Thriving Together: Building Membership Communities

In this episode of Membership IQ, host Sarah Sladek is joined by Abby Perdue, Membership Director at the National Farmers Union, to explore innovative strategies for building and sustaining thriving membership communities. Abby shares insights on addressing generational challenges, fostering mental health awareness, and adapting to change within grassroots organizations. With over 120 years of history, the National Farmers Union is a testament to resilience and evolution, emphasizing the importance of education, community building, and empowering members. Tune in for actionable tips to navigate change and strengthen connections in any membership-driven organization.

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) All right, welcome back to another episode of the Membership IQ. I'm Sarah Sladek, your host, and I'm so glad that you are here. And if you are tuning in on video, you know that I am not alone today. I am joined by Abby Perdue, who is a member of the XYZ University Advisory Board. Welcome, Abby. So excited to have you here with us today. And Abby and I are going to talk a little bit about strategies and challenges. This podcast is all about getting smart about running a membership organization. And there is a lot of change that's happening and a lot that we need to learn and adapt to in terms of membership growth, membership retention, building communities, all the things. So Abby, welcome to the show. Why don't you tell our audience a little bit more about what you do? Sure. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be part of this conversation. At National Farmers Union, I am the membership director. So I am responsible for the experience that membership has or our members have, as well as recruiting new members, retaining our members, building those communities that you just mentioned, and really focusing on the family farmers across America and how we can better ensure their survival. Yes, very important work. So let's start with just chatting a little bit about, you know, lay of the land, so to speak. What are some of the questions or challenges that are currently top of mind for your organization? Yeah. So at National Farmers Union, we've been around since 1902. So there is so much history there. There are a lot of priorities there. We're unique as we're a grassroots association. And so we are really proud to carry our members' opinions and priorities forward. But as a whole, since 1902, our main priority has been ensuring the success of family farmers across America. That's obviously looked very different over the course of 120 years. But right now, it's prioritizing fairness for farmers. So looking out for their resources to be available when they need them. Their health is so incredibly important, as well as just those markets and availability. As we know, grocery prices go up and down. But what is the price for the farmer? So the challenges we're looking at right now are raising and amplifying the voices of our farmers, both through advocacy and the efforts that we can do. And then creating those communities for, yes, agriculture-specific resources, but also the mental health stuff that we need, and the family resources that we need, and things outside of the agriculture network that all of our members are really, really impacted by, and could just use a stronger community for. Yeah. And this is something that's really near and dear to your heart, right? Because you are a farmer as well, right? Yes, yes. We currently have an operation, my husband's family farm. My daughter is the sixth generation Farmers Union member. So we are, yeah, pretty passionate about Farmers Union, and then obviously, obviously very passionate about making sure that our daughter can farm if she wants to. Wow, that's amazing. That's really amazing. Okay, so you mentioned something really important, and that is mental health. And I want to talk about that just a little bit, because we're hearing more and more in recent years about the importance of mental health. And I think a lot of organizations, membership groups are really struggling with this. Like what does that mean exactly when we talk about membership, and making sure that we are caring for our members in some new and different ways, caring for the whole person. It's not just the delivery of products and services anymore. So any thoughts on that? Like what are you seeing your organization do to try to bring to the forefront this mental health awareness? Yeah, reducing the stigma is our overarching goal. Like the stigma that goes along with mental health is I think we're talking about it a lot more than we have been in the past, which is a great, great success. But there's a lot of opportunities to keep talking about it and bringing it into the conversation. And so we've worked hard on reducing the stigma. We are building communities inside of our organization. So we have like train the trainer platforms that then our members can go be trainers and train their communities and hoping to kind of just grow those networks of people who just know the very basics of how to handle a stressful conversation or look for stress in someone in your community. If they're not showing up at the coffee shop, if they're not at their normal routines, where are they? Can you reach out and ask how they're doing? So really making our members aware of what those concerns look like and then giving them the skillset. And it doesn't have to be a long training or like a lengthy conversation, but just here are the very basics of making sure that your neighbor is safe and your neighbor knows that we care about them. Agriculture is an industry where we're alone a lot. And so it's really, really important to us to reduce that stigma, provide our members with resources they can call and then just build the strength within our own membership to be aware and alert and ready to have hard conversations. So we have across the Agriculture Association platform, there's been, this is an issue that no one disagrees on. The importance of mental health is so, so high. And