National associations often lose insight into how local chapters are operating—especially when it comes to how chapter members are communicating with each other.

The Higher Logic blog shares ways associations can use online communities to reconnect with local chapters and get a sense of their priorities and performance.

Start by making sure that each chapter has its own community by providing “a dedicated space of their own where they can focus on their members and their priorities.” Each community will have unique discussions, activities, and interactions, allowing you to learn more about each chapter.

How can you leverage this information? “Use the data from chapter communities to learn about each individual group, including how they’re performing and which programs or member benefits are most important to them,” writes Julie Dietz. This knowledge may help you to understand the context behind reports on membership growth and retention rates and volunteer activity.

Women in Leadership

Analysis: How most leadership training programs fail women https://t.co/J36GH3G0mN

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 23, 2017

Organizational leadership training and development is designed to find top talent and then help those candidates learn the right skills to be an effective boss. But is it possible that these very resources are keeping women from the C-suite?

The Washington Post reports on a new study from Harvard Business Review that indicates that “many corporate training programs value skills and ‘competencies’ without also measuring how employees score on potential, a system they argue overlooks many otherwise promising leaders—especially female ones,” writes Jena McGregor.

Other Links of Note

Is your year-end fundraising off to a slow start? The Nonprofit Times reports on why fundraising may be more difficult this year.

Every speaker wants to deliver value to their audience. Inc. shares a few tips for delivering a more meaningful talk.

Member testimonials are a valuable tool for recruiting new members. The Web Scribble blog shares a few strategies for making them more powerful.

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