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Laurie Pumper

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Engage First, Grow Further: Membership Strategies

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Seasoned association leader Avi Olitzky joined us on Oct. 15, 2024, to share how membership engagement can lead to improved member retention and attraction.

Focus on service

Avi’s first message is that the goal of associations should be to serve members, especially in a post-COVID world. This focus helps us stay true to our association’s mission. If you’re serving your mission, people will scream your praises from the rooftops. Think about a great restaurant: they may need to do a little marketing to begin with, but after that, word of mouth will build the business. You’re still recruiting, but others are doing the work for you. 

The minute you label yourself as a “nonprofit,” you put on an unfortunate blinder that you’re coming from of a position of scarcity. The difference between a nonprofit and a for-profit is that a nonprofit puts any excess money back into the mission. But nonprofits need to learn how to develop a mindset of abundance. 

Avi says that beginning in 2016, society entered an era of hyper-transition. Innovation is central to staying relevant in this environment. The benefit provided to your member will be out of date by the time they realize they’re getting it, and you need to focus on the next benefit that is coming. 

Connect regularly

Connect with members every quarter or every month to be sure they’re using the benefits you offer. If you engage members regularly and well, members will be your ambassadors. But this doesn’t mean sending multiple emails every week! Instead, find ways to go deeper. Perhaps each board member could call a few members and have a conversation about what they need right now.  

Measure Success

We also need to find new ways to measure our success. Net Promoter Scores don’t speak to the happiness factor. We must figure how happy and engaged members are now compared to the past. This will require quantitative and qualitative engagement measures. Quantitative measures show how many people are using the association’s services or how many people you’re connecting with regularly. Qualitative engagement is about measuring happiness, which is a more profound conversation.

Use AI

As many of our Associations Trends Talks presenters have stated throughout this year, Avi says that we all need to start using AI in some way. Use it to assist you in prediction and to help you move faster as you innovate. You’ll need to test the results with pilot projects and test cases, but AI will help you generate ideas. 

Additional resources: 

Watch webinar on-demand

NotebookLM.google (creates podcasts from PDFs) 

Great by Choice by Jim Collins

Master of Change by Brad Stulberg 

Sponsorship Potential-v2

Building Relationships Helps Build Association Revenue

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The Sales Team at Ewald Consulting knows that building strong relationships is the key to achieving strong results for our clients. Our review of sales tracking data reveals that, on average, it takes 11 touch points to make a sale — whether it’s for a first-time sponsor/advertiser or renewing a contract. 

Our team is committed to the end results. We handle sales efforts from initial outreach to closing deals or collaborate with you on sales calls to address specific benefits and logistics. When the Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) began working with Ewald Consulting, the executive director knew all the players and helped our team with making introductions. Six years later, our sales manager handles almost every contact with potential sponsors, exhibitors and annual partners. Since 2019, MTA has experienced 30% growth in exhibitor and sponsor revenue for their two biggest events of the year. Other clients have also experienced strong results:

Except for 2020-2021, exhibitor and sponsor revenue for the International Concrete Repair Institute has grown steadily since we began working with them in 2017.

Conference exhibitor and sponsor revenue has also grown steadily (with the exception of years affected by the COVID pandemic) for the Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery & Chemical Health (MARRCH).

Follow-through is another important part of the relationship-building process. We ensure that each sponsor receives every benefit they’re promised by maintaining open and consistent communication throughout the partnership. Attendees and sponsors continue to seek new ways to connect. Our team also engages supporters to learn what they value from the association’s offerings, then respond with ideas to increase that value further, such as innovative sponsorship opportunities, including:

  • Puppy Corner Sponsorships 
  • Barista Station Sponsorships 
  • Tech Suite Sponsorships 
  • Demo Sponsorships 
  • Live Streaming Sponsorships 
  • Hotel Key Card Sponsorships 

MARRCH has earned thousands of dollars in sponsor revenue by introducing a Puppy Corner sponsorship during its trade show. The puppies are very popular with attendees, making it a sought-after sponsorship!  

