The Scottish North American Community Conference (SNACC) in December 2024 brought together many leaders of local Scottish heritage societies who shared their ideas for meeting their current challenges. Here is a brief summary of their remarks:
Gus Noble, President, Chicago Scots (formerly the Illinois Saint Andrew Society) meets the challenge of attracting younger members by promoting the “Top 10 Reasons to Join Chicago Scots.”
Charlie Sherwood of the Saint Andrew's Society of Colorado suggested “We all need to learn from each other's successes and failures. We need to learn mundane things like data management, membership management, accounting, and sharing with each other our ideas and instead of being insular.”
John King Bellassai, President, COSCA, noted that the next generation is more than interested in engagement -- but we have to meet them where they are. He noted that younger people are “much more technologically sophisticated than many of us are.”
Camilla G. Hellman, President, American Scottish Foundation, added that they are trying to work out different ways to engage with young Scots and agreed that Scottish heritage societies needed to collaborate more.
Kimberley Bradford, St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles, identified her most challenging issue is prioritization: “constantly have to work on your membership, events, even the education aspect.”
Bob Richardson, Board of Trustees, St. Andrew’s Society of Detroit, observed that a key challenge is being relevant to members, and “understanding what they want out of the organization.” His society meets that challenge by awarding community grants.
Brendan Fyfe, Marketing & Events Committee, St. Andrew's Society of Toronto, shared that one of the most interesting challenges in Toronto has been agreement on meaningful metrics. He noted that “Our membership has gone down over the years, but the attendance at all our events is way up.”
Heather McKenzie Haddock, Co-Chair, Scottish American Women’s Society of Washington DC, agreed that personal engagement was important: “For our membership, we actually encourage you to come try it out before you pay us any money or join or anything like that.”
Camilla G. Hellman concluded by suggesting that “we've got to think out of the box” when it comes to membership.
If you are Delegate or Alternate of a COSCA Organizational Member, you can access the complete article with many more details, including the complete list (and links) of all clan and family societies privacy policies: https://www.cosca.scot/snacc-2024-challenges
The Scottish North American Community Conference (SNACC) is an annual event organized by the American-Scottish Foundation, The Council of Scottish Clans and Associations, St Andrew's Society of Detroit, Chicago Scots, Scottish American Women’s Society of Washington DC, Scottish Studies Society, and St. Andrew's Society of Toronto
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