Member recruitment and retention are vital to the success of a philanthropy-serving organizations. Here, you will find sample documents, tips, and tools designed to help your regional association acquire, engage, and renew grantmaker members.
If you have resources to share, please share them online or by emailing Courtney Moore.
Membership Peer Community
The Membership Peer Community is for those who support membership recruitment and retention efforts at their PSO, manage member benefits, onboard new member organizations and staff/trustees, and manage their organization’s membership database.
- Membership Listserv (membership@lists.unitedphilforum.org)- You must be a member of the Forum & this Peer Community to post to this list.
- Three round-robin calls per year
- In-person meeting at Forum’s Annual Conference
Interested in joining this Peer Community? Submit your email address on the form at the bottom of the Our Networks page.
Forum Staff Lead: Courtney Moore, (202-888-7428), courtney@unitedphilforum.org
Co-Chairs
Renee Catacalos, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders
Renee Brooks Catacalos joined SAFSF in 2019 with decades of experience in association management, communications, and food systems and sustainable agriculture work. In her current position, she is focused on strengthening outreach to members and the broader philanthropic community, creating opportunities for member engagement and benefit, leveraging new resource partnerships, and positioning SAFSF as the leading voice for sustainable agriculture and food systems philanthropy.
Renee is a former Foreign Service officer, having served tours in Mexico City, Mexico and Istanbul, Turkey. She has served in various communications, management and business development capacities with the Houston Association of Realtors, the Houston International Protocol Alliance, VOLLMER Public Relations, Future Harvest – Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, and the American Institute of Architects, Potomac Valley Chapter. Additionally, Renee was publisher and editor of Edible Chesapeake magazine from 2006-2009 and has served on the boards of ECO City Farms, FRESHFARM Markets, and the Neighborhood Design Center. She is currently on the Steering Team of the Chesapeake Foodshed Network (CFN). Her first book, The Chesapeake Table: Your Guide to Eating Local, was published in October 2018 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Renee is a graduate of the University of Virginia and works remotely from her home in University Park, Maryland, when she is not traveling to meet with funders across the country.
Kristen Cullen, Minnesota Council on Foundations
Kristen brings experience from several roles in philanthropy. She most recently worked as the Grantmaking and Evaluation Manager at the Minneapolis Jewish Federation. She also has extensive experience working with Minnesota-based family foundations including Carolyn Foundation and HRK. Kristin will draw on this experience to engage members throughout Minnesota in ways that they find meaningful and valuable, and will contribute to the delivery of excellent programming, resources and connections to all foundation types.
Kristen has three teenage daughters and lives in Minneapolis. If you don’t think that keeps her on her toes, all the cross country road trips that include hiking up mountains and exploring cities certainly does! In addition to this, Kristen can be found enjoying yoga, reading, and attending live music concerts. Not only does Kristen keep stats on our MCF members, she also keeps stats at Minnesota Twins games! She hopes to tour the country to watch the Twins at all the outdoor stadiums.