Steve MacLaughlin

A new report from McKinley Advisors, Membership Reset: Delivering on the Promise of Membership, argues that while chasing nondues revenue, associations have neglected to strategically position membership as a core part of their value proposition. Too often, membership "just is" without a clear, intentional strategy. The report highlights the need for associations to re-center membership, making it a key organizing principle. Caroline Baugher, McKinley Advisors Practice Director, emphasizes the importance of identifying and solving the core problems for members.  It's about building a meaningful community and member engagement. As we reflect on these insights, it’s crucial for associations to treat membership with the same intentionality and care as other revenue streams. To read more https://lnkd.in/eE3mxPUm #Associations #MembershipModels #CommunityBuilding #MemberEngagement #NonDuesRevenue #AssociationManagement #Sengii

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Nice article on extended RAID logs (AAIRDD) for CLO's by Dr. William Brantley. Great perspective on how a tool like this helps us look deeper, shifting us from being reactive 'order takers' to strategic partners. Well done, Bill! #raid #raidlog RAIDLOG.com #projectmanagement

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Livefront has submitted TWO talks to SXSW for consideration in the conference's program. A large component of that process is audience support via votes from the public. Check out our submissions from Matt Schraan and Jack Cunningham below and if you're interested in either, cast your vote. 🌟 Digital Accessibility As Strategy, Not Compliance: Discover how native mobile accessibility functionality drives growth and opens new opportunities for those who rely on assistive technology just as much as those who do not. https://lnkd.in/dGPWYtJS 🌟 Create Compelling Brand Moments with Apple Vision Pro: Explore Apple’s new VisionOS platform, and learn about how you can leverage spatial computing to create novel new experiences to differentiate your brand or product. https://lnkd.in/dzmcNsbH #SXSW

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When you're thinking about #ROI when investing in your #digitaltransformation, remember that it's not always ALL about hard ROI. Your #staff and #customers / #members experience is certainly a critical component. Thanks to Angel Baltimore for taking the time to meet with Collier Faubion and myself about this really interesting topic. https://lnkd.in/gktP3AM3 is the full webinar for anyone who wants to watch on Building an Effective (and Modern!) Technology Stack!

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Ever wonder how your nonprofit's fundraising KPIs stack up against other top-performing organizations? Well, you're in luck! I'm incredibly excited about the launch of our new Benchmark Report. The 30 page report includes... 📊 Fundraising benchmark data from 370 top-performing nonprofits 📏 The 7 essential KPIs necessary to measure your fundraising health. 🚀 Tips and tactics to move the needle on each KPI and beat the benchmarks! Download the report below and start the journey toward crushing your fundraising goals! https://lnkd.in/dXRfYCiK

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Always fun to publish a practice case and then see that EXACT story in the headlines. If you’re prepping for consulting interviews right now, try our new practice case on GM’s transition to EVs (PDF is attached). Once you’re done you can “check your work” by reading recent articles on how GM is actually navigating the headwinds (I linked to a recent one in the comments). #consulting #interviewprep

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Can you describe the narrative arc you use in proposals and SOWs? Do you know where your narrative arc is strong and where there's room to improve? If not, get your free narrative arc assessment through Hyphenate (link in comments)!

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🌟 Friday Book, Podcast, and TV Recommendations! 🌟 Another week of fantastic conversations and thoughtful recommendations! I'm excited to share this week's picks from my recent meetings: 📚 Book: "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni   Recommended by: Charlotte Pisciotta, NAAEI Faculty Corporate Leasing & Resident Experience Trainer with Friedman Real Estate 📚 Book: "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook" by Gary Vaynerchuk   Recommended by: Bradley Stovall National Accounts Manager with PooPrints 📺 Streaming: "Cold Case" on Max   Recommended by: Lia Nichole Smith Senior Vice President of Education and Research with SatisFacts & ApartmentRatings I'm always inspired by the wisdom and insights shared by my connections. Whether you're looking for a book to boost your leadership skills or a show to binge-watch, these recommendations have you covered! About me: I’m Dave Holland MBA, CPM, a passionate connector in the multifamily industry with over eight years of experience. As the 2023-2024 President of the IREM New York Capital Region Chapter and a key player in IREM and NAA, I’m deeply involved in setting new industry standards. I’m also the co-founder of Property Gauge, an innovative platform transforming property management through data-driven insights. I have friends and connections in every market across the country, and I’m here to help you navigate and thrive in our dynamic industry. Let’s keep the conversations going! If you have a book, podcast, or show recommendation, let's connect—I’m always eager to learn and share with our community. Feel free to book a time with me, and let’s chat. Looking forward to your recommendations and our conversations. 📅 https://lnkd.in/eqv6TRwD #Multifamily #Networking #Learning #BookRecommendations #PodcastRecommendations #Community

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Thankful today for the vision that Brandon Silverman and Matt Garmur had when they created CrowdTangle. At the time, I can't imagine that they would have known how critical their tool would be for researchers, journalists and aid agencies around the globe to study the spread of information on the world's largest social media platform. From their work and the dedicated CrowdTangle employees who were a part of the journey they enabled the discovery of challenging truths and fostered hard conversations. Organizations used the platform to discover growth in misinformation and helped to protect people from harms globally. What began as a tool to support media companies became an essential tool for those around the world working to protect communities and understand how information travels. I will be forever grateful for what they built. Unfortunately, many of those hard conversations were ones that Facebook's leadership team didn't embrace having and didn't appreciate the questions that were raised. Today marks a sad day as Meta shut down CrowdTangle. This change comes at a particularly concerning and critical time in advance of the US election and other elections globally. The good news is that the conversation continues. Meta has developed some transparency tools that show promise and will continue to evolve with public and regulatory pressure. We need far broader access to these new tools than Meta has enabled so far - at least mirroring access people had to CrowdTangle. These tools aren't by any means sufficient, but they are a start. Mozilla has taken a strong stance advocating for greater transparency - including a petition with over 56,000 signatures - which is much needed in the industry. The Integrity Institute continues to provide feedback on the data and reports that are available. Legislation like the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) are ready for the congress to act and pass it into law. So today I am grateful for what CrowdTangle demonstrated is possible and eager for the push for greater transparency to continue. A couple of related links: https://lnkd.in/gGdjyPKN https://lnkd.in/gvkvHv2U https://lnkd.in/gBjHeScf

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Be part of the solution. So many of our systems are created by and for those with the most powerful voices, based on assumptions about the world and those who don't look like them. Example: 2/3rds of federal spending on housing is in the form of interest deduction that benefit folks with resources. 1/3 goes to those who really need it. Diana Smith and Jesús Gerena bust some of those myths and make some great suggestions about what we can do. This is about power and money and the value of sending and spending it at the community level.

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This post and the underlying article help shine a light on the solution to our misinformation crisis: enabling more people to cope with the fearsome truth. It points to the essentialness of getting people involved hands-on in DOING things that can help mitigate or even solve the overwhelming problems we face. Because taking constructive action even if small helps our psyche in times of crisis. The piece helps me to see why Eric Schmidt's recent headline– that we should just sit back and let AI figure out how to solve climate change– felt so misguided. For example, writing a few postcards to help get out the vote may not alone change an election outcome, but it physically helps me to process my concerns about the election. And I know that I am one of thousands doing the same, and collectively we're shifting likely turnout for enough voters and that it might actually make a difference. Similarly, people who've taken action to create or invest in intentional enterprises to address societal problems have the sense that constructive, reality-based change is possible. And that it doesn't have to come at anyone's expense.* We may or may not succeed at changing the ultimate reality, but it is a healthy coping strategy. And we might succeed– or pave the way for those who do. (*Except those whose industries undergo disruption, and the fact that the entire investment field has just punted on that 'byproduct' of innovation is a problem whose time may have come.)

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People often say, 'Don't work with friends. At Veris, we couldn't disagree more. We're a group of round pegs & square holes. Spent over a decade, practically living across each other, sharing life’s milestones—marriages, kids, and everything in between. There's a common belief that working with friends is a bad idea. Many startups fail because of leadership issues. At Veris, our story is proudly unique. With a clear vision and mutual respect, we've built something strong. When the pandemic hit, workplaces were among the last to reopen. For over three years, we faced the toughest times—a bootstrapped startup with no customers and a team to support. But we stuck together. Today, Veris is changing the game for hundreds of large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies. As a leader in the APAC region, we've become one of the fastest-growing companies in our industry. We've powered over 100 million intelligent interactions and onboarded 600,000 employees in 20+ countries. Our impact is global, with top brands like Deloitte, L'Oréal, Bosch, BMW Group, Barclays, Genpact, Emirates, PwC and many more, trusting us to boost their operational efficiency and create exceptional workplace experiences. People often ask how we managed to stay united. The answer isn’t found in business textbooks—it’s #friendship. It’s the respect we have for each other’s roles, how we complete each other, and yes, the love for intense debates, that often feel like a mix between a strategy session and a sitcom episode. But at the end of the day, this blend makes us stronger. Utkarsh Jain Vaibhav Jain Anoop Poonia Kunal Upadhyay Varun Gurjar Piyush Raj Veris

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Rightly or wrongly, it is rare for data revisions to make headlines. Today is an exception. As expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary annual benchmark revision tilted to the downside. Benchmarking is how the BLS goes from survey responses on a subset of the population to national level data. Today’s benchmark revisions tell us the following: 1. Total nonfarm payroll will likely be revised meaningfully lower when final benchmark revisions are published in February 2025. Typically, benchmark revisions on total nonfarm payroll range from -0.1% to 0.1% whereas March 2024’s is 0.5%. However, preliminary benchmark revisions do not account for seasonal adjustment revisions which have been much more substantial than benchmarking revisions over the last few years. We know the level of employment is likely lower than previously indicated, but it is not clear whether trends have changed (e.g., did the change in payroll employment stabilize last summer – just at a lower level than initially estimated – and then decelerate going into this summer?). This will not be clear until full annual revisions with seasonal adjustment are published. 2. Payroll employment changes were likely much more skewed than initially estimated. Over the past year, the bulk of employment gains came from Education and Health Services, Government, and Leisure and Hospitality. Based on benchmark revisions, employment gains are not likely to be revised much in these sectors (hence the average change in employment has still been respectable, near its 2010-2019 average level), however for the rest of the economy, employment gains were much more muted. For Professional and Business Services, employment seems to have contracted over February 2023 to March 2024 based on a naive allocation of benchmark revisions to actual changes. Data revisions are a common practice, and the pandemic has made data collection more difficult and affected nonresponse rates to some important surveys (as I discuss for JOLTS here: https://lnkd.in/gVEjVFhz). At times, revisions have trended upward. At times, revisions have trended downward. However, as our broader climate has become more polarized, so too has the interpretation of data releases and revisions. Increasingly, I have seen misinterpretation and misinformation being communicated around data revisions and the BLS. To that end, I strongly encouraged those interested in delve further into the technical notes provided by BLS as well as posts from my peers here on LinkedIn. #jobsreport #linkedin

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At the end of women’s history month I made the following statement “Be an accomplice not an ally” I’ve been asked, more than once - okay three times, to clarify this. My metaphor is, an ally gives you cab fare to the protest, an accomplice is zip tied next to you figuring out who to call for bail. Doesn’t really translate into business stuff, well not normal business stuff. Here’s what it looks like in normal business stuff - not being part of a panel that’s not diverse. Not moderating, not being on…no nothing - turning down a speaking engagement and suggesting someone from an under represented group - helping conference planners access under represented people in your network. - pushing for limited drinks at a conference. Not everyone drinks, or feels safe in those environments - Using the privilege you have to enhance or help someone else build their career In the end, it’s really about checking ego and making space for women and other under represented groups a spot at the table. They’ve worked just as hard, in some cases harder, than you have they’ve earned and deserve the spot as much as you do.

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Does your nonprofit need to adjust its digital strategy for the upcoming 2024 presidential election? Check out our latest blog post for tips and insights!

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I just love how different research firms put out reports based on their "assessment" as to how well certain technology companies do or do not deliver successfully for clients. Have they ever run a program - no. Have they ever sourced these companies via RFI/RFP, built the solution from scratch and then launched it as side by side partner - no. > Big question...to what extent is success determined not by the service solution, feature/functionality and price : value, but rather what sector the client operates in, how well the loyalty design/strategy and operating model is built and of course who is driving the program day to day. > Our firm Ascendant Loyalty Marketing has led clients using our Loyalty Leaders proven approach for the past 6 years with great success. The firm's on this grid are all winners in my book (and many are missing, wonder why?). Where some of the companies "fall" on this grid is the rest of the story and we can share more 1:1. > If you want to improve your program performance and get inspiration from a firm that will help you to achieve true incremental lift and lifetime value, reach out to us. +1 224.357.8216 Finally and most importantly if the platform you are on - whether built in-house or you want to transition to a new licensed solution available across all 3 tiers of SaaS Loyalty platform providers ping me today to get started so 2025 can be the start of a new year with "success" measured not by an analyst but rather by solid test/learn, advanced best-in-class financial modeling and an agency partner that will be fully invested in you!

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