Make the Most of an Uncontested Election With a CARE Survey for Member Engagement

Member engagement is a must for your cooperative’s health. If there’s no engagement, there’s no collective cooperation — and no co-op. The more engaged your members are, the more likely they are to continue supporting the co-op’s mission and strengthen your organization.

But there’s a catch: running a co-op is far from simple. Regulatory and policy changes, an aging workforce, transitioning to renewable energy, and member satisfaction are all significant challenges for co-ops across the United States.

You can’t do much about regulatory changes, but you have a lot of sway over member engagement and satisfaction. Instead of letting an uncontested election come and go, send a Co-op Assessment for Resident Engagement (CARE) Survey to your members leading up to the annual meeting. This essential tool primes members for engagement and helps you gather valuable insights — even when an election isn’t needed.

Learn about the value of member engagement in co-ops and the benefits of sending a CARE Survey to members before a meeting.

The Value of Member Engagement

Your co-op exists to fulfill the mission of bringing people together for greater collective bargaining power. But without engaged members, your co-op just can’t fulfill its mission. Nearly 60% of electric cooperative customers say they’re “exceptionally” loyal to their co-op, but loyalty doesn’t always translate into democratic participation.

For example, many members remain loyal to their co-op, but secretly feel that their voices won’t make a difference. Some members don’t participate because they’re satisfied with the status quo and feel they don’t need to take action.

Regardless of members’ reasons, co-ops must energize these loyal but disengaged members to take action. Ongoing member engagement is a must, especially if most of your elections are uncontested. The absence of a competitive election is a sign that something needs to change, and fast. Uncontested elections breed voter apathy and make members less likely to believe your co-op has their best interests at heart.

Encouraging member engagement has benefits beyond the ballot box, too. Regular member feedback helps cooperatives adapt over time. When members can honestly share what they do (and don’t) like about the co-op, you can adjust and improve your services, ultimately leading to better satisfaction, loyalty, and growth.

You don’t need a big budget to gather member feedback, either. Options like the CARE Survey are a wise use of resources, making it possible to get long-term value without excessive costs.

Of course, this isn’t just for co-ops. While the CARE Survey was designed for cooperatives with a history of uncontested elections, it can also be utilized by any member organization seeking to engage and interact with their members.

What Is a CARE Survey, and What Does It Measure?

Engagement begets engagement. Even if you don’t have elections this year, sending a pre-meeting survey is a valuable tool for better understanding your members.

The Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS) CARE Survey gathers feedback on key areas of the co-op’s operations leading up to the annual meeting. This tool gathers feedback on key areas of the cooperative’s operations, such as service quality, communication effectiveness, and member satisfaction.

Not only that, but SBS benchmarks all metrics across cooperatives. We share this data with all participating organizations to help everyone better understand their members’ needs.

The CARE Survey is fast and straightforward for members to fill out. Distribute it via the mail or provide it electronically and invite members to participate via text or email. Using a four-choice ranking scale, the survey will ask members to rate you in terms of:

• Overall satisfaction
• Website usability
• Billing processes
• Rates and pricing
• Sustainability
• Charitable endeavors
• Representing member values

Since the CARE Survey calculates these responses quantitatively, you can quickly understand the areas where you’re succeeding and what needs improvement. However, it’s crucial to get a representative sample — the more responses, the better. Encourage members to fill out the survey so you get as much feedback as possible.

A survey is a valuable activity to supplement the election process when a competitive election isn’t taking place. Share the results at your annual meeting to engage with members. If the results are positive, that reinforces the direction of the co-op. If the results are more critical, it gives you the opportunity to address member feedback and share a plan for improvement.

Benefits of the CARE Survey

Did you know that co-op members who are aware of their ownership in the co-op are 60% more likely to engage with you? The same study found that credit union members who perceive their credit union as open to feedback are 105% more likely to continue engaging with their credit union. That’s astounding! This study also found a reinforcing effect: people who participate are more likely to feel the credit union reflects their values.

However, the reverse is also true. This is where the CARE Survey becomes so crucial. There are so many benefits to sending out a CARE Survey, from improved engagement to streamlined co-op operations.

Engage With Your Members

Engagement is self-reinforcing; supplemental communications like surveys give you more member touchpoints to reinforce engagement. Instead of letting member engagement slip during uncontested election years, a CARE Survey keeps members involved. They might not have a lot of options when it’s time to vote, but a survey ensures their voices are heard even when there’s no need for a ballot.

For example, the Southside Electric Cooperative worked with SBS to craft a solution that would work for both competitive and uncontested elections. The change ensured the co-op achieved a quorum and validated its election results with an auditable system. Members loved the new process, and Southside employees felt much less pressure to rush through ballot counting thanks to SBS.

Gather Helpful Data

A CARE Survey provides a lot of data about member perceptions and the overall success of your co-op. For example, if you recently rolled out new processes, the CARE Survey will tell you whether members find the changes helpful or a hindrance. Leaders can sometimes be blind to issues in their co-ops, but a survey will identify problems, guide decision-making on member priorities, and ultimately help you design a better member experience.

For example, the Dakota Electric Association needed a better way to interact with its members electronically, especially for voting. The co-op worked with SBS and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association to get the state to approve online voting. This approach allowed the co-op to embrace the benefits of electronic voting and the data that came with it. Today, Dakota Electric Association can pull data on votes by zip code, which identifies areas where the co-op has the most active voters.

Benchmark Performance

Have you ever wondered how other co-ops are faring? Understanding trends both in your industry and in co-ops at large can help design services that maximize member value. Participating in the SBS CARE Survey allows you to compare your performance with other participating cooperatives. Instead of treating your data as a big secret, you can collectively identify trends and areas for growth. Never wonder if your organization is keeping up — the quantitative benchmarks will make it clear.

It’s Cost-Effective

SBS designed the CARE Survey with cost efficiency in mind, so you can gather plenty of member data without straining your budget. In fact, if the election is a budgeted event, the CARE Survey can replace the election without adding an additional line item to your budget.

It’s Flexible

SBS has a readymade CARE Survey template to pull from. It includes 14 pre-set questions to simplify and speed up the survey process. However, you can optionally add two final questions to the survey if you’d like to gather additional information about your members. You can also choose the media (paper or online) that best fits your needs, member expectations, and budget.

Save Time

If you have an uncontested election this year, use that time to conduct a CARE Survey instead. The survey design, development, and data collection take place when the election would have. Instead of letting the engagement opportunity pass you by, use the time you would have spent on an election to gather essential information that will make your organization stronger and more valuable.

Supplement Additional Engagement Efforts

Member engagement is a tricky problem that requires a multi-faceted solution. The CARE Survey identifies successes and failures, but it’s still up to you to make changes based on the data. For example, if member feedback shows a lack of communication, that could be a sign you need to double down on your email newsletters and social media posts.

Uncontested Elections Aren’t the End – They’re Just the Beginning

Replace your uncontested election with a CARE Survey. This quick survey not only tells you how you’re performing compared to other co-ops, but it also gives you a better snapshot of the member experience and overall satisfaction.

Contact Survey & Ballot Systems now to discuss how your organization can benefit from a CARE Survey.