Why do people join groups?

I have advised several nonprofits on how to properly craft a value proposition for new members. What I commonly encounter is an unclear articulation of why a member should join, what they would get, and what they would give to join in exchange. With a few exceptions, I have boiled down the typical value propositions to six categories. As you think about which one is the driving factor for people to join your organization, it may help you to hone your outreach and benefits to attract and retain the right members.

Graham's 6 C's of Organizational Value Propositions

Camaraderie - a lot of groups exist primarily as social gatherings. People want to feel connected to a community and this can be accomplished through various affinity groups including hobby groups, fraternities, alumni networks and trade associations. However, when your group succeeds primarily as a social club and then tries to branch out into advocacy or intellectual pursuits, sometimes you can lose members who are just there for friendship. Understanding the quality of your esprit de corps is important if this is your primary function. You will need to have a party-planner in chief who has the right personality, enjoys event planning and acts as the social hub and face for the group. Whether big or small, a camaraderie-focused group must be personal and focused on fostering quality time between its members. There must also be social etiquette guidelines so that no bad apples spoil the bunch. Rants on listservs and boring emcees can destroy the vibe quickly for social groups. Camaraderie is cultivated slowly and destroyed quickly,

Championing (Advocacy for member causes) - many nonprofits exist in order to advocate for a cause or collect funds for some philanthropic endeavor. While this is noble, it can often exist quite independently from other motivations to join groups. Some supporters for a cause-based group will have no interest whatsoever in social gatherings. Their time is precious and their business success has placed them in a position to support causes, but they don't need to socialize around the issue. When group leadership tries to fund raise primarily out of their camaraderie-driven member base, they miss out on the larger population of cause-motivated members who may never show up to events or desire social connection. In order to run a successful cause-driven group, the group leadership needs to highly value the time restrictions on supporters. By being considerate of the donor base and focusing on high-touch, thankful outreach, a cause-driven group can thrive and do great things. Advocacy for member causes is different from charity which we will touch on in a minute. The members still perceive some direct benefit to themselves in advocacy-driven groups. Articulating this ROI to the member means understanding their needs and showing the correlation between support and results.

Career - Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us that this one may be the #1 reason a lot of people join groups. When you need to pay the bills, a group can offer you certain benefits to help you find a job, find a better job, or manage career aspects that benefit quality of life in other ways. This can be offered as a mentor network, career coaching services, job fairs and matching services, networking events, and more. The important part of this value proposition is that it should have some metrics up front to attract the career-driven member, since they are making a clear dollars and cents calculation. Annual membership of X dollars should render Y number of job fairs, access to Z number of companies or CXOs, etc. If done well, this can be one of the most powerful drivers for new membership in a group.

Curiosity - Think tanks exist because people are thinking animals. They love information and ideas. An intellectual curiosity-driven group can exist apart from social loyalty or any apparent advocacy, but if the group is curiosity driven and not an advocacy group, they are actually still advocating for impartiality. (Shh, don't tell them - they will disagree with you). The best curiosity-driven groups are great at curating content, moderating group discussions, establishing a professional tone for the group and attracting highly relevant speakers or writers as focal points. A curiosity-driven group can get away with hosting highly informative events without a clear call to action Sometimes people just like to learn. However, if the members are there for information that will help them with their careers, there needs to be a clear call to action and measurable result for participation.

Charity - Philanthropic endeavors and causes for others may provide a good reason for social gatherings, intellectual discussions, and career opportunities, but like advocacy groups, sometimes charity groups do best by focusing on outreach to those who don't have any interest in meetups. The ROI for involvement in a charity-driven group should be articulated on multiple levels, starting (obviously) with direct impact on the cause itself. A secondary benefit can be articulated, but never in a way that makes the organization come across as disengaged from its altruistic purpose.

Commodity - One more reason to join a group is because of some material benefit, like free stuff, life insurance, banking benefits or great food, etc.

Are you a part of an organization? Why did you join? How could that organization do a better job of articulating the value proposition for joining? What do you give them? What do they give you or give to society on your behalf?