Investing in relationships has paid off. Our dedication to fostering strong connections has resulted in thriving sponsorship programs and continuous year-over-year growth, proving that genuine engagement is the key to long-term success. 

Ewald at the Capitol: New Laws Go into Effect

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Ewald at the Capitol – August 9, 2024

 

NEW LAWS NOW IN EFFECT

Effective dates for laws passed during a legislative session vary. Some are specified to be effective immediately once a bill is signed by the governor. Most budget bills take effect July 1 to coincide with the start of the new fiscal year and most bills without an effective date take effect August 1.

Some new laws that took effect on August 1 include:

  • Harsher penalty for “swatting” — Swatting is the act of faking an emergency aimed at sending law enforcement to the home of a target. The bill passed last session raises swatting from a misdemeanor to a felony.

  • Child passenger laws — Children under 13 must be transported in the rear seat of a motor vehicle, where available. In addition, children under the age of 13 are also required to use a child passenger restraint system or booster seat secured with a safety belt.

  • New penalties for straw purchases and guns — Straw purchases are when one party purchases a firearm for another party who is ineligible to purchase or possess one. Under the new provisions, the penalty for such an action increases from a misdemeanor to a felony.

  • New Compliance Obligations for Employers — These include new provisions related to employee wages and earnings such as:

    • While the new paid family and medical leave law will not take effect until January 1, 2026, starting on August 1, 2024, pregnant workers can take prenatal medical leave without counting against their twelve weeks of parental leave. Additionally, employers must offer the same health benefits during pregnancy and parental leave, contributing to the health benefits as if the employee were working.

    • Employers now need to pay workers the full amount of tips received by card or electronic payment, rather than subtracting a swipe fee first.

    • Employers now have to keep pay stubs for at least three years.

  • Rights for Parents with Disabilities — Prohibits a court from denying a prospective adoptive parent the ability to proceed with an adoption due to the prospective parent’s disability.

These are just some of the many laws that took effect as of August 1. For all new laws taking effect, you can view a more complete list here.

ELECTION UPDATES

On August 8, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and candidate for Vice President. This marks the first time since 1984 that a Minnesotan has been on a presidential ticket. The announcement came just two weeks after Vice President Harris announced her candidacy for president.

If the Harris/Walz ticket wins in November, the following would take place:

  1. Gov. Walz would resign to take on the role of Vice President of the United States.

  2. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would then immediately be sworn in as Minnesota’s governor.

  3. The most recent President of the Minnesota Senate (Sen. Bobby Joe Champion – DFL, Minneapolis) would in turn become the new Lieutenant Governor.

Some additional considerations:

  1. At the beginning of the legislative session on January 14, 2025, the Senate must elect a president of the senate as they organize themselves for the new biennium. It could be Sen. Champion, but it could be another member.

  2. A special election could change the majority in the Minnesota Senate — right now, with Sen. Kelly Morrison having resigned her seat to run for Congress, the Senate is tied 33/33.

  3. There is precedent where the President of the Senate does not resign their seat — Michelle Fischbach held both positions until the end of the legislative session in 2018. It is unclear whether Sen. Champion would follow that same pattern.

You can also see this interview with Minnesota Senate President Bobby Joe Championwhere he laid out what would happen if Gov. Walz wins and assumes the position of Vice President.

As a reminder, voters will head to the polls in November to vote for several races — including President, U.S. Senator for Minnesota, all 8 members of Minnesota’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation, and all 134 Minnesota House of Representatives districts. The Minnesota state senate is not up for election this year, but a special election will be held in Senate District 45, where Kelly Morrison resigned the state senate to run for U.S. Congress in the Third Congressional district.

