7 Ways to Boost the Member Experience for Small Nonprofits

As a small nonprofit, you know just how critical members are for your success. By developing long-lasting relationships with every member, you can grow loyalty and keep them engaged for years to come. 

Member experiences are how people perceive and interact with your nonprofit. This can be through your website, emails, and events. Great experiences don’t just keep your members happy, they also boost your nonprofit’s reputation, generate more revenue and increase retention rates.

We get it, creating memorable member experiences is easier said than done. That’s why we’ve rounded up the top seven ways to boost member experiences for small nonprofits to help you at every step of the way.

Create the foundation of a fulfilling membership by optimizing your welcome process. From the moment they join, you can hype members up for the journey they’ll have with your nonprofit. This is great for deepening member engagement early on and encouraging them to stay involved. To get the best results from your welcome process, be sure to:

• Personalize your member welcome letters: Celebrate your new members with a letter tailored to them by including details like their name and membership level.
• Provide a welcome packet: Let members know about all the fantastic perks that your nonprofit offers and important details like contact information with a welcome packet.
• Send branded merchandise: If your nonprofit has the budget, include branded merchandise like stickers, tote bags, and mugs with the welcome packet so people can celebrate their new membership.
• Spotlight new members: Use your social media or email newsletters to highlight new members by including information about them like their bio and interests.
• Connect members: Match new members with experienced ones so they can learn the ins and outs of the membership.

Additionally, consider hosting a welcome event so that your new members can build connections and experience value from your organization right away.

With the right membership software, you can easily gather and leverage data that goes beyond basic membership details. Discover exactly why members joined your nonprofit and what events they’ve attended. Then, personalize your member communications by:

• Including their name: Add a personal touch to every message by using members’ names.
• Segmenting your members: Segmentation is a powerful tactic for grouping your members into different categories based on things like their interests, location, and membership tier.
• Suggesting events and experiences: After segmenting your members, you can recommend events and experiences that are relevant to them.
• Regularly appreciating your members: Let your members know how much they mean to you by giving them shoutouts in your communications and sharing how they’re helping with achieving your nonprofit’s mission.

This ensures that the communications you send to each member will resonate with their personal goals and interests, making them feel individually valued by your organization.

Keep members engaged by putting them at the forefront of your event planning. With events tailored to their interests and goals, members will get even more value from their membership. 

This is where membership management software can really help. This software lets you gather information about your members and put them into segments. Based on this data, you can determine what kind of events will be the most engaging for them. 

For example, if you’ve learned that your members are interested in professional development opportunities, you can host more workshops and networking events.

Also, depending on your members’ preferences, you may want to consider alternative event formats like virtual or hybrid events for greater attendance rates. This is a perfect way to keep your members connected and invested in your nonprofit no matter where they are in the world. 

Be sure to always keep an updated event schedule on your website so members can learn about your exciting upcoming events and make time to attend. 

Get your members excited about engaging with your nonprofit by creating interactive content. Instead of passively consuming content, interactive content lets members actively engage with your resources. Some popular interactive content that you can make for members include:

• Quizzes and polls: From fun quizzes to feedback polls, you can learn your members’ preferences and use that info for further personalizing your interactions.
• Videos: Share a look into your nonprofit, post educational tips, or spotlight members in videos.
• Webinars: Make webinars interactive by letting viewers send questions in the live chat for speakers to answer in real-time.

Not only can interactive content be fun, but it can also help you educate your members and let you collect more data about them to improve their experiences moving forward.

Your members want to know that you care about their experiences. Show them that you’re listening by regularly getting their feedback. These insights can help you optimize your content, events, and other member experiences. Send your members satisfaction surveys to learn:

• How their experience with your nonprofit is going.
• What else they’d like to get out of their membership.
• What topics and events they’re interested in.
• How else you can improve their member experience.

Make sure that you get feedback from new and longtime members for a wider perspective. 

Many people become members of a nonprofit so they can build connections that they couldn’t find elsewhere while championing a shared cause. To help your members feel like they’re part of a bigger community, you can create regular networking opportunities. Popular types of networking events include: 

• Meet and greets: These casual events are great for new members to get to know each other and existing members in informal settings.
• Happy hour meetups: As another type of casual event, your nonprofit can rent out part of a bar or restaurant for your members to enjoy refreshments and learn more about each other.
• Community service groups: Your members can volunteer their time, support a great cause, meet members of the community, and interact with fellow nonprofit members.
• Member-led workshops: These events are an opportunity for your members to develop their skills while learning from others in your nonprofit.
• Roundtable discussions: Members can meet in small groups to discuss interesting topics and hear others’ perspectives.
• Speed networking: This twist on speed dating has your members quickly meeting one-on-one with each other so they can introduce themselves, ask a few questions, and share contact information.

By holding networking events, your members can connect with like-minded people, make lifelong relationships, as well as grow professionally and personally.

Whether it’s a members-only website or social media group, you can create an exclusive online community for your members. A private online platform gives your members another way to stay connected and access premium features like gated content. Your members-only online community can offer more value for members like:

• An easy-to-search member directory.
• Relevant online forms and chat rooms.
• An updated event calendar.
• Exclusive content like articles and webinars.

Providing members with access to an exclusive community and content adds value to their membership and encourages them to stay involved with your nonprofit year after year.

With these tactics in your wheelhouse, you’re well on your way to enhancing your member experience. Through personalization, member feedback, and tailored content, you’ll differentiate your nonprofit and offer relevant experiences for your members that’ll keep them active and invested in the long run.