Why the crisis called for some urgent straight talk.
For 11 years we've been just fine without advertising. Just word of mouth and slow, solid growth. No press, no social media. Then: Corona and the lockdown. No school, no freedom, no playing with friends any more for kids everywhere. And all of a sudden word got around:
These young Global Natives don't feel isolated at home! They talk to their friends abroad every day just like they always did. And they don‘t panic for fear of their language holidays or student exchange plans being ruined. Because they know they don't have to organise and book months ahead, they can "play it by ear". They have the connections.
That's how we experienced an avalanche of requests to join us - for all the wrong reasons!
There were applicants who wanted us to speed up our diligent verification process, who didn't care much for what we stand for and who merely wanted a cheap and quick way to solve their problem: Their long-planned, expensive plans were very likely going to be cancelled. They simply wanted to take advantage of a system that works by fair give-and-take, by genuine mutuality.
On came the emergency brakes! Advantage-takers are not welcome here.
Never before did we turn away so many applicants.
Until the lockdown, it had been good enough to rely on informal rules. But now we've laid down the rules in writing as part of the application process, making it clearer than ever before what membership means and what it doesn't. With the beginning of June we've declared our goals, values and due diligence process in plain language and set them where they belong: Right where an application to join can be filed.
| The result: A second wave of applications. This time for all the right reasons! Because now it is perfectly clear what give-and-take means to us. It takes a village to raise a child. |  |
Learn here what the community stands for!