Some important election dates to remember:  

June 28–August 12: Vote early by mail or in person for the August 13 primary elections 

August 13: Primary Election Day 

September 20 through November 5: Vote by mail or in person  

November 5: Election Day 

For more voting information such as how to vote, where to vote, and other questions you may have you can visit the Secretary of State’s website here. 

The Ewald Consulting Government Relations team has compiled a list of candidate filings. To find more detailed information in the races up for election, you can visit this candidate filings list.

Legislative Session Recap

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Ewald at the Capitol – May 31, 2024

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

On Monday, May 20, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion adjourned the 93rd Legislative session. Like other sessions, this one was full of ups and downs. Despite some believing this session would be easy, it was anything but: from the burglary charges against Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury) to the tense debates surrounding bills like the Equal Rights Amendment or the sports betting bill, and to the challenges in both the House and Senate during the final moments of floor session when the DFL majority used a procedural motion to end debate to pass their last two bills. This procedural motion, called “moving the previous questions,” led to raucous uproar from the Republican minority in both bodies but allowed the DFL majority to pass a final tax and budget bill. They also attempted to pass a bonding bill, but that bill missed the midnight deadline for passage by one minute in the Senate.

Overall, the legislature passed several bills this session, along with a supplemental budget. However, some high-profile bills did not make the cut.

Bills that passed this session include, but are not limited to:

  • EMS office creation and funds – $24 million in emergency aid will go to Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Services in greater Minnesota and $6 million for a pilot program aimed at improving EMS delivery in Northeastern parts of the state. The Office of Emergency Medical Services will also be established to oversee Minnesota’s EMS network.

  • Uber/Lyft – Perhaps one of the most-covered issues in Minnesota media in recent months, negotiations with the namesake rideshare apps caused a stir. A very late deal made on the evening of May 18 between Gov. Tim Walz, DFL legislative leaders, Minneapolis city leaders and the two rideshare companies was reached. The deal would pay drivers $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute — a rate that would increase current pay by 20%.

  • School resource officers – The bill to clarify what tools school resource officers have while working in schools passed early in session.

  • Cannabis provision modifications – Modifications to previous laws regarding “crossfading,” licensure and home growing for medicinal cannabis.

  • “Mommy” social media account profit ban – This law would ban making money off social media accounts that feature children, making Minnesota the first state to do so. For videos with older children, profits from videos would need to be set aside for those children until they reach age 18.

  • Ticket fees – Sharing the same bill number as the hit Taylor Swift album “1989,” Gov. Walz earlier this month signed into law a measure that requires ticket sellers to list the full ticket price, including fees, upfront on their websites (aptly named the “Taylor Swift bill”).

  • Voting Rights Act – In response to certain protections in the federal Voting Rights Act being reduced by court decisions, the provisions in this state act add protections against voter suppression and dilution of minority voters.

  • Food Security – The legislature passed an additional $5 million to address the growing use of food shelves and food banks by Minnesotans.

  • Paid Family and Medical Leave – The legislature passed additional revisions to the PFML program passed last session. The changes will increase the payroll tax rate from 0.7% passed last session to 0.88% in 2026 and to at least 0.93% by 2029 to sustain the program.

  • Minnesota Advisory Council on Infrastructure (MACI) Established – The legislature established the Minnesota Advisory Council on Infrastructure (MACI), which was recommended by the advisory council on infrastructure and patterned after the Michigan Infrastructure Council. The council is expected to assist in infrastructure project coordination across infrastructure sectors and long-term planning using asset management and other tools.

On the flip side, some bills that did not pass for various reasons included:

  • Bonding – Even-numbered years of the legislative session have traditionally been dedicated to passing a capital investment (bonding) bill to fund Minnesota’s infrastructure needs. This year, the legislature failed to pass a bonding bill to fund infrastructure needs. This means that millions of dollars in infrastructure needs for the Public Facilities Authority (PFA) to fund the State Matching Grant to State Revolving Loan Programs, Water Infrastructure Fund (WIF), road construction, and other infrastructure projects will go unfunded. A last-minute $70 million cash bonding bill was hastily passed by the House during the last-minute chaos of session, but the vote in the Senate was not completed before the midnight deadline.