so we've worked with a bunch of great partners to be able to continue to grow the resources that are available. That is amazing. I love that. And I love what you said about, we're starting up groups within a group. I think that we're seeing a lot of that with membership organizations right now, that we have to be more peer to peer, allow for more ways to connect, find your special interest group, find your neighbors, find your groups within a group, that it's not just about being part of this gigantic organization anymore. So something I wanna talk about as well with you is that you are really still one of the young association professionals. And tell me, tell our audience just a little bit about your journey as you joined and became a part of this organization that has been around since 1902. Where did you see opportunities for change? And what is that job trajectory been like for you? Yeah, so I've been in this role for almost seven years. And I started teaching before this. And I kind of felt like it was a natural transition because I'm still kind of teaching in a way and inviting people into my classroom. And so I've even just seen a lot of change within seven years. Change across the membership side of our organization, change across the advocacy side of our association. And so in 2018, my first year, I stumbled across your book, The End of Membership As We Know It. And I remember thinking like, oh my gosh, this is just so far ahead of where we are. This woman can read into the future and she knows what we have to do. And I remember our first conversation when you said, I wrote that like 10 years ago, or a number of years ago. And I'm like, wait, I'm that far behind? Here's what's I think unique about, or I don't know about unique, but about our association. We are a farm and agriculture organization. We've been around since 1902. So the history is there, but with change comes intimidation and hesitancy. Change can be a very good thing, but change can be a lot of uncertainty. And I think the word change in itself has so many definitions, but I would say over my time of being in this membership role, watching our leadership just really prioritize our current membership base and encourage them along. They are the ones that set our priorities. We are grassroots association. And so encouraging them and leading them towards that change, but pushing them and encouraging them, this is coming and we always have to be five or 10 steps ahead in the advocacy wing and in the membership wing. And just really looking towards where do we want to be? Because if we hadn't changed, we wouldn't be here after 120 years. But it depends on us to keep changing to be here another 120 years. Mm-hmm. All right. So change is happening. You're making it happen. What are some tips you could pass along in terms of how do you create a change? I'm hearing from so many organizations right now that we are really stuck. We are dipping into reserves. We are kind of experiencing tugs of war and generational conflict. And some of us want to change, but some of us don't. And what have you learned from your journey? And what advice can you pass along? Constantly learning. But the things that I have learned thus far, I would say this summer, we had a really impactful experience of where we put a room full of different generations together. And we used the membership book and we broke down each generation separated into their own table space and talked through the questions that you have listed there. What are you looking for in a membership association? What matters to you? What do you want to leave behind? And that just worked out so well to see the different generations say exactly what was in the book. But Gen Z was able to see what the baby boomers want to see from our membership association and what millennials want to see. And so as membership professionals, our flags all kind of went up as we have to address a lot of different things. And interest groups across generations. And so I would say reassuring our current membership base that yes, we may be changing, but we are still Farmers Union. At the end of the day, we are still all together to enhance and grow the family farms across America. We want to change with you and we need your perspective to come along. But then also introducing them to what the change looks like. If it's new agriculture, different styles of agriculture coming in or new members coming in from different origins or different backgrounds. Really tactfully introducing our organization to what change and new things look like. I would say that the desires of members are no longer just pay my $60 because it's the right thing to do. They want to see what their $60 is getting them. They want to be part of change. And so we've got to open those opportunities to, especially our younger people coming in. Is that a leadership role? Is that a program that they can learn and benefit from? You know what opportunities are available for their membership fee? It is no longer. I'm just going to pay it because it's the right thing to do. You know, that's a great exercise that you did. I would refer to it as putting on the generational lens to really hear about because we can read about things. But when you can really truly hear things from someone else's point of view, it helps so much to put yourself in their shoes and empathize. And when you're when you're empathizing with people, you're building trust. And that helps with community building. So I got to ask, Abby, are there other other things you've tried in recent years? Like, you know, it is a crazy time. We're starting to hear more and more about communities pulling apart, whether it's generational issues, political issues, whatever the case may be. So what are some other ways that you are building community within the farmers union? Prioritizing probably education. So a person that farms differently than you is not necessarily your competition, is not necessarily going to run you out of land, but learn how they're farming or learn what techniques they're using. And I think that could go across industries. Just