A comprehensive resource for membership at any stage of development

Membership Puzzle Project’s Ariel Zirulnick pulled together a multidisciplinary team to explore the why and how of membership along its whole lifecycle. This guide offers membership as an answer to the implosion of business models and community trust with enough steal-able, actionable ideas to make it more manual than think piece.

The result is this online guide that covers the nuances of the following:

“A membership strategy defines where membership fits within the vision for your organization, including how you will sustain your journalism and the role audience members will play monetarily and otherwise.

Memberful routines are workflows that connect audience members to journalism and the people producing it. Routines are the basis for a strong membership strategy. Notice that audience members are specified here, which is likely a wider group than your members.

A membership program is the product your reader interacts with in becoming a member. It’s a container for managing the individuals who contribute to your organization. When people talk about membership, this is often what they refer to. It includes the page you land at when you click on, ‘become a member.’ “

As if that’s not enough, there is a growing archive of case studies that are chock full of current thinking and wins.

If your organization is considering, or already running a membership program, it’s worth referencing this guide to ground your work and find inspiration.