Membership Essentials: Recruitment, Retention, Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources

In addition to updating all ASAE, literature, data, and technological references, ensuring that every chapter is brought up to date with current practice, and eliminating unnecessary duplication, the new edition will encompass treatment of the following that were not addressed at all, or not in sufficient depth, in the preceding edition:

• A preface reflecting the CEO perspective on membership (written by a former membership director who now is a prominent CEO)
• The evolving environment for membership and engagement
• Engagement theory and practice
• Fuller treatment of value proposition
• Strategic planning as it relates to relationship-building, engagement, and affiliation
• Developing models for relationships, affiliation, and membership that respond to environmental factors and are sustainable
• Governance as it relates to membership
• Staff leadership of membership
• The role of volunteers in membership and volunteer management
• Private online communities, web distribution of benefits, and social networking and media
• Legal considerations, including privacy issues
• The impact of globalization and the related relational models and implications

Preface

Context and Foundational Considerations
• The Evolving Environment for Membership and Engagement
• Engagement Theory and Practice
• Value Proposition (fuller treatment)
• Strategic Planning as It Relates to Relationship-Building, Engagement, and Affiliation
• Developing Models for Relationships, Affiliation, and Membership that Respond to Environmental Factors and are Sustainable
• Governance as It Relates to Membership
• Staff Leadership of Membership
• The Impact of Globalization

Building Blocks
• Membership Research and Market Assessment
• Collecting, Managing, and Using Member and Prospect Data (including segmenting around need rather than demographics)
• Organizing the Membership Function to Deliver Value
• Making Relationship Building and Membership an Across-the-Organization Discipline
• Predominant Membership Structures in Practice (including moving people along a continuum from initial contact to membership, engagement, and long-term loyalty)
• Membership Categories and Dues Structures (including increases, restructuring)
• Understanding Key Membership Principles and Metrics
• The Role of Volunteers in Membership/Volunteer Management

Membership Functions and Infrastructure
• Recruitment and Retention Strategies
• Member-to-Member Recruitment (building loyalists who will tell your story)
• Delivering Benefits, Not Features
• Private Online Communities, Web Distribution of Benefits, and Social Networking and Media
• Membership Communication (including new member contact, renewal, communication process)
• The Backbone: Association Database Management Systems
• Financial Metrics for Membership
• Financial Management and Budgeting
• Legal Considerations (including privacy)

Appendix
Related Models and Samples

SHERI JACOBS, FASAE, CAE, is President and CEO at Avenue M Group, a full-service association and marketing agency with in-depth expertise in member behavior, engagement, and retention. She is the author of The Art of Membership from ASAE/Wiley.