From Member Benefits to Member Value: How Do We Get There?

One of the ideas I keep coming back to in building Upnotch is that the future of membership isn’t just about what an organization can provide to its members. It’s about what members can create for one another.

Most membership organizations already have an incredible asset: a community of people with experience, expertise, relationships and perspectives that other members need. The challenge is figuring out how to turn that collective knowledge into something members can actually use.

Our work with Destinations International reinforced this for me. Within the first two months, 200 members joined the mentoring community, 80 became active mentors, and members generated 108 session requests, resulting in 63 completed sessions.

Those numbers are encouraging, but what interests me most is what happened underneath them: members were actively helping other members solve problems, navigate challenges and learn from one another.

That’s a very different kind of member benefit.

It’s not another resource sitting in a member portal. It’s not another webinar that someone may or may not attend. It’s a tangible outcome created through the community itself.

So how do we get there?

Start by understanding what your members actually need from each other.

It sounds simple, but it requires organizations to look beyond demographics and membership counts. Who is looking for advice? Who has expertise to share? Where are members struggling? What experiences exist within the community that could help someone else move forward?

The goal is to identify the points where member needs and member expertise intersect.

Then make those connections easier.

Having the right people in your membership isn’t enough. If members don’t know who can help them, or if finding that person requires too much effort, the value stays largely untapped.

This is where technology can play an important role. Technology shouldn’t replace the human relationship. It should make it easier to discover the right person, make the introduction and create a meaningful interaction.

Finally, measure the outcomes—not just the activity. This is where I think membership organizations have an opportunity to rethink engagement metrics.

It’s useful to know how many people logged into a platform or attended an event. But what if we also asked: How many meaningful connections were made? How many mentoring conversations happened? How many members received help? What problems were solved? 

What opportunities came from those relationships? Those are much closer to the real value of a community. And ultimately, that’s what I believe a strong membership organization should be building: a network where members aren’t simply receiving value from the organization; they are creating value for one another.

That doesn’t happen automatically. It requires understanding the health of your member community, identifying where the gaps are and creating the right conditions for people to connect and contribute.

That’s one of the main reasons we created the Upnotch Engagement Assessment to help organizations understand the health of their community engagement and uncover opportunities to strengthen participation, mentorship, and member retention.

Take the assessment to see where your community stands, identify potential gaps, and discover where you can create more meaningful connection and value for your members.

Take the Upnotch Engagement Assessment

The goal is to create a community where members see real value in showing up, connecting, and participating.

Where a member can say:

“Because I’m part of this community, I was able to accomplish something I couldn’t have accomplished on my own.”

That’s tangible member value. And I believe that’s where the future of membership is headed.