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Learning Series: 20 Years and Still Growing – How to Sustain Success in an Awards Program

It can be difficult to sustain success year over year for any awards program. It’s even more of a challenge to grow a program. However, doing so isn’t as complicated as it may seem. This is especially true if you, like Jennifer Sizemore, Consultant for the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC), have a strategy to coordinate your awards program with membership recruitment and retention measures.

Read on to learn:

• The relation between nominations and membership;
• Recruiting through awards;
• Retaining members through awards; and
• Recognizing those in your organization through awards

A Dropoff in Nominations is Directly Related to a Dropoff in Membership

Awards can be time-consuming, difficult, and too wrapped up in the annual conference or gala to be successful. And, because some programs are too costly to apply for, many potential entrants turn to a common solution: they won’t apply at all.

At ASMC, Jennifer noticed that the awards program was inherently tied to membership. The more the program grew, the more members the organization was able to recruit, retain, and recognize.

Recruit, Retain, and Recognize Growth in Your Program

Recruitment, retention, and recognition are all core values most awards programs hold. To grow your organization, you must focus on all three to ensure nothing is left to chance in your plan for success:

• Recruitment – Recruitment builds awareness for your organization. Your call-for-entry, announcements and publicity of winners, and various awards categories can all help you reach and recruit new audience members.
• Retention – An engaged member is a retained member. Building engagement in all levels of membership – on both local and national levels – helps engage and retain winners. Moreover, you can use winners as authors or even judges to keep them involved with your organization.
• Recognition – Once a member has won an award, it’s important that you offer recognition in your program. You can do so by building “bragging rights,” using testimonials and quotes from the nomination, and offering financial assistance in grants and scholarships.

20 Years of Tips to Help Grow Your Organization

By focusing on the connection between an awards program and membership in your organization, you can do your part to sustain growth over time.

To see Jennifer’s full presentation, click here.

Kunal Johar

Kunal Johar is the OpenWater platform evangelist. He currently manages our development teams and enjoys diving into the fray. Find him in our community chat room.

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