Book excerpt: Your Hands-On Membership Toolkit To be successful, social change organizations require support from both dedicated partners in the community and individuals who need organizations to speak and act for them. Smart organizations create a win-win situation by building membership programs that engage individuals in social change and assure long-term financial success for their organization. Successful membership programs provide individuals with valuable services, a place in a community, and advocates who work on their behalf. In return, members provide organizations with volunteers, expertise, credibility, future leadership, political clout, word-of-mouth support, financial assistance, and a team of readily available loyalists. Step by step, The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit shows how to create, manage, and sustain a dynamic membership program that will help a social change organization thrive. Written for both new and well-established organizations, this book is grounded in proven marketing techniques. It gives managers and executive directors the information and tools needed to understand their current members and attract new ones, and it walks organizations through the process of linking program goals with membership goals. The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit includes a wealth of illustrative examples and sample membership publications. Schedules for typical membership tasks keep organizations on track, and the easily reproducible worksheets and checklists and the companion Web site help readers design a program that can be adapted to meet the unique needs of their individual organization. The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit will help executive directors, development directors, staff and board members, and other volunteers involve the community, build program effectiveness, and diversify and strengthen their organization’s funding base.