because someone's doing something different, let's learn about it. Let's teach our members. You know, let's take our rural farmers and put them into urban settings and teach them, you know, what these individuals are doing with their urban farms. So I think broadening our horizons and just, you know, putting our members in some situations that look different, but are not, you know, will not impact the main goal and mission of our organization, as well as just educating them in what a resource these individuals could be. You can learn a lot from each other if you put them in the right atmosphere. So it has to be a comfortable space. We've been super intentional about making, you know, just putting our members in a room with, you know, good food and stuff. But like, put them in a room and have them introduce each other. Have them mingle. No program, no structured conversation. Let them do their thing. And so really just exposure to what else is out there and letting them build connections naturally has worked really, really well for us. Yeah, so you're incorporating like that learn and teach, learn and teach model, which is so great. So when you were, you know, as a young professional coming into your role, let's talk about the job for a moment. Coming into your role, what is something that you think you learned from those who had been there for a while longer and something you taught people, other staff that have been there? Learned, I think probably to never lose sight of who we are, like who the association is over the course of 120 years. Yeah, we have a historian and we have colleagues and leaders that have been around for a long time. And some of the articles that they share with us, I'm like, we're here. Like we were here then, but we're here now. So never losing sight of who we are and welcoming change, but doing it cautiously and having all your ducks in a row to kind of have the best guess of where change can go. So learning that, and I remember we had, you know, a growing opportunity in our organization a couple of years ago, and I asked someone who's been around, has this happened before? Like, will we be OK? And he was like, yep, you know, we've been here, we'll be here again. And so there's a lot to learn from the people who have been here in this position before me and the people that have been around for a long time surrounding me. Teaching. Teaching, teaching, a lot of opportunities to teach. I think mine is, I would say the most impactful one is just genuinely showing your care. I don't think people that are in a membership role or an association role probably would be there if they didn't genuinely care. And I think that it's OK, me personally, I think it's OK to show your emotion. I think it's OK to show, you know, how impactful this organization can be to you. And so to those around me, I've just been ensuring them to be genuine is OK and putting that for, you know, putting your passion about this association forward is really important. And that's how we connect with the members that we want to engage with and grow those communities is being genuine, showing them that we care, providing resources for them. So that's probably the most important thing that I remind the people that I work with is showing your passion and, you know, text somebody back at 8 p.m. If you really do care and you're interested. Right, right. I think association gigs are maybe more than a job, but a passion and yes, a lot of things. So true. So true. It's it's almost a lifestyle, right? I agree. Yeah. So I want to give you the opportunity before we adjourn so many great, great, you know, intelligence pieces to pull from this. Since we're talking about membership IQ, you're definitely raising the IQ here. But I want to give you the opportunity before we close out our podcast to share a you know, if there's any anything you want to celebrate that. Wow. Our association, you know, we accomplished this in the last year or we're really proud of that or a particular strategy that you've been super excited about. Something new or different. Anything you would like to share to celebrate? Yeah. Celebrating consistent growth. We've grown every single year since I've been here. That is not. That is not. That has nothing to add the effect. Yeah. A lot of people have been put into the effort of that happening. But we've grown every single year and we just broke 120,000 members across the country. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Yeah. And so that was the number that we certified in the beginning of 2024. I would say over the course of the time while I've been here, one of the most impactful and probably coolest opportunities we have what we call an advocacy training. And so we have it every spring and it's to help newer members or members that we want to train on how to speak to the public, how to speak to reporters, how to speak to lobbyists and advocate, share your story. And our very first session was we've gone through three and our very first session at the same time, we had a leader testifying in front of Congress about an issue. And so we were in our D.C. office watching a member testify, you know, blocks away about an issue that is really affecting everyone in the room. And she then came back and talked to our participants like I've been in your seat and now I'm here. This is where you came. And so so many examples of that to celebrate of just those full circle moments of what we what change we really can make being in this role. That is fantastic. Abby, so many, so many great little tips and wisdom that you imparted for our audience. And congratulations on that amazing growth. A lot of organizations are struggling right now. Clearly you're doing something right. So congrats. You're nurturing that community and hearing so much about how you're taking care of that community right now in a time of great change. It's obviously making a big difference, putting members first. So congrats. And thanks for being on the show. And thanks to all of you for tuning in to yet another episode of the Membership IQ. I'm Sarah Sladek. Talk to you soon.