Happy 10th anniversary Membership Matters!

 

As Membership Matters celebrates its birthday, we speak to founder David Douglas about the challenges facing the association and membership sector.

Happy anniversary Membership Matters! David, for anyone who doesn’t know, what does Membership Matters do?

In short, we help membership associations. We are the membership sector’s leading research consultancy, providing a range of consultancy, research, training and executive search solutions exclusively to the membership sector – from the UK’s best known like the RSA, the CFA, and The Royal British Legion, to some of the smallest but, incredibly vibrant associations that you may never have heard of.

It wasn’t always that way. Tell us what it took to get Membership Matters to where it is now.

Hard work and a client-focused ethos. There is no secret mix. When we launched Membership Matters 10 years ago, it was always our goal to provide high quality support, specific to the sector. We thought our value proposition would speak for itself and the clients would come; it was three months until we signed our first client and another three months until we signed our second.

We learnt very quickly the importance of really understanding clients on an individual level first and then, the need to spend a great of deal of time building strong and lasting relationships. This now forms the heart of our business model and as a result, we are very proud of our client list.

Why did you start Membership Matters?

Because we believe in the sector, the good work that associations do, and the amazing people who work in them. I worked in the membership sector for 12 years before launching Membership Matters, and got a sense that the sector was being short-changed.  Time and time again, I would see associations bring in consultants, trainers, researchers – you name it. All with very little membership experience, and I felt that there was a gap in the market.

I feel incredibly privileged to work in this sector, and to support membership organisations that are trying to improve society, drive the industry or interest they represent, changing the world as they go. I wanted to offer strategic-level business support with experience gained from the inside. Budgets and resources are often limited in this sector and our aim was to offer tailored expertise that is affordable.

We work with all size and shapes of organisations. It doesn’t matter whether you are a David or Goliath of the membership sector, we can usually find solutions that work for you.

How do you think that the sector has changed?

The membership sector is changing quickly, becoming more professionalised, commercialised, and digitised as it adopts best-practice from the corporate world. This year is naturally challenging for many, but I see great possibilities for us to help membership teams find the full potential of effective membership, new ways of working and optimise member engagement in a “new world”.

We see an increase in demand for operational effectiveness in all areas of membership from recruitment, retention to engagement and we are eager to help with overall strategy development. Never has so much changed, so quickly and to me it feels paramount that all the good work that goes on in the sector, reaching so many, needs to remain, adapt and evolve.

Membership Matters – what should we know? What do you do best?

Membership Matters has been around for 10 years offering strategic research and consultancy, all delivered in-house, with no outsourcing. Our solutions span from actionable insight to full strategy development, but we are best known for growing membership and revenues through membership segmentation, journey mapping, and business process, digital and data strategy development.

Which moment in your career are you most proud of?

Supporting the membership sector. I’m most proud of the long-term client relationships we have cultivated, being able to add value to the amazing work our clients do, be that with Resolution, a national organisation of family lawyers who help families in difficult time, or the Royal British Legion, providing social and emotional support to members and their families.

We are currently working with the RSA on a significant member research programme, which will ultimately deliver better engagement and value to its members, as the organisation seeks to resolve the pressing challenges of our time.

Supporting the amazing work that goes on in the membership sector is the overwhelming driver. It fills me with pride knowing that we’re making a difference that spreads into the membership industry and, importantly, into society at large.

 

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