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)s that AAOE can use to recruit (which, by the way, is another proven Membership Hack).

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