  • Equal Rights Amendment – The bill would have put a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot that, if supported by more than 50% of the voters, would have prohibited discrimination based on gender, sex or sexual identity. Both the Senate and the House passed different versions of the ERA, but ran out of time to find agreement.

  • Ranked choice voting – The bill to allow local units of government the option to use ranked choice voting for local elections was brought to the House floor but did not get the required 68 votes, with the total being 66–62.

  • Sports betting – One of the bills that many Minnesotans hoped would pass did not. Despite a deal being worked out on Sunday, it was too late to finalize the agreement and pass it.

  • Full-time legislature: The proposed constitutional amendment to expand the time the legislature meets passed a few committees but did not advance to a final vote.

If you’d like to view these or other bills that went to the governor’s desk for approval, you can follow the Legislation Tracker / Office of Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (mn.gov)

The legislature also passed an overall supplemental budget package that appropriates over $500 million for key areas of the state budget — including education, health and human services, housing, taxes, and transportation. Key components of the supplemental budget passed include:

  • Modifications to childcare tax credits.

  • Property tax forfeiture law policy changes, which are a remedy for the Tyler v. Hennepin County Supreme Court decision.

  • Funding for roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure needs.

  • Funding to support literacy instruction, increase student attendance and support those entering the teaching profession.

  • Expansion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and summer school nutrition programs.

  • Expansion of various health occupation licensing to allow for practice across state lines which increases access to various health services.

  • Additional funding for homeless prevention housing programs.

  • Additional funding for programs and services to support adult and children’s mental health needs and to address substance use disorders.

  • Expansion of caregiver grant programs and services for Minnesotans with disabilities, and the establishment of a Human Services Response Contingency Account.
LEGISLATIVE RETIREMENTS

Over the last several months, several representatives have announced they are not seeking re-election. For an up-to-date list of legislative retirements, please visit the Legislative Reference Library’s list of retirements.
END-OF-SESSION PRESS CONFERENCES

More a partisan spin on the final days of session, you can view the post-session press conferences for the House and Senate Republican and DFL parties.
CANDIDATE FILING INFORMATION

Election season is soon upon us, and candidates have begun filing for office. Most offices, including those at the Federal, State, and County level, are open for filing from May 21 to June 4. Offices in cities or school districts that do not have primaries will begin their filing periods on July 30 and end on August 13.

Those looking to file must submit an Affidavit of Candidacy and submit a filing fee to the appropriate filing officer. To find information or see who has filed for Candidacy, you can visit: Candidate Filings (mn.gov)
HELPFUL RESOURCES

A few helpful links to follow the action at the State Capitol:

To find your legislators, visit Who Represents Me

For bills that have been presented to the Governor for a signature, visit the
Legislation Tracker / Office of Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (mn.gov)
Minnesota House of Representatives in action

Making It Easier for Volunteers to Engage in Grassroots Advocacy

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The Ewald Consulting Government Relations team provides various services to help associations achieve their legislative aims. Government Affairs Director Valerie Dosland says the team is well-equipped for success. “Each member of our team has previous experience working as legislative staff inside the Minnesota capitol and provides a broad range of skills to our lobbying team. Each of us specializes in specific issue areas — ranging from early childhood and K-12 education to health and human services, local government, elections, taxes, and transportation.”  

As government relations continue to evolve, the Ewald Consulting team remains vigilant to adapt and support its clients from a position of strength. “We have greatly expanded our capabilities to provide effective grassroots engagement strategies for our clients,” Valerie continues. “This includes bringing on grassroots advocacy software to make it easier for our clients to engage in the legislative process.” In the most recent legislative session, associations that leveraged grassroots advocacy tools to augment their impact saw engagement from members at higher levels than ever before.

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