Increasing Party Membership: Building on alternative motivations why people join

Image via Wikipedia

We are told party membership is in decline and a healthy party is a healthy membership and so this decline means all parties are in trouble. Party members struggle to cite positive aspects of being a member of the party and so it will be even harder for non members to find reasons to join; but we all joined for a reason(s). If we know what these reasons are then we may be able to reiterate these reasons to people more often, individually, regionally or nationally, and many more people may start to think about joining.

One of the main reasons people say that they joined is to have the power to influence the direction of the party, and as result, the direction of politics as a whole. We believe that being part of a political party we are in possession of greater power and influence than those who are not party members. As the Lib Dems have a one member one vote party system, this should be promoted as a greater say for potential members in the direction of the party.

Party members do talk about the benefit of coming together with like-minded people. The benefits of this tend to be thought of in terms of campaigning, but also in terms of bonding with others through social events. Interestingly, this social life aspect has been very pronounced in Somerset, a key Lib Dem area. Promoting this as a benefit for those who join may encourage others to join.

In some areas having access to information on local developments and decisions are seen as a benefit to membership. For BME members, information on national policies are often considered to be positive features.  Furthermore, political party activists think that there are clear benefits of having access to key decision-makers (councillors and MPs), in terms of access to privileged information.

For some BME members having access to training and resources for personal development is an important and key benefit from their membership. For example, some BME activists see parties as offering an attractive ‘career ladder’.

Anyone with an active interest in politics is a potential party member and there are many who have not yet joined. We need to focus our communication with them on the benefits and reasons to join the Lib Dems and it may give enough of a motivation for them to join up.