The Joy of Membership Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

How is your year going?  Hitting all your metrics?  Have you even paused for a moment to look?

In this episode, I share the 3 major areas that I think warrant a mid-year check-in. Take a listen and let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Joy
Website:
joyofmembership.com
journeycare.app

In this episode, we're continuing a special series during which we're exploring how to use technology to help you grow things that are NOT membership.

In the work that I do with clients, I'm most often talking about membership growth, but in the quest for that, organizations often find themselves needing more people power. Questions begin to bubble up about who will help with outreach and follow-up.

So listen in as I share 9 specific ways that technology can make it easier to grow your volunteer base.

Connect with Joy
Website:
joyofmembership.com
journeycare.app

Raise your hand if you’ve ever wondered why the heck people think that what your organization does is brilliant, but they still don’t become a member.

Go ahead, raise those hands. I’ll wait.

If your hand is now raised, you are in good company. In fact, getting interested people to decide “yes” is something that challenges a lot of membership-based organizations. There may be hundreds of potential members who sit on a mailing list, attend an organization’s hosted events, and keep an eye on what’s happening without ever officially becoming a member.

In this episode, I share 7 reasons why your prospective members might not be joining. Take a listen and see which ones might apply to your organization.

Connect with Joy
Website:
joyofmembership.com
journeycare.app

This week’s guest is Elizabeth Pampalone from Absolute Marketing. Elizabeth is known as an international speaker, successful entrepreneur, and expert marketer with over 20 years of experience.  In the time that I’ve personally been working with associations, trade groups, and membership-based nonprofits, I’ve met a lot of marketing consultants and, to be completely honest, most of them sound exactly the same… which is ironic considering that typically they are telling clients that they need to be identifiably different, isn’t it?

Well, Elizabeth’s approach is actually different. She has boiled down the process of creating major components of marketing into a series of single-day events.  It’s an approach that’s similar to the Facilitated Focus Days that I do on the consulting side of my business. I know that the approach can actually be very effective, so I invited her on the show to talk about how an expedited process can actually help you get your own marketing and nurture pieces out to your members more quickly.

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Connect with Elizabeth:

GetAbsoluteMarketing.com 

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INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard

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ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

This week’s guest is Amy Hager, a consultant who provides strategy and support for community-centric organizations. Amy’s inspiration and foundation for starting her own company is built from her in-depth experiences in the broadcasting, publishing, non-profit, technology, and consulting industries. 

In our interview, you’ll hear her talk about what joy she finds in community building and providing guidance to a variety of organizations, helping them improve their internal strategies and external voice. 

Like many in the Association Industry, Amy didn't start her career in the space and instead says she kind of fell into it.  When I did her interview, I didn’t realize that she was at one time both a racecar driver and a radio DJ, so I’m going to have to do a follow-up conversation with her sometime to learn more about that. What’s important for today is to know that Amy has found a common thread in all she has done over the years, and that is building a community.

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Connect with Amy:

LinkedIn
Facebook 

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INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard

****

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought of this episode’s featured organization often. Not only are they headquartered in Italy where the virus hit hard, but they also serve American women who live and work in Rome - women who were likely concerned for the situation in Italy, concerned for the situation back in the US, subject to travel restrictions, and trying to make sense of all of this, just as the entire rest of the world grappled with the changes, as well.

I’m speaking, of course, about the American Women’s Association of Rome The good news is that AWAR had just gone through the process of upgrading their website and converting many of their outdated systems to be handled by the new site. That really worked out to be fortunate timing for them.

In this conversation, I talk with AWAR’s president, Jennifer Landini, and their First Vice President Kate McElwee, about how AWAR has been serving members and creating value in such unusual circumstances. 

Connect with Jennifer and Kate:

Website: awar.org

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INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard

*****


ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

In this week's episode, we're exploring the question of whether a member's perception of value can actually be influenced by the look of the materials you give them. In other words, does brand really matter? Ross Kimbarovsky is the founder and CEO of Crowdspring, a company where you can connect with more than 220,000 freelancers to get custom logo design, web design, graphic design, product design, and more. Basically, if you need something designed, you can probably find more than enough people over at Crowdspring who can do it. Crowdspring has some significant reach, working with big companies like Amazon, LG, Starbucks, Microsoft, Barilla, Phillips, but also tens of thousands of smaller organizations like non-profits, entrepreneurs, and startups. Before founding Crowdspring, Ross practiced law for 13 years as a successful trial attorney. But before you start thinking that he's all "no-nonsense attorney guy," some believe that Ross left law back in 2007 to start Crowdspring just so that he could wae shorts to work. Ross says that rumor is completely true.


Connect with Ross:
Website: crowdspring.com
Blog: crowdspring.com/blog
Twitter: @RossKimbarovsky & @crowdspring
LinkedIn: Ross Kimbarovsky

*****

INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard


*****


ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

Recently, I've had the opportunity to work closely with this week's podcast guest as we've collaborated on a client project. When I needed a fundraising specialist to help with the project, she was the first thing that jumped to mind. Julie Sootin is not only a consultant who specializes in fundraising, but she's also the Executive Director for the Association of Development Officers, a membership organization that is comprised of members who are all keenly focused on increasing donor engagement, raising more money, and communicating impact more effectively. I talked with Julie about how her organization continued to foster a sense of community, even during a time when in-person meetings were not an option, and how getting back to a core focus on her organization's purpose was really useful. I hope you enjoy this week's conversation with Julie Sootin.


Connect with Julie:
www.ADOonline.org


*****
INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard


*****


ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

Dr. Deb Rotman has been an active teacher, scholar, and practitioner of archaeology for more than 25 years and has a broad knowledge of both academic archaeology and CRM. When she joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 2006, Deb wanted to understand how a university with a French name became the Fighting Irish. Answering this question became the focus of her research on Irish immigration in both the US and Ireland. In 2015-2016, Deb was a Fulbright US Scholar to the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Castlebar, County Mayo, where she lectured and researched the lifeways and cultural practices of rural Irish-Catholics before they emigrated to the US. Recently, Deb became the Executive Director of the Register of Professional Archaeologists where she facilitates the certification and professional development of practicing archaeologists in the US and internationally.

Connect with Deb:
https://www.rpanet.org


*****
INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard


*****


ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.

The podcast this week features an interview with Dick Haiduck, author of Shifting Gears. Dick is a former of life sciences executive and mentor who has been committed to maintaining an active retirement, and he knew that he was not alone in doing that. The interviews that he has conducted with fellow retirees about their desires to make meaningful contributions are the basis for his book.

I was curious to speak with Dick about his book because I often hear from membership leaders about the difficult time that they have attracting younger members: Millenials and now even Generation Z. This conversation was a nice reminder to keep looking at the other end of the age spectrum as well.


Connect with Dick:
richardhaiduck.com


*****
INTERESTED IN DELIVERING *MAXIMUM* VALUE FOR YOUR MEMBERS?

Download a FREE Scorecard here and get ACTIONABLE insights in less than 10 minutes:  https://joyofmembership.com/scorecard


*****


ABOUT YOUR HOST

Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.

Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.

She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.

Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.

But beyond industry experience and education…

Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.

She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.

She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.

She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth. 

And she's approachable and results-oriented,  which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.