Keeping members engaged year-round is no easy feat. Fortunately, community engagement platforms provide a powerful solution, helping associations build strong networks, centralize interactions, manage members, and encourage renewals.
Today’s top solutions foster community and boost participation among your members. With several options on the market, associations need to find a platform that supports their member retention efforts without blowing their budgets.
In this guide, we’ll introduce ten solutions that will help your association build a thriving, engaged community that renews year after year. First, we'll explore five association-specific solutions before diving into community engagement platforms designed for a range of audiences. Our top five platforms are:
| Platform | Key Features | Best For |
| Groups, member directory, sponsorship management, resource management, reports, and integrations with popular association management tools | All-Around Community Engagement | |
| Breezio | Discussion spaces, document management, video conferencing, and integrations | Member Collaboration |
| Personify Community | Member forums, groups, gamification, and a mobile app | Large Organizations |
| Hivebrite | Membership management, member portals, event management, and discussion forums | Alumni Networks |
| MemberNova | Multi-level membership management, automated workflows, basic event management, and site management | Membership Management |
With features like gamification, discussion forums, and event management tools, these platforms empower you to engage members, measure success, and boost retention rates. Before diving into our top recommendations, let’s walk through community engagement platform basics.
Community engagement platforms are centralized spaces where members of a community or group can connect, share ideas, seek advice, and collaborate with others in their field. These platforms foster a sense of belonging through features such as discussion posts, webinars, educational resources, networking events, and surveys.
Commonly used by associations, nonprofits, and educational institutions, community engagement platforms empower organizations to manage member interactions and events while offering educational resources and networking opportunities.
Note that these platforms differ from association management software (AMS). While an AMS provides essential tools for managing daily operations—such as automated invoice generation and membership renewal reminders—a community engagement platform focuses on cultivating interactions and connections through a members-only online space.
However, these platforms’ features aren’t mutually exclusive. Some AMS solutions include community engagement tools, and community engagement platforms may
Community engagement platforms encourage meaningful member interactions and enhance the overall value of your organization’s memberships. Here are several reasons why your association should consider investing in this type of software:
Even with all these benefits, only 28% of associations invite new members to join an association-sponsored online community. Make your association indispensable by investing in community engagement software that meets evolving member expectations and empowers them to cultivate connections.
Selecting the right member engagement platform ensures you have tools that provide value to members, measure engagement, and stay within your budget.
As you browse your options, look for these essential features:
While not every feature may be essential for your association, choosing a platform with tools tailored to your specific needs enhances your ability to drive meaningful outcomes and boost member renewals.
Let’s explore some of the leading online community engagement platforms designed specifically for associations. These solutions are optimized to address associations’ unique operational and member engagement needs, ensuring meaningful member interactions.
From member discussions to resource management, Tradewing provides everything trade and professional associations need to build thriving communities. Our out-of-the-box platform allows you to get up and running quickly, so you can immediately begin engaging members.
Once launched, send custom welcome emails to invite members to join the platform and develop ongoing email campaigns to keep them engaged.
By centralizing online member interactions within a single platform, Tradewing focuses member attention solely on your association. Affordable and simple, our platform offers robust tools for interaction without the high costs or complexity of larger solutions. Plus, powerful moderation tools ensure your community remains safe and respectful, preserving the integrity of your network.
Check out this comprehensive homepage that members will see when they log into your online community engagement platform:
The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) caters to physics educators at high schools and colleges. The organization is 10,000 members strong. However, AAPT only hosts two annual conferences, making it difficult for those members to connect throughout the year. Many also face challenges attending in-person events due to travel costs and an inability to take time off.
This is where Tradewing makes a difference! Our mobile-friendly, always-accessible online community engagement platform ensures AAPT members can communicate year-round, no matter where they are. Whether a physics teacher needs help crafting a lesson plan or advice on a specific topic, they can easily reach out to peers for materials, ideas, and support, creating a collaborative community that extends far beyond annual events.
Check out this video about AAPT’s journey with Tradewing:
AAPT is just one of many associations we’ve helped build strong online communities. Explore our success stories to learn more about our impact!
Breezio offers a dynamic platform designed to foster collaboration through real-time interaction, document sharing, and engagement tools. It's especially popular with organizations that value collaboration across teams and projects.
Breezio’s user-friendly interface encourages member participation, making it ideal for knowledge-sharing and problem-solving. Additionally, it supports diverse content types, including videos, documents, and discussion threads, making it versatile for different communication styles.
Cons: Breezio’s collaborative features are powerful, but they lack the integration and automation capabilities necessary for associations and professional groups.
Personify Community is designed for large nonprofits and associations, offering features that enhance member engagement and community building. It excels at managing large-scale events and integrates with donor and membership management systems. Its analytics and reporting capabilities give organizations actionable insights into their community's behavior.
Cons: Personify’s platform can feel overwhelming for smaller organizations seeking a streamlined community engagement solution.
Hivebrite provides extensive customization options tailored to membership organizations, professional societies, and trade associations. Alumni coordinators in particular praise the online community engagement platform for its engaging, branded spaces that enable networking, event management, and content sharing. Beyond that, other engagement features include support for mentorship programs, job boards, and interest-based subgroups.
The platform also offers donation management, making it a versatile platform for alumni engagement and fundraising. Hivebrite also supports networking, continuous learning, workshops, and conferences. Trade associations can also use the solution to notify members of updates, gather feedback, support advocacy efforts, and foster industry collaboration.
Cons: Hivebrite offers extensive customization, which can lead to long setup times and increased maintenance.
MemberNova combines community engagement tools with strong membership management features, making it ideal for organizations looking for an all-in-one solution. It offers a centralized hub for streamlining administrative tasks and managing renewals, events, and membership data. Its ability to support chapters with independent portals and roll-up reporting makes it particularly attractive to larger, multi-layered organizations.
Cons: MemberNova focuses more on operational efficiencies and member administration than fostering engagement through dynamic community interactions. Some users also claim that the price tag is hefty.
While the following platforms don’t cater only to associations, they’re flexible enough to support your community engagement efforts.
Mighty Networks provides tools for building niche communities. While designed primarily for businesses and individual creators, many associations and nonprofits use the platform. The solution offers robust subgroup creation, course delivery options, and paid memberships.
Its intuitive design makes it easy to set up and manage, with a focus on helping creators build meaningful connections within their niches. You’ll also make a positive first impression on new members with a welcome checklist, icebreakers, polls, and introduction posts.
Cons: Mighty Networks targets creators and small businesses. Therefore, larger associations and professional communities may find its features limited.
Discourse is an open-source platform centered around discussion forums, offering straightforward features for managing conversations and threads. It's designed for communities that thrive on dialogue with tools to support ongoing conversations, gamification, and community moderation. Plus, it was built for high-resolution touch devices, so members can participate across any device.
Cons: The platform's open-source nature allows for extensive customization, but it requires technical expertise to fully leverage its potential. While excellent for facilitating discussions, Discourse lacks community-building features such as event management and member directories, making it less comprehensive than other platforms like Tradewing.
Facebook Groups provides a free and accessible platform for informal community building with features designed to encourage member interaction. Its ease of use and built-in audience from Facebook’s user base make it a popular option for small organizations.
Cons: Because the platform offers limited customization and data ownership, it may not meet the needs of associations seeking to establish branded, long-term communities. Additionally, Facebook's algorithms and privacy policies limit control over how groups engage with their audience.
Slack is a popular real-time messaging tool designed to streamline collaboration, particularly for committees and internal teams. It integrates seamlessly with other productivity apps, enabling users to manage projects and communications in one place. Slack’s threaded conversations and private channels help teams stay organized, but the platform is better for short-term projects.
Cons: Ultimately, Slack is better suited for internal teams than member communities due to its lack of features to foster ongoing community engagement, like member directories or event hubs.
Circle is a robust platform designed for online communities, courses, and paid memberships. It allows users to create interactive spaces that facilitate discussions, events, and content sharing. The platform also supports course creation and gated content, providing modular options for video, audio, and text materials, which makes it a viable choice for those running educational programs.
Cons: Circle focuses primarily on community-building around educational content and memberships. This can impose limitations on associations with complex event management needs or highly structured member interactions that require sophisticated workflows.
Member renewals don’t happen by accident—they’re a direct result of consistent, meaningful engagement. Community engagement platforms offer the tools needed to create ongoing connections with your members, keeping them involved and invested.
The platforms we’ve covered enhance engagement and give your organization the edge it needs to maintain high retention rates. Pick the right solution based on your needs and budget, and you’ll build a thriving community in no time.
To support your association’s community-building efforts, explore these free resources: