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While you’re making New Year’s resolutions, consider these four to help your small association thrive.
It’s that time again. Time for New Year’s resolutions.
You might make them for yourself. But what about making them for your association? Making attainable New Year’s resolutions can help your association’s small staff work smarter and achieve more – ultimately helping your association to grow and thrive in the coming year and beyond.
To help you get in the New Year’s spirit, here are four resolutions you can make to ensure that next year is the best one yet for your association.
Four New Year’s resolutions for your small association
1. Stress less.
When your association has a small staff, employees and volunteers are often stretched thin. Work can seem like a struggle. But it doesn’t have to be. There are many ways to lighten the load on your staff and generally stress less. For example:
- Ask your most involved members to lend a hand by writing articles or other content for your association, encouraging discussions in your online community to improve member engagement, and helping to welcome new members to your organization.
- Free up valuable staff time by automating manual processes.
- Stop juggling multiple software systems and spreadsheets by moving to a full-featured association management software (AMS) solution. For example, YourMembership AMS is built to help small-to-mid-size associations manage all aspects of membership management more efficiently through one convenient system.
2. Try new things.
Consider trying a few new things in the coming year to provide your members with more value and to stay fresh and relevant with your members. It doesn’t have to take a lot of effort, but trying something you haven’t done before can make a big, positive impact on your association.
For example, association research shows that job opportunities and help with career growth are top member benefits. So, if your association doesn’t offer an online career center, make a resolution to offer one in 2025. YM Careers makes it easy to build and manage a modern online career center. And YM Careers integrates with YourMembership AMS to help you create great member experiences and deliver big member value.
Another example: If your association doesn’t have one, get an online community going to help members connect and share ideas with each other. An online community can keep your members more engaged, leading to greater member loyalty. Keep in mind that YourMembership AMS includes functionality to help you easily build an active online member community.
3. Delight your new members.
The first interactions with your association make a long-lasting impression on new members. Ensuring your member onboarding process is top-notch helps to get new members more engaged, faster and keep them around longer. Read the article, 4 Ways to Provide a Great New Member Onboarding Experience and commit to making your association’s onboarding experience one that welcomes new members and makes them love your organization right from the start.
4. Prepare for the future.
Make a pledge to give your technology strategy a boost so that your association can move more confidently into the future. For example, you can create a digital council within your organization that collaborates and shares ideas about how to incorporate modern tools, such as an AMS solution, an online job board, and an online community to help you manage member data more efficiently, streamline work, and provide a modern member experience.
As you work on your tech strategy, turn to your members who are early tech adopters for input. They can help you develop a technology strategy that keeps up with your members’ needs and expectations.
