Membership

Daily Buzz: Create a Cohesive Community Strategy

Leverage your association’s community by connecting online groups to your organization’s larger mission. Also: Unless board practices change, gender equality won’t happen until 2055.

Associations cultivate communities, whether they are happening online, in person, or both. And no matter what arena members engage in, each community should feed into the others and support the larger mission of the organization.

For online communities in particular, this kind of connectivity is key—and can be easily achieved if the community has the right focus, says Marjorie Anderson on Community by Association.

“Any good online community makes connections into the association as a whole,” she says. “Whether that be through surfacing larger content that community members may find useful or providing them information about regional events that will provide them greater opportunities for connection. Your online community strategy shouldn’t just be about online interactions and, when done well, it creates untapped potential for your association.”

For instance, if your association holds an annual conference, Anderson suggests starting a blog within your online community to give members an insider perspective into your meeting. The idea here is twofold: to connect remote members to the live experience and the online community to the association’s work overall.

“This is community mindset at work, and all it took was an adjustment to your community’s content,” Anderson says. “Connecting the dots doesn’t have to be hard … When done right, it creates the perfect recipe for a stronger association, more connected membership, and more meaningful experiences that will not only bring your members closer to each other, but closer to the association they choose to spend their membership dollars with.”

The Fight for Gender-Equal Boards

In the call for inclusion and diversity on boards, many organizations have pledged to bring in more women. But as Ram Charan and Dennis Carey report on Harvard Business Review, a large gender gap still exists—and will until organizations change their processes.

Charan and Carey say that in order to boost the number of female board members, organizations must search deeper and not be afraid to take a risk on a qualified woman who is younger or less experienced.

“It is said that at the rate we’re going now, the U.S. won’t achieve gender balance on boards until 2055,” Charan and Carey say. “Let’s all commit to getting there sooner.”

Other Links of Note

ICYMI: Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is getting an upgrade. Engadget outlines what changes are coming.

Every nonprofit communicator should master the art of newswriting. Nonprofit Marketing Guide offers tips on how to do it effectively.

Yes, online communities are meant to engage members. But they also work to improve customer service, says the Higher Logic blog.

(Pogonici/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Jeff Hsin

By Jeff Hsin

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