In anticipation of our 30th anniversary in 2019, ACN conducted a membership engagement survey to gain insights into our members and what is most important to them. 

CBWhite, a leading marketing research and strategy consultancy, formed a unique team to help ACN tackle this challenge. They presented their detailed results at our 30th Anniversary Celebration & Annual Meeting. 

The ACN Board of Directors came together to review the survey data and determine how best to apply it to their strategic goals in order to improve the ACN member experience. 

How do you plan to use the data generated from the ACN Membership Engagement Survey?

President – Jill Misra:
We heard at the 30th anniversary kickoff celebration that members are interested to know how results of the membership engagement survey will be used. Here are just a few examples of how ACN will focus its priorities in the coming months based upon survey feedback.

• Offer programming content and formats that benefit consultant members and nonprofits alike
• Explore new partnerships and opportunities resulting in greater ACN visibility, new member benefits and increased value of membership
• Growth and retention efforts focused on the diverse needs of our members

Programming - Rashmi Narsana
The Programming Committee has made a deliberate attempt by reviewing our FY19-FY20 goals with the member engagement survey data. We are working hard to ensure that our programming and networking events are motivated by our member needs—specifically—“Interested in content by experience and practice areas and emerging trends in the nonprofit sector." 

Membership – Gregg Mellinger
The membership committee will focus on building relationships among the ACN community by reaching out personally to new members and inviting them to participate in educational and networking events. The committee is also making a concerted effort to ensure all current members are aware of the resources available. In addition, the group is exploring new member benefits that can be shared. If you have suggestions, please contact Gregg or one of the committee members.

Marketing & Communications – Lidia Varesco Racoma
The Marketing Committee has increased our social media activity in order to consistently promote ACN events and other member benefits to a wider audience. 

The data also showed us that members want alternate ways to connect besides in-person events, so we launched a private member Facebook group and have been growing our Facebook and LinkedIn presence. 

Another key data insight was that almost 75% of our members visit the ACN website regularly, so you can also expect to see changes that make the website easier for members to navigate, as well making it easier for nonprofits to locate and connect with consultants. 

Nonprofit Relations – Sherry Budziak
RFPs are important to our membership; therefore we rewrote the RFP form to make it easier for nonprofits to upload their information to the website. As a result we have seen an increase in RFPs and general inquiries which we share with individual and organizational members. 

The member survey also revealed that ACN members want to have more interaction with nonprofit leaders. With that end in mind, we are working with the other ACN committees to co-host programs with nonprofit groups as well as create a nonprofit relations committee in order to increase ACN's visibility within the community.