Membership, or a community model if that sits better with your charity, gathers everything you do around a clear exchange of value and a real sense of belonging. Done well, it turns people who hear about you into people who walk with you, and then into people who speak for you.
Membership isn't your office or your headquarters. It isn't your newsletter or your database. The people are the entity.
That's what a communications and engagement strategy on its own can never give you: community. Communications can tell people what you do. Community gives them a place in it.
It's a picture the Church already understands: one body with many parts, each given different gifts for a shared purpose. A community model is about finding the people whose gifts and calling align with yours, and giving them a way to belong.
Romans 12:4–8 · 1 Corinthians 12
People long for a sense of belonging. Inside a community, they want to:
Membership is how you package and articulate everything you do. That means getting clear on a few foundations before anything else.
Not what your charity wants to do, but what value you provide, or could provide, to one person. Then ask why that matters to them. Purpose becomes clear when you see it through their eyes.
Pillars are the distinct areas where you are best placed to deliver that value: the things you want to be known for. Be just as clear about what you won't do. If others are better placed to do something, doing it too only dilutes you.
Products, events, courses and resources are how you deliver a pillar. They can and should change over time. Because your identity rests on the pillars, you're never wedded to any single product.
Every pillar needs an outcome, written in the first person from the member's point of view: what they feel, what they're equipped to do, where they know to turn. That “why” is what you're actually delivering.
You can't keep repeating your vision statement. Pillars give you different lenses on the same mission, so every email, page and post reinforces what you're about.
Members share the same ultimate goal but differ in what they want and need at any given time, and in how they like to engage. Provide a range of options, but keep the package focused on your pillars and ultimate vision: multiple activities and products, one package.
Getting the layers right is what separates a community model from a product catalogue.
A distinct area of value you're uniquely placed to deliver, rooted in your vision.
The outcome for the member, in their own words: what they could personally gain through the work in this pillar, including emotional value such as feeling confident, inspired, benevolent or equipped.
The routes and channels that deliver the pillar, such as courses, events, resources and updates, in line with what you are best placed to do.
Not every pillar will be relevant to every member, and that's fine. What unites everyone is the shared ultimate goal and vision. And never say never: something a supporter ignores today may matter deeply to them in a few years, and they'll already know you're the people who do it.
Every community model is working towards the same summit. The ultimate measure of success is that your members become your advocates.
They know you exist, what you stand for and what you do.
They start to connect with what you share, and transact with what you offer.
They're actively involved, not just watching. They co-create, inform or deliver elements of what you do.
They tell others: “You should be part of this.” They advocate for what you do and connect other people's desires to your goals.
No website, email or advert is more powerful than one person telling another why your organisation could meet their expressed needs. For charities that must be careful with every pound, advocates make your message travel further, while more of your resources go directly to the cause itself.
Where it fits your work, advocacy can grow into an ambassador approach: members who actively represent you by leading talks, hosting conversations or running sessions on your behalf.
A charity can achieve even more of its vision when it works in partnership with a body of like-minded people committed to the same cause. That's where membership and a product-led approach part ways.
We help your charity establish clarity on the specific value it aims to provide, and how that makes a difference to the outcome of your work.
We identify who is best placed to work with you to provide that value, then determine the ways, methods, channels and products used to deliver it. We align these with your audience, for example favouring face-to-face networking and avoiding Instagram or TikTok if your audience is over 70.
We use your existing data sources, or develop new routes for capturing data, to create aggregated profiles. We use those profiles to sense-check current engagement against potential interest, and to see whether engagement is down to specific events rather than a general lack of interest in your other work.