How To Convince Your Committee To Sign Up To Member Jungle (With Presentation Template)

Convincing your membership organisation’s committee to adopt new membership software can be tough, largely because of concerns about cost and general tech anxiety. This guide provides a clear software ROI pitch, detailing direct savings and revenue potential. It also addresses how the system will automate volunteer tasks without alienating older members. A free, downloadable Member Jungle presentation template is available to help administrators secure board approval.

One of my favourite books of all time starts with the following: 

  

My point is that this just feels so true that right from the very beginning of time, there have been people complaining about any and all changes and saying that things are perfectly fine as they are. 

Chances are that if you are reading this, someone on your club’s committee has been saying something similar. They probably think everything works perfectly well as it is and that your club does not need to make any changes.

You probably disagree with that. You know your organisation has plenty of room for improvement, and you are trying your best to show the board how helpful a system like Member Jungle could be. If this sounds familiar, this article is exactly what you need. We will cover everything you need to convince your committee that Member Jungle is the right choice. 

What You Will Learn In This Article

This guide gives you the exact arguments and templates you need to win over a hesitant committee. You will learn:

• Financial facts: How to calculate your exact running costs, prove your direct savings, and project your revenue growth to give your treasurer a realistic bottom line.
• Tech simplicity: How to use our free trials and ongoing support to reassure your board that they will never be left in the dark. 
• Getting time back: How to show that automating daily admin will actually free up your committee for more exciting projects, like securing sponsors. 
• The ultimate presentation: How to use our free downloadable Canva template to deliver a great pitch.

The Biggest Concerns Committee Members Have When It Comes To A New Membership Management System

The average committee member’s concerns can be grouped into a few categories:

• It will cost too much: The fear that a new software system will cost too much. 
• It is too complicated: The worry that modern systems will be way too difficult for anyone to learn.
• It will automate my job: The quiet fear that having a system handle the admin tasks will leave dedicated volunteers with absolutely nothing to do.

Of course, there may be other concerns too, but the vast majority of people’s trepidation will likely fall into one of these categories. So, with that in mind, let’s look at how you can best address these issues.

Committee Members’ Concerns Over Costs

One of the most common concerns is the cost of membership management systems like Member Jungle. That’s fair enough; no system is so good it’s worth bankrupting yourself over. So working out how much a membership management system will cost and what you get for that price is crucial.  

You can easily calculate exactly what Member Jungle will cost you using our Pricing Calculator. Just select your package, the number of members, and any optional extras, and you’ll see your estimated upfront and ongoing costs. 

For help working out how much Member Jungle will cost you, read How To Work Out How Much Member Jungle Will Cost Your Club.

Breaking Down Your Direct Savings

Next, you should work out how much you will save by switching to Member Jungle. Think about your current expenses for separate tools like email campaign software, website hosting, or event platforms. Member Jungle replaces all of those systems. You should also factor in the administration costs you will eliminate, such as printing physical renewals and paying for expensive postage. These direct cost savings more than offset the cost of the new platform.

Projecting Your Revenue Growth

Finally, you need to look into how Member Jungle can actually increase your organisation’s revenue. A modern system allows you to securely accept online payments, use services like Afterpay, better promote sponsors, and run a wider variety of profitable events. With this, a new membership management system can actually make you a decent amount of money and help pay for itself. 

You can see more about that here, How You Can Make Money With Member Jungle.

With all of this information, you will have three distinct numbers you can present to your committee.

• The cost: How much Member Jungle will cost you.
• The savings: How much you will save by cancelling old software and manual processes.
• The projected growth: Where you will be able to use the system to open up new revenue streams, and how much extra money they may bring in. 

Presenting these three figures gives your board a highly achievable financial reality to work with. For more help with this specific step, be sure to read Convincing Your Treasurer: 6 Questions About a New Membership System.

Committee Members’ Concerns Over How Complicated The System Is

Another big hurdle you will likely run into is the fear of how hard the new system will be to use. It does not matter if your committee members are twenty or eighty; absolutely no one wants to learn a needlessly complex software program. I once tried to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop. I already knew how to use Lightroom and Premiere Pro, so I assumed it would not be that hard. I opened it up, stared at the screen for about ten seconds, and immediately uninstalled it. Thankfully, Member Jungle is not Photoshop. It has been specifically designed from the ground up to be completely user-friendly for everyone. 

Member Jungle has been designed to be easy to use, requires very basic computer experience, and offers lots of built-in help. So, chances are all of your committee members and club members will be able to use the system perfectly well. So, it’s really about ensuring everyone feels confident in their ability to use the system. 

So, with that in mind, let’s discuss how to ensure your committee members feel confident in their ability to use the system.

The first step to ensuring your committee members are confident in their ability to use the Member Jungle system is to sign up for a free Member Jungle trial. This way, you can show them first-hand how the system works and how simple it is. When they are ready, you should add them to the free trial so they can explore it for themselves; don't rush them to this part. 

You should also ensure that all of your committee members know about all the available help. They should know about all of the types of help and support they can get before the system goes live and at any point when it is live: 

• The Learning Centre - Helpful and informative articles on all things membership management. 
• The Support Portal - A collection of articles and guides to show you how to do anything and everything in the Member Jungle system. 
• Fortnightly Webinars - Demonstrations and Q&A sessions that anyone can attend to get all of their questions about the system answered.  
• Training Videos - A library of training videos showing you how to use different parts of the system. 
• Committee Training - Book training sessions designed for committee members.
• Free & Paid Training - Book free and paid training sessions.
• Support Tickets - The ability to lodge online support requests at any time and receive swift help from the Member Jungle Support Team

Now, I’m definitely not suggesting just sending them an email with all the above links and telling them to fend for themselves, but showing them how much support and training they have at their fingertips, coupled with being able to give them hands-on experience with the trial site, will go a long way in easing their fears. 

For more information on how easy it is to use the Member Jungle system, please read, Is Using The Member Jungle System For My Club Hard?

Though it is very much along the same lines as the above article, it may also be worth looking at Why You’re Not Too Old For Member Jungle for more tips on reassuring concerned committee members. 

Committee Members' Concerns Over Losing Their Purpose

While it might sound strange, we hear this concern more than you may think. Sometimes, retired or semi-retired volunteers genuinely enjoy the time it takes to run the club. It keeps them busy, and they worry that if a system like Member Jungle automates their daily tasks, they will lose their sense of purpose. They are pretty unlikely to say it as directly as that, but the sentiment stands. 

The first step is to be completely honest with them. Explain that while they might love the heavy workload, other volunteers desperately need that time back.

The second step is to reframe the conversation; they aren’t losing their jobs, their jobs are just going to be different now. Automated administration means your volunteers can focus on different projects that can actively grow your membership and make your members happier. Instead of posting renewals or chasing up expired members, they can redirect their energy into more interesting endeavours, like: 

• Securing sponsors 
• Writing blogs to help with SEO and AEO 
• Planning better events 
• Improving communications 
• Diversifying the events, courses and training you offer 

For a much more detailed breakdown of how to solve this exact issue, check out What To Do With All Of Your Free Time Once You Onboard With Member Jungle.

With that, we have covered the main concerns that committee members tend to have, and you’ve got a whole bunch of resources to help you address them. However, we aren’t done yet; we still have one more topic to cover. 

How To Design The Perfect Presentation For Your Committee

I’m not going to waste both our time by explaining why a presentation is important; we both already know that presentations are an important tool.

With that in mind, I made up a quick presentation template in Canva that you can use as a starting point for your own presentation. You can sign in to Canva or create a free account if you don’t already have one. There, you will be able to edit the template as much or as little as you’d like, download it, or simply use it for inspiration.

You can get access to the Member Jungle Presentation Template here. 

Pitching Member Jungle

Before you walk into your next committee meeting, ensure you have your arguments fully prepared.

• Focus on the money: Present hard numbers showing how the system saves money by replacing old software, eliminating manual admin, and opening up new revenue streams.
• Focus on the simplicity: Emphasise the hands-on free trial and the comprehensive support ecosystem available to help administrators every step of the way.
• Focus on the big picture: Reassure dedicated volunteers that automated admin frees them up to run larger, more profitable community events.
• Use the template: Download our free Canva template to build a professional, convincing pitch.

Where To From Here? 

Well, we have covered a lot of things in this article, and I have given you an absolute mountain of links and other articles to look through. I’m not quite done either. 

I really hope this helps you figure out how to pitch Member Jungle to your committee. Good luck with it. If you want even more links to even more articles, why not check out the ones below? 

If you are looking for more ways to talk to your committee about all of this, check out 7 Steps to help convince your committee and Convincing Your Treasurer: 6 Questions About a New Membership System.

If you want to get a better idea of what happens after you convince your committee and sign up with Member Jungle, look at Everything You Need To Know About Onboarding At Member Jungle.