Committee & Community Software for Associations
Give your committees, boards and member groups a secure place to work.
Members Village includes private group spaces where associations can host threaded discussions, share documents, manage group-specific events and keep members connected through the member portal.
Use it for board work.
Use it for committees.
Use it for communities of practice.
Use it as a members lounge that supports retention between renewal periods.
All connected to your Members Village association management system.
Private Spaces for the Groups That Drive Your Association
Most association work does not happen in one place.
Board agenda and minute files live in email. Committee discussions happen across threads. Meeting details sit in private calendars. Documents get passed around as attachments. Member communities are managed separately from the member database.
That creates friction for staff and members.
Members Village Groups gives each board, committee or member community its own secure space inside the member portal.
Each group can include:
- Threaded discussions with admin pinning
- Shared documents & member-uploaded files
- Group-specific events integrated with central calendar
- Email notifications & Member Portal visibility for group activity
- Access that can be updated manually, by application or during renewal
The result is a more organized way to manage participation. Not another disconnected tool. A secure part of your integrated AMS tools.
Built for Committees, Boards and Member Communities
Different groups need the same foundation: secure access, clear communication and a simple way to keep information together.
Members Village Groups can support several association use cases.
Board of Directors Space
Create a secure board area for agendas, minutes, reports, discussions and board-specific events.
Board members can access their materials through the member portal without needing a separate login or external document system.
This can support a simple board portal experience for associations that want board information connected to their broader AMS.
Committee Spaces
Give each committee its own workspace for discussions, files, meetings and ongoing work.
Committee members can start discussions, upload documents and access the information connected to their committee.
Admins can pin important discussions and manage access as committee membership changes.
Communities of Practice
Support professional communities around shared interests, specialties or practice areas.
Members can discuss topics, share resources and stay connected to events or documents relevant to that community.
Chapter Groups
Create private spaces for chapters, regional teams or local member groups.
Each group can have its own discussions, documents and events while remaining connected to the central member system.
Members Lounge
A members lounge gives members a reason to return between renewals.
It can be used for member-only discussions, private resources, group events, welcome spaces, peer communities and ongoing participation.
Retention is easier when members have more than an invoice connecting them to the organization.
How Groups Work Inside Members Village
Groups are built into the Members Village platform.
That means they connect to the same system used for your members, contacts, events and member portal.
Group Access
Members can be added to a group in several ways:
- Added manually by an admin
- Self-serve group application
- Added automatically during renewal
Anyone in your database can be added to a group when appropriate, including members, contacts, volunteers, board participants or other people your association tracks.
Discussions
Group members can start and reply to threaded discussions.
This keeps conversations organized by topic instead of scattered across email chains.
Admins can moderate discussions and pin important posts so members know where to focus.
Documents
Group members can upload and share documents inside the group.
This can include agendas, minutes, reports, templates, policies, event materials, resources or any other files the group needs.
Shared files remain available until removed, helping preserve continuity as volunteers, committee members or board members change over time.
Events
Groups can include events that are only visible to the people in that group.
This is useful for board meetings, committee meetings, private roundtables, working group sessions or member-only events.
Group events connect to the broader Members Village event tools, so they are not managed in a separate calendar or disconnected system.
Notifications and Activity
Members can receive email notifications when there is relevant group activity.
Group activity can also appear inside the member portal, giving members a clearer view of the spaces, discussions and events connected to them.
A Members Lounge That Supports Retention
Many associations think about member retention at renewal time. By then, the member has already decided how much value they received.
A members lounge helps create member value before renewal season.
It gives members a private place to participate, access resources, join discussions and stay involved with the work of the association. Associations such as IPIC, CALP and CAPRA use private member spaces to support committees, member collaboration and secure access to information.
A members lounge should do more than host conversations. It should support the groups that keep members engaged.
Read our article on how a secure members lounge can become part of your member retention strategy.
Connected to the Rest of Your AMS
Groups are most useful when they are connected to the rest of your association software.
Members Village Groups works with the core apps your association already uses.
Member Portal
Members access their groups through the same secure portal they use for membership, renewals, receipts, events and profile updates.
No separate login.
No separate community platform.
No extra account for members to manage.
Members CRM
Group access connects to the records in your membership database.
That means your association can manage group participation alongside member, contact and organization information.
When membership status or eligibility changes, group access updates as part of your process.
Event Management
Group-specific events are connected to your central event management tools.
This makes it easier to host board meetings, committee meetings, member-only events or private sessions for selected groups.
The event remains part of your association system instead of becoming another disconnected calendar item.
Security and Canadian Data Residency
Committees, boards and member communities often handle information that needs to remain private.
That may include governance documents, meeting records, policy discussions, member resources or internal planning materials.
Access is controlled through your association database and member portal. Direct links do not give unauthorized users access to private group content.
For Canadian associations, this means Canadian data residency and provides a clearer answer to an important question: Where does our member and committee information live?
Committee & Working Group FAQ's
For your convenience, we have prepared answers to common questions about using Members Village Groups for committees, boards, communities of practice and member lounges.
Learn how secure group access, threaded discussions, shared documents, private events and Canadian data residency work together inside the Members Village platform.
Yes, all content shared within a group, remains in place until you choose to remove it.
No, since our association apps are all connected we have a SSO (single sign-on) structure to all apps.
Yes, members can be added and removed from groups as your association sees fit.
All data is virtually segmented and all access rights are checked at run-time. Sharing direct links, for example, will not give someone permission to view content.
Talk to Us About Your Members Lounge & Private Groups
Want to give your committees, boards and member communities a secure place to work?
We can show you how Groups work inside Members Village and how they connect to your member portal, CRM and events.
No pressure. Just a practical conversation about your association, your members and the private spaces they need.