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ASSOCIATIONWORLD and Open Social Announce Global Partnership and Collaboration

Community platform Open Social joins ASSOCIATIONWORLD as a global partner to support its continuous engagement with — continue reading
Posted by Taco Potze
August 25, 2021

Community platform Open Social joins ASSOCIATIONWORLD as a global partner to support its continuous engagement with the global association community and help grow the ASSOCIATIONWORLD movement.

Utilizing an online community as a catalyst for change

We are living in a time of disruption. The engagement model of associations is changing. To help associations make their transformation into the future, ASSOCIATIONWORLD’s mission is to bring associations together in a safe and trusted environment and support them in this development. Not by providing all the answers – which we do not have, but by providing an ecosystem designed to build and nurture trust, a reliable source of content, interaction and connections, a place where members can count on to find answers and solutions.

The ASSOCIATIONWORLD Open Social platform is dedicated to sharing effectively, without the noise, empowering its members to continuously ask questions, providing solutions, collaborating, accessing knowledge and connecting in an open space, in between in-person and online events. ASSOCIAITONWORLD’s online events will be hosted within the platform, allowing participants to engage in discussion before and after they take place.

From left, front: Kai Troll (ASSOCIATIONWORLD, President), Roel Cozijnsen (Open Social, Head of Sales). Middel: Sina Bünte (ASSOCIATIONWORLD, Head of Events), Kristina Marina (Open Social, Sales Development Rep.), Vicky Koffa (ASSOCIATIONWORLD, Digital Editor). Back: Mathijs Vleeming (Open Social, Strategy Consultant), Adriaan Odendaal (Open Social, Content Writer), Moritz Arendt (Open Social, Product Manager)

People’s business

Kai Troll, President of ASSOCIATIONWORLD: “Building communities is not new to us; it’s been our philosophy and a core driver from day one of our existence, since 2018. In fact, everything we have done in the last 3 years and will continue doing in the future is inspired by the ASSOCIATIONWORLD community and its supporting members.”

“With the high number of online sessions over the last year and a half, we had to ask ourselves: What happens in the future in between online or physical events? How do we bring relevant insight and exchange to our community during this gap and how do we use technology to help facilitate that in a meaningful way?”

“Over the last few months, we have tested various community building or community engagement platforms. At the end of the day, we decided to use the Open Social platform that will be tailored to the needs of our own community. Sorting through the 800 responses of our relevant survey, we now have a very good understanding about what associations expect from a functional and user-friendly platform that can add value to them.”

“We don’t believe that just technology can create engagement, but it provides great new ways to connect people and enrich personal relationships. It is content, knowledge transfer and sharing, relationships and networking that creates engagement. At the end of the day, we remain in the people’s business.”

“Everything we do”, says Kai Troll, “starts with the right people. The team at Open Social is a trustworthy, innovative and dynamic team. Open Social is a sustainable company with a proven model and has already developed credible international partnerships and users. We feel inspired by the common vision we have created together.”

“Our vision of what a community engagement platform should look like is very similar to Open Social’s mission, i.e. establishing a pro-privacy, anti-monopoly and open web that inspires trusted connections and collaboration. The platform is open and free for our association community.“

“For us at ASSOCIATIONWORLD, Open Social came at the right time to help build that safe space that allows and empowers association professionals to engage in the most meaningful way one can do so online,” confirms Troll.

Made to share

Taco Potze, CEO, Open Social: “At Open Social , we are “made to share”. We are an open core SaaS provider, specialized in online community and membership management solutions, serving some of the biggest international NGOs as clients, including the UN, Greenpeace and Pachamama Alliance. We have mastered the art of sharing, and place sharing at the heart of everything we do. Because sharing is what makes a group of individuals turn into a community. As people share their goals, their innovations, their knowledge and stories, they become a unified community that can change the world. We understand this is what drives associations as well and we are looking forward to empowering the association world community to share, to jointly face their challenges and collaborate towards a new future.”

The way in which we are building communities is changing

Mathijs Vleeming, Strategy Consultant, Open Social, adds: “The way in which we are building communities is changing. Apart from in-person events, there are new potential opportunities out there for associations to sustain and facilitate deep and continuous interactions. We believe associations need to make a digital transformation in their community building efforts to become less reliant on face-to-face events only, to build a closer relationship with their members and facilitate connections amongst members, to stay relevant with their offering, live up to the expectations of new generations, respond to environmental pressures, but most importantly: to increase their impact towards their mission. We want to help associations in this process by engaging in a dialogue on their needs and pain points and showing the opportunities a community platform like Open Social can provide.”

The ASSOCIATIONWORLD Open Social platform will officially launch at the Geneva International Association Forum (GIAF) taking place 16-17 September 2021. You can find out how to register for GIAF here.

About Open Social

Open Social is a top-tier SaaS company based in Amsterdam and Enschede, The Netherlands. Open Social is specialized in online community and membership management solutions. We have mastered the art of sharing, serving some of the biggest international NGOs as clients, including the UN, Greenpeace and Pachamama Alliance, and having won several international awards.

Open Social places sharing at the heart of everything we do. Because sharing is what makes a group of individuals turn into a community. As people share their goals, their innovations, their knowledge and stories, they become a unified community that can change the world.

That is why we say Open Social is #MadeToShare

Contact: Mathijs Vleeming, Strategy Consultant: mathijs@getopensocial.com

Open Social logo

About ASSOCIATIONWORLD

ASSOCIATIONWORLD‘s mission is to build a global association movement and facilitate excellence in association business and non-profit management. Provide accessible, premium but affordable education, experiential learning experiences and networking opportunities. Take a holistic approach towards the development of associations and association professionals, facilitate in-depth solutions to common challenges through our five pillars AssociationInnovation, AssociationLeaders, AssociationPartners, Association360 and DESTINATIONWORLD.

Contact: hello@associationworld.eu

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