Why I Joined A Club Over 1,000 Km From Me

Expanding your organisation's reach beyond local boundaries requires offering substantial digital value for clubs. As demonstrated by the Aquarium Society of Victoria, physical distance is no longer a barrier to membership growth when committees utilise a robust club management app. By providing remote and interstate members with exclusive access to active group chats, recorded educational events, and a dedicated club resource library, organisations can successfully build a thriving online community for clubs. Adopting an all-in-one platform like the Member Jungle software allows volunteer committees to seamlessly deliver these digital benefits and attract remote members without adding to their administrative workload. 

At the start of this year, I set up my first fish tank. Over the last few months, I’ve been slowly filling it with plants, fish and freshwater shrimp, as I do my best to learn all I can about the hobby. I’ve spent countless hours learning about different kinds of algae, the oxygen cycle of a planted tank and water parameters like GH and dKH. I even learned what mulm is.

So, when I scheduled a video call with one of Member Jungle’s customers, the Aquarium Society of Victoria (ASOV), to write a case study about them, I was excited. I usually do a bit of background research on our customers before meeting with them, but this time, the research just made me jealous. The ASOV looked like a gold mine of information, with more experienced fish keepers to ask questions of and events where experts presented on various subjects, not to mention their fish fairs. Unfortunately, the ASOV is based in Melbourne, over 1,000 km away from me.

So I resigned myself to what could have been and got on with organising the case study meeting. 

However, during my meeting with Bob, the Secretary of the Aquarium Society of Victoria, everything changed. Bob was telling me about how they'd been finding the Member Jungle system and what they’d been using it for when he started explaining all the things they were doing with it. They had set up multiple group chats where people could discuss different fish-keeping topics, blogs, news, and a resource library full of useful information about fish-keeping, plus those events that looked so helpful; they film them and put them on their website so members can watch them back. Suddenly, a club that is about an 11-hour drive away from me was looking like a really good investment. 

After I finished my meeting with Bob, I couldn’t help but think about all the great stuff they had to offer. The next day I sat down to write up the customer story about the ASOV, and by the time I had finished it, I was a fully paid-up member of the Aquarium Society of Victoria. 

The Lesson: Why Distance Is No Longer a Barrier to Membership

Obviously, I haven't brought you here today to talk about fish keeping. My point here is that I have joined a club that is 1,000 km away; it is pretty unlikely I will ever attend an event in person or even meet any of the other members face-to-face. Yet it was worth joining because of the massive quantity of information and value they’ve added to their website and app. 

By writing blogs detailing how to do certain things, keeping a library full of useful information (including how to build some pretty complicated tank equipment), and hosting group chats that get dozens of messages a day, the ASOV has made themselves a club that provides a huge amount of value to their members consistently, without taking in-person events into account. And even then, they record their presentation events and put them on their website for members to watch back.

The ASOV has done such a good job of this that I’m not even their only interstate member.

Here lies the lesson: if you can add value to your online experience through a mobile app, group chats, and a document library, you can broaden your organisation's reach. Sure, it won't work for every single type of organisation, but it will work for a surprising number. Most associations, car clubs, sewing and embroidery guilds, historical societies; really, any organisation where learning and asking questions about the hobby is beneficial.

How Member Jungle Helps You Build That Online Value

Now, offering all of this digital value sounds great in theory, but if you’re trying to manage it across five different disconnected tools, it quickly becomes an administrative nightmare.

This is where Member Jungle comes in. The main reason the ASOV can deliver so much online value without running their committee into the ground is that everything is built into a single, integrated system.

With Member Jungle, you get:

• An Integrated Mobile App: Your members can jump into active group chats, check news updates, and access member resources right from their phones, no matter where they live.
• Built-in Content Management: You can easily publish blogs, educational guides, and news articles to keep your community informed and engaged.
• A Dedicated Document & Video Library: Upload instructional guides, past presentation recordings, and downloadable resources in member-only areas.
• Automated Member Portals: Interstate or remote members can sign up, pay their dues online, and get instant access to their digital member card and perks without a volunteer having to lift a finger. I’ve done this, and it is super easy. 

You don't need a massive team or a tech background to turn your club into a nationwide resource hub. You just need the right tools to make your knowledge accessible.

If you want to see how the Aquarium Society of Victoria pulled this off, check out their full customer story here: The Aquarium Society Of Victoria.

Or, if you’re ready to see how Member Jungle can help your club expand its reach and add real value for your members, book a demo with our team today.