitment/)
 [#Membership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/membership/)
 [#volunteering](https://associationsnow.com/tag/volunteering/)

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