This week in ASAE’s Collaborate Component Relations community, the topic of Rogue Chapters was discussed. Being a company that is familiar with the concept of “rogueness,” I’d like to offer my take on this situation.

This year, there is a lot of talk in the association community about modernizing the chapter system. It comes from a lot of areas: outdated ways of delivering services locally, governance systems that no longer serve the members, and draconian requirements to maintain chapter or affiliate status that create unpaid staff positions for volunteers.

On May 24, 2022, the ASAE Component Relations and Volunteer Management Council held its monthly “Crunch & Munch” discussion focused on the topic of modernizing and updating the current association chapter model. I was excited to be invited to the discussion which was inspired by several Rogue Speak articles I wrote on this topic. The Council leadership was well-represented by Cheryl Goldsby, Steve Idzikowski, and Jessica Irizarry.

If you are a membership association, you are familiar with chapters even if you don’t have them as part of your organization. Chapters can be great ways to offer regular engagement for your members locally or regionally, and it keeps the association “top of mind” in between national conferences.