LONDON, Ont, Wednesday, May 8 -- Pillar Nonprofit Network is reimagining our membership program to better support equity, resilience, and sustainable growth in the nonprofit sector and better enable individuals and purpose-driven businesses to connect to that work. We see this as a re-think of Pillar’s role in connecting and convening the network for better impact and better cross-sector collaboration, the heart of our founding mission.
We are considering a number of measures to enable this re-think, and we want to hear from you whether we are on the right track. We would propose to:
- Eliminate membership dues for grassroots organizations and small nonprofits.
- Introduce a new way for nonprofit granting organizations to see Pillar membership as an opportunity to support the whole sector.
- Create a more equitable and differentiated dues structure that respects capacity and ability to pay among medium-sized and larger nonprofits.
- Phase out business memberships introduced in 2019 and work with current business members to develop the network connections and business opportunities they prefer.
- Phase out individual memberships (except for current and past board members where membership is required to vote at our AGM). We seek to transition all individual members to programs that will provide them with the network connections and the benefits they prefer.
- Innovation Works co-tenant leases will no longer include complimentary Pillar membership. Nonprofit co-tenants may still join Pillar on the same terms as other nonprofit organizations.
The health and sustainability of the nonprofit sector depends on reducing barriers to programs and services that support nonprofit operations, including those offered by Pillar, but we think membership is not a service in and of itself. Membership represents a commitment to be part of a community. So, Pillar membership is not just a fee; it's an investment in a powerful and sustainable nonprofit sector.
To be clear, even though our membership dues have remained largely unchanged since 2010, the proposed changes aren’t an inflationary adjustment nor will they generate increased revenue, when we consider administrative costs. Rather, this is a generational re-think of the best ways to keep building a strong regional nonprofit network more than 20 years into our shared history.
Article type:
News
News Topic:
Diversity
Pillar Members