Multi-chapter organizations are large systems of creating communities and allowing people to come together. Despite there being multiple types and models of chapter associations, they continue to play a crucial role in various industries and sectors, ranging from professional associations to social organizations.

These associations serve as a means for members to connect with one another, learn new skills, and advance their careers or interests. However, many chapter-based organizations struggle with outdated systems that hinder their ability to effectively manage their members, data, events, and even branding.

So, what are the right steps to improving your systems? What systems should you have in place to optimize the experience of your members? How can your system connect all branches of your organization in an efficient and innovative way?

In this blog, we seek to address these questions and give your a clear path to optimizing the systems of your chapter-based organizations.

1. Identify the Pain Points

Every multi-chapter organization is in a different stage in its digital transformation journey.

They might still be using manual processes to manage membership dies, the software might be outdated and bug-ridden, or their systems might be disjointed, increasing difficulty in reporting and decreasing data consistency.

To make sure you find the right system that works for your chapter-based organization, take some time to identify these pain points and start prioritizing based on their impact on the organization.
 

2. Evaluate Your Current Systems

Once you’ve identified your pain points, you need to start evaluating your current systems.

What are their capabilities? Do they leave any gaps that need to be filled in the overall operation?

When answering this question keep in mind a few key factors: member engagement, event management, community building, communication, and data management.
 

3. Develop a Strategic Plan

Once the pain points have been identified and the current systems have been evaluated, it is time to develop a strategic plan. This plan should outline the steps needed to improve your association's systems and the timeline for implementing these changes.

Also, it should also include the resources needed to make these improvements, including research, budget, implementation, staffing, software, and other tools.
 

4. Prioritize Your Investments

Multi-chapter associations often have limited resources, so it is important to prioritize your investments. This involves identifying the systems that will have the most significant impact on your organization and focusing your resources on these areas.

For example, if member engagement is a key pain point, you might want to look into membership management software that offers communities and mobile applications.
 

5. Invest in Technology

The right technology is the differentiating factor between a sluggish and ancient chapter-based association and a fast, streamlined one.

Investing in your technology adoption can optimize your processes, dramatically decrease costs, improve your engagement rates, and, as a consequence, your renewal rates. There are several key areas where technology can make a significant impact, including:
 

• Marketing: Having software that allows you to send out email campaigns, keep your branding consistent, and give you actionable analytics is a key differentiator when growing your member base.
• Event management: Investing in event management software can help to automate tasks, streamline communication, and improve attendee engagement.
• Member engagement: A new member portal or community module can help to improve engagement with members, enhance the member experience and bring them closer to the organization’s mission.
• Data management: Investing in data management software can help to streamline data collection, analysis, and reporting. For example, this system should be able to pass on member data from one level of the organization to another with ease.

6. Focus on Training and Support

Improving your multi-chapter association's systems requires more than just investing in technology.

It also requires providing training and support to members and staff. This can include providing training sessions on new software or tools, offering online resources and tutorials, and providing ongoing support to help members and staff navigate the new systems.

Make sure that when selecting new technology, you ask about their onboarding and training plan. While technology will solve most of your problems, it's not a magic wang. All people involved in the purchase and usage of the product should ideally know how to navigate the system in order to use it to maximize its value.

7. Measure Your Success

Finally, make sure you’re keeping track of your success with your new system.

Implementing a new system might not yield immediate results, don’t be discouraged. It takes time to see improvements! Once they do start impacting the organization, however, it will be felt at all levels.

As you’re going through this process of measuring success, keep an eye out for areas that might require further development and improvement. Remember, the road to success is blessed with mistakes because, without them, we can’t have the opportunity to grow.
 

In conclusion, chapter-based associations face many challenges when it comes to managing their members, data, and events. However, by identifying pain points, evaluating current systems, developing a strategic plan, prioritizing investments, investing in technology, focusing on training and support, and measuring success, these organizations can improve their systems and better serve their members.

The key to success is to remain focused on the needs of your members and to continuously seek out ways to improve your systems and processes. If you need more information regarding the topic, feel free to contact us here.