.png)
The recent Michigan Society of Association Professionals (MSAE) Annual Conference revolved around a forward-thinking theme: “Future Ready Associations.” The conversations and sessions, particularly the keynote, highlighted an important truth—our membership and volunteer systems must evolve to meet the needs of today’s professionals. Here are key takeaways from the event, with actionable insights for organizations looking to reimagine their volunteer and member engagement strategies.
Rethinking volunteer roles: From “volunteers” to “citizens”
The keynote challenged us to move beyond traditional volunteer roles by focusing on smaller, more flexible opportunities for engagement. Here’s how:
Rebrand volunteerism: Shift from labeling participants as “volunteers” to “citizens” of your organization. This denotes a need for their input to be successful. One organization given as an example started identifying their volunteers as connectors, collaborators, colleagues, or contributors, and provided opportunities for each group specific to that type of work. These new terms reflect modern engagement and help individuals see themselves as integral to the organization.
Create bite-sized opportunities: Not everyone has the bandwidth to join a committee or serve long-term. Offering smaller, task-based roles allows more people to contribute while fostering engagement and connection. Consider inviting like minded volunteers to engage in curated roundtable discussions to help solve problems.
Go beyond email: Often, members will miss emails and may not know of the different types of volunteer opportunities you offer. Embed your opportunities into all your programming including webinars, presentations, social media, phone calls, etc.
Invest in volunteer management systems and processes
To effectively manage evolving roles and serve our members throughout their career life cycle, organizations need solid systems and frameworks:
Volunteer management systems (VMS): Whether you’re using a sophisticated platform or a custom-built solution, it’s critical to implement processes that allow automation and scalability.
Orientation, onboarding, and training (OOT): Many organizations handle board and committee orientations well, but ongoing onboarding throughout the year is equally vital. This includes consistent communication that aims to:
Connect volunteers to like-minded members.
Match interests to opportunities.
Solicit regular feedback to improve engagement and outcomes.
Practical tools: Have quick-reference materials like a “5 Things to Know” handout that provides an overview of 5 things they need to know about your organization and 5 things they need to know about their role.
Beta test! Don’t know where to begin? Implement small things with the purpose of testing, gathering feedback, refining and expanding. Repeat this cycle for maximum results!
Synergize: Your membership and volunteer professionals/systems should be working hand in hand to maximize results.
Leveraging feedback for strategic impact
Strategic decisions are stronger when they are informed by continuous, meaningful feedback from members and volunteers. It is important to integrate these feedback opportunities into your volunteer efforts. Consider these tips:
Use integrated, automated feedback systems to ask members and volunteers what they want and need from their experiences. Tools like Prop Fuel make it easy to embed conversational engagement into your outreach.
Ask purposeful questions with the goal of gaining more context to the individual member experience.
“Tell me about your interests.”
“What’s your next biggest project?”
“What’s the last thing you Googled related to your work?”
Automate surveys and check-ins to capture insights 6–8 times a year, ensuring your programs remain responsive to evolving needs.
Successful associations are member-driven and volunteer-supported. It is not our job to “create community” but to facilitate community building by providing the right tools, resources and opportunities to our members. By reimagining roles, investing in systems, and fostering ongoing feedback loops, your organization can create a thriving community where contributors feel connected, valued, and engaged. Start small, test new ideas, and grow from there.
Interested in chatting about volunteer and member management? Reach out to the team at AOE to set up a discussion today.