Community Roundtable
Community Roundtable is a Boston-based research, training, and advisory firm founded in 2009 that exclusively serves online community management professionals with proprietary frameworks, annual research, peer networking, assessment services, and training programs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersBoston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Community Roundtable does
Community Roundtable is a Boston-based, privately held research, training, and advisory firm founded in 2009 by Jim Storer and Rachel Happe. The firm serves online community management professionals — directors, VPs, and C-level executives responsible for collaboration, culture change, and community initiatives at large global organizations. It explicitly positions itself as covering "everything online community, and only things online community," with a stated client roster of 100+ organizations and 150+ community teams participating in its flagship TheCR Network.
The company's core assets are five registered-trademark frameworks (Community Maturity Model, Community Engagement Framework, Community Skills Framework, Community Technology Framework, and Social Executive Framework) and the annual State of Community Management research report, now in its 16th year and described as the longest-running independent research effort in online community practice. These frameworks underpin a product surface organized around three subscription tiers — TheCR Network (private peer network on Higher Logic Community), The Library (exclusive resources via thecrlibrary.com), and The Academy (training via TalentLMS) — supplemented by assessment services (Community Performance Benchmark, Community Readiness Audits, The Community Score, Community ROI Calculator), consulting engagements, the Connect annual conference, the Community Technology Summit, Community Manager Appreciation Day, the Community Leadership Awards program, a community-management job board, and bundled resource packages. Named clients and case-study references span Oracle, Microsoft, UNICEF, Bosch, Fidelity, Mastercard, Humana, Aetna, Medtronic, Bain & Company, SAP, the World Bank Group, Girl Scouts, EA, Hilti, Ciena's community program, and others across technology, healthcare, financial services, education, and nonprofit verticals.
Revenue mechanics span recurring annual subscriptions, multi-year professional-services contracts for benchmarks and audits, paid training and toolkit downloads (SOCM Toolkit listed at $99), event registration, and sponsorships from community-software vendors including Higher Logic, Khoros, Verint, Hivebrite, and SWOOP Analytics. Distribution is hybrid: content marketing (blog, SOCM, webinars, Community Conversations podcast), owned events in Boston, vendor-research sponsorships, and consultative field sales for benchmarking and advisory engagements. The firm is bootstrapped with no disclosed funding rounds, no parent company, and no M&A activity; founders retain ownership and operational control.
Community Roundtable firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Community Roundtable
- Legal name
- Community Roundtable
- Website
- https://communityroundtable.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Community Roundtable is a Boston-based research, training, and advisory firm founded in 2009 that exclusively serves online community management professionals with proprietary frameworks, annual research, peer networking, assessment services, and training programs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Community Roundtable industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Management Research & Advisory
- NAICS
- Professional Organizations (81392)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Customer/User Conferences & Client Advisory Boards (THAHAMAD)
Keywords
Where Community Roundtable is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Community Roundtable business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- TheCR Network Membership: Private peer network subscription providing access to community professionals, roundtable calls, programming, and resources. Brings together more than 150 community teams.
- The Library Subscription: Subscription-based access to exclusive community resources and research library by subscription.
- The Academy Training: Professional development courses and training programs for community managers through The Academy, including free and paid courses.
- Community Performance Benchmark: Assessment service evaluating a community's management maturity on each of the eight competencies of the Community Maturity Model, comparing against survey respondents and providing recommendations.
- Community Readiness Audits: Assessment service for organizations launching new communities, evaluating current social media, forums and other elements to identify strengths and path forward.
- Research Reports and Special Reports: Annual State of Community Management reports (now in 16th year), Community Careers and Compensation research, and special reports. Available free to members/subscribers or as paid toolkit.
- Events and Conferences: Revenue from Connect conferences, Community Technology Summit, and related event attendance.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | The Network Membership - Private peer network subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | The Library Subscription - Exclusive community resources |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Community Performance Benchmark - Assessment service |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | SOCM Toolkit - Download of all SOCM research and related content |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels9 records
Community Roundtable product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Community Roundtable is a research, training, and advisory organization serving online community management professionals. It sells access to a private peer network (TheCR Network), a subscription resource library (The Library), professional development courses (The Academy via TalentLMS), proprietary frameworks (Community Maturity Model and others), annual research reports (State of Community Management), benchmarking/audit services, and an annual Connect conference plus Community Leadership Awards.
Product overview
The Community Roundtable is a research and professional development organization offering a platform of interconnected services for online community management professionals. The core offerings include three membership tiers: The Network (peer community), The Library (subscription resources), and The Academy (training via TalentLMS). Their research portfolio centers on the annual State of Community Management (SOCM) report (now in its 16th edition), supplemented by Community Careers and Compensation research, The Community Manager Handbook, and Social Executive research. They provide assessment services including the Community Performance Benchmark, Community Readiness Audits, and the Community Score assessment tool, alongside practical tools like the Community ROI Calculator. Their proprietary frameworks—Community Maturity Model, Community Engagement Framework, Community Skills Framework, Community Technology Framework, and Social Executive Framework—form the theoretical foundation for all services. Additional offerings include the Community Leadership Awards program, Connect Conference, Community Technology Summit, Community Manager Appreciation Day, and a Community Management Job Board.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- TheCR Network Private peer network subscription for community management professionals, providing access to 150+ community teams, roundtable calls, programming, and member-only resources.
- The Library
Quantifiable outcome
- State of Community Management research now in its 16th year - the longest-running independent research effort focused specifically on community management practice
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Community Roundtable
Customer profileNamed customers24 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Community Roundtable technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Community Roundtable partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.
- KhorossupportingSponsor of State of Community Management 2023 research report. Khoros Communities provides centralized destination for customers and brands to connect, self-serve, collaborate, and learn.
- iTalent DigitalsupportingSponsor of State of Community Management 2023 research report. Founded in 2005, iTalent Digital is a global technology partner for Khoros platform with Community Management Center of Excellence.
- VerintsupportingSponsor of State of Community Management 2023 research report. Verint Community provides flexible and scalable platform for online communities and forums.
- Higher Logic VanillasupportingSponsor of State of Community Management 2023 research report. Higher Logic Vanilla exists to connect B2B and B2C brands to customers through people, knowledge and ