Circular Philadelphia has always been a member-centric organization. As we like to say, our members’ success is our success, and 2024 has been marked by developing more ways to get our members together as well as shine a spotlight on the great people and businesses in our membership. So it was fitting that Circular Philadelphia’s 2024 Fall Members Meeting was hosted by member business Philly Foodworks at their incredible facility on Hunting Park Avenue.
Circular Philadelphia’s Director of Policy Engagement Nic Esposito first met Philly Foodworks’ Co-Founder and CEO Dylan Baird when Dylan was at Temple University as an undergrad and developing the idea for Philly Foodworks. So to see Dylan and this company become an integral part of Philadelphia’s local food sector is remarkable.
Dylan put Philly Foodworks’ impact and operations on full display by not just hosting the members meeting and providing some really tasty local hors d’oeuvres, but by also giving an in-depth tour of the facility as well as a very real and compelling talk on why local food is so important. We heard from multiple members that they either never knew about the impact Philly Foodworks was having on Philadelphia’s local food sector or they did know and had been wanting to see the operation for a long time. Either way, the tour was a hit and is definitely something we want to replicate for future members meetings.
After the tour and some incredibly tasty biryani and samosas from our long time member organization Tiffin (facilitated by our incredible individual member Marianne Kelly), we got down to business. As Nic and Sam scanned the room before the past 6 months’ work presentation began, both remarked later on how good it was to see so many new members in the mix. The fact that Circular Philadelphia welcomed a new bronze sponsor, Revolution Recovery, and had a 100% retention rate among organizational member renewals over the past 6 months reinforced the sense that the organization continues to grow and meet the needs of new members.
Nic and Sam then also presented on the major accomplishments over the past 6 months, including more education and outreach materials creation, such as the blue jeans implosion poster and food recovery infographic, which will both be released in the next few months. We were also excited to report back on the successful Resellers Listening Session held earlier in October, which will establish a new Resale market sector. Attendees lauded our ever-growing slate of events that were requested by the membership at the Fall 2023 Members Meeting and the Spring 2024 Members Meeting.
These reflections on the last 6 months of work with our members are always so important, and the impact was apparent as members requested more education and outreach as well as opportunities to get members together in meaningful learning or networking opportunities, and Circular Philadelphia delivered.
So it was a fitting evolution that at this members meeting, the main thing we heard from our members in the 6-month visioning session was a desire to have more digital ways to connect with other members and the organization. A major step forward will be Circular Philadelphia’s shift to a more robust and capable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Of course in our case, our “customers” are our members, but the result will be the same. This system will streamline the membership process by providing members with their own membership portal as well as allow Circular Philadelphia to better track member engagement and event management.
Being that there were so many new members there, many asked for opportunities to help spread the word about Circular Philadelphia and do outreach to acquire more members. It’s always a good sign when members value the organization so much that they want to recruit more members. And even though Circular Philadelphia does have a members ambassadors program, it was another sign that the CRM will be a great tool to make sure that members know where to find the resources and materials they need to recruit new members.
Members also expressed a desire to more easily sign up for working groups as well as the ability to propose more working groups and sectors to the membership and organization. And finally, members also wanted the opportunity to be able to scan the membership to learn who has what skills to foster more cross-member collaboration on projects. Whether it’s the CRM or building out our Basecamp more, Circular Philadelphia staff heard these expressed needs loud and clear and as has been our track record, we will get to work to meet these needs.
That’s the power of these members meetings. We get to collectively take stock of the work we have done as an organization, and we get to collaboratively plan what’s next. It was even more meaningful to do it for the first time in a member’s place of business to showcase just how much the circular economy is growing in Philadelphia. Thanks to all of our members, our board and our staff for making that growth possible. And thanks to our Silver Sponsor Vicinity Energy for funding the food and drink that also allows us to have some fun while we do this important work.
Photo credits: Liyiran Shelly Xia
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