This post is about the restructuring of the Manhattan Women’s Club (MWC) beginning with the current 2022-2023 membership year. The broad concepts are below but details for specific areas – qualifications for membership, guidelines for activities and the use of new technology and platforms – are in following featured posts.
You’ve heard of the sharing economy? Collaboration? Cooperatives? Crowdsourcing? Parts of all of these concepts apply to the new structure of the MANHATTAN WOMEN’S CLUB which is being launched – right now! Seems like after 10+ years as an organized group (during which time a lot has changed!) and sustaining through a historic, multi-year pandemic which challenged the very notion of “social” that it’s a good time to take a look and, as the song goes, “Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off …. And Start All Over Again.”
There are several GOALS to focus on. These are:
– Expansion and Inclusion
– Self-Management
– Cost Reduction
– Increased Activity and Interaction
WHAT WILL STAY THE SAME?
– There will still be recurring activities.
– There will still be periodic, one-off events and activities.
– There will still be a prospective membership questionnaire.
– There will still be a website.
– There will still be a Google Calendar, Instagram, and MWC-SLACK.
WHAT WILL CHANGE?
– For at least this next year, there will be no dues.
– Members will create, organize and manage events.
– There will be no interactivity on the website.
– Most communication will be on MWC-SLACK.
– Where required, member payments will be handled through personal payment apps, such as Venmo.
HOW WILL THIS WORK? – THE BASICS:
– Current members will be asked to renew their membership via the MWC Membership Agreement (MWC-MA).
– The MWC-MA will require a commitment to a minimum participation level (see following post for definition).
– For new members, after their questionnaire is reviewed, they will also be asked to fill out a MWC-MA.
– All members will be asked to sign up for MWC-SLACK.
– ONLY MWC members will be allowed to participate in activities.
– Member-managed dates will be reserved and posted on the MWC Calendar.
– Upon request, exceptions will be made for members over 80 years old or managing health or personal crises.
The next year will be our “beta” year where we test and refine all of these concepts. More details on the specifics as to just how these ideas will be defined, implemented and managed are addressed in the following posts. This is a lot of change for a single year and it will take awhile to get used to. But if this works – it will be great!
