In the early days of my career, I worked at a nonprofit that provided programming services to women. Members were those women and girls who paid to participate in what I thought was all the other more interesting things that the organization did. The membership department was the place that did all the necessary administrative things to make that happen.  Anything related to membership had to be routine, dull and probably really boring. The ‘real action’ was in the program departments that offered lifelong learning and health opportunities.

That was then…..

By a quirk of fate, I ended up in Washington, D.C. working at the American Association of University Women (AAUW). And the only job available was …you guess it…in the membership department. With no other hope of employment at the time, I took the job thinking it could lead to something more worthwhile.  Boy was I wrong…and glad of it!

The experience I had working in the membership department opened my eyes to an understanding and a realization of what a membership community is within these organizations; and from the members themselves learned how it manifests itself….or not.

Two that changed my life forever were Sally Tyler (Illinois) and Helen Olsen (South Dakota). I was fortunate to be involved in a special membership project with them decades ago that took me out of Washington, D.C. and into their world. With each, I traveled around their state…meeting other volunteer leaders and members…listening to their stories…and learning what membership meant to them…and discovering their membership community in real time.

It was a transformative experience.  It made me realize that the promotional copy I was writing for the recruitment and welcome letters about becoming part of the “membership community” had real consequence. I am indebted to these two remarkable women…they probably wouldn’t accept the role they played …they were just being authentic members and caring volunteer leaders.

They showed me the impact that could be made on each member’s life when the focus was on building the membership community…and not just on building the size of the association. It has been over 20 years since that experience and yet it inspires me to this day.

I have a photo with Helen on the wall of my office that was taken in Deadwood, South Dakota to memorialize our work together. We are garbed in frocks and hats from the old west…need I say more? It is a daily reminder that community is about relationships and authenticity. Helen and I have kept in touch sporadically over the years….we’ve both moved on from AAUW.  Last December, I heard from Helen…that ‘full-of-life’ voice that is distinctively hers was on my message machine. The relationship was rekindled in moments. The feeling of being connected was instantaneous. The power of being part of that membership community expressed itself once again with a feeling that is hard to replicate.

This is now…..

Reflecting back on that experience today reinforces within me the need for our profession – the association management profession – to recognize that our effectiveness is not solely found in the institutions that we build…but the quality of the membership community that we cultivate.

If you share the desire to learn how to build, shape and transform membership communities – and you have found us…let us know. We’re going to be on the look-out for you!