Membership & Regional Growth
How do we build belonging and purpose in every region?
Members are the party
Members pay for the party, campaign for it, stand for it and argue its ideas with friends and family. If members don’t feel part of something, they drift away and the party will not grow.
At the moment, members get a weekly email, and the experience of being a member is uneven: it depends a lot on where you live. Many have offered their time and skills and never heard back. Others have been handed a role and left to get on with it alone.
How do we make everyone, new and old, feel their membership is worth it?
A party where members know each other
I’ve been working on this with Maryse Pomlett and Danielle Baldwin Rowe. People stay in a party where they’re known, so belonging is how we grow. But it has to be built region by region.
A plan for every region
A strategy agreed with the NCC, and a realistic plan for what each region can do.
A plan for every region
A strategy agreed with the NCC, and a realistic plan for what each region can do.
I’m putting an overall party strategy together. I’ll then work together with Regional Chairs to understand what it means for their region before putting it to the NCC for approval. Our work will involve a clear and realistic assessment of what each region can contribute with the resources they have, and what they need from the party to grow.
I’ll also visit each region to meet members and hear from them in person.
Give regions what they need to grow
Support for regional chairs, branch starter kits, and a path to regional budgets.
Give regions what they need to grow
Support for regional chairs, branch starter kits, and a path to regional budgets.
The party needs to do more to support regional chairs:
- Clearer goals and communication
- A way to turn ideas into costed, funded experiments, and repeat what works in other regions
- Tools: tech, comms assets and the practical things, like Zoom accounts
- Branch starter kits, built from the experience we already have in the party
In time, regions should have money of their own. There isn’t enough in the party for that yet, but we should aim for regions to have allocated budgets.
Welcome new members, open the door to all members
We have to create a warm welcome and an open invite to get involved at a level that suits.
Welcome new members, open the door to all members
We have to create a warm welcome and an open invite to get involved at a level that suits.
It’s easy enough to join the party, but what happens next makes all the difference. Emails and welcome packs are fine, but a short personal call creates the first human connection and a clear path to getting involved.
On that call we find out what brought them to us, what they care about, what they’re good at and how much time they have. Then we connect them: to their regional WhatsApp group, to the next meetup near them, or to the people running projects or work they may be able to help with.
Some members want to meet, socialise and debate, some want to campaign or volunteer, some want to take something on, like a party role or standing as a candidate. Members who don’t get involved still keep the party going with their subscriptions and support. We have to make the opportunities and the paths clear for everyone. We have to build momentum and energy.
A two-way street
Your questions, ideas and offers of help won’t disappear into a black hole.
A two-way street
Your questions, ideas and offers of help won’t disappear into a black hole.
Members have, in the past, been asked for ideas and heard nothing more. Or not been consulted and not understood why. Or offered help and never heard back. That breeds frustration, and the feeling that a small group decides everything behind closed doors.
None of this has been deliberate. We simply haven’t had the team to manage it. So I’ll set up a Membership Team to bridge this gap and make sure members feel part of the party’s present and future. They’ll put out clear calls when there are chances to volunteer or contribute, and make sure people hear back: on what they’ve offered, and on what’s been decided.
And every month I’ll hold an open surgery, so members can come and ask me questions directly.
Surgery: Thu 29 Oct, 7pm
What to expect
A 60-min working session: what members have told us so far, the proposals, and your ideas.
Could you help?
Have you hosted a meetup or welcomed new members? Ideas to share? Send me a message.