Author Archives: Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
About Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE, is CEO and Chief Strategist at Spark Consulting LLC. Elizabeth has over 19 years of experience helping associations grow, in membership, marketing, communications, public presence, and especially revenue, which is what Spark is all about. She speaks and writes frequently on a variety of topics in association management. When she's not helping associations grow, Elizabeth loves to dance, listen to live music, cook, garden, and blog about the Philadelphia Eagles.Key Concepts in Diversity and Inclusion
As Joe Gerstandt points out in his sidebar in Include Is a Verb: Moving from Talk to Action on Diversity and Inclusion, clarity is key. We need a shared and widely understood vocabulary of “concise, clear, actionable language” in order to make … Continue reading
Include Is a Verb
Associations know the research that the Millennial generation that is rapidly becoming the majority of our workforce and membership base is the most diverse generation we’ve ever had in the US – and that the yet-to-be-named generation coming up behind … Continue reading
Membership 101: How Do I Know When To Ask?
My last membership 101 post ended: You continue to do that [make offers] for a few cycles, THEN ask her to marry you, once you both know it’s right. Which begs the question: how do you know when is the right … Continue reading
Membership 101: Ladder of Engagement
As I discussed in the last post in this series, membership is all about relationship building. The mechanism you use to build that relationship is the ladder of engagement. Simply put, just like you wouldn’t ask someone to marry you … Continue reading
DC’s Capital Area Food Bank Needs Your Help!
I was at my regular volunteer gig at CAFB this morning, and the shelves are BARE, y’all. It’s typical for donations to fall off after the holidays, and more than once, I’ve gotten a call before my June or July … Continue reading
Membership 101: Lead Generation
Where does the membership relationship start? It begins with lead generation. People who might want to become members of your association have to find out that you exist. Lead generation is first contact (and please tell me that somebody gets … Continue reading
This Is Not a Good Look for Us
It’s an open secret that associations are deeply concerned about – and struggling with – our ability to recruit and retain Millennial young professionals, both as members and as association executives and talent in our industry. We’re trying all kinds … Continue reading
Membership 101: Recruitment versus Retention versus Renewal
Three great tastes that taste great together. Recruitment, retention, and renewal are related, but they aren’t the same thing. Recruitment is what you do to get people in the door of your association in the first place. It’s at least partially … Continue reading
Membership 101: MVP
Not Most Valuable Player, Member Value Proposition It may seem obvious to say this, but people have to choose to join your association. What are their other options? Join a competitor non-profit Join a competitor for-profit (yes, there are for-profit … Continue reading
Launching: Membership 101 Series
I’ve had several clients hire me recently to do webinars/presentations on basic concepts in membership. It occurred to me that other people might want this information, too. So I’m launching a series of blog posts designed to introduce readers to … Continue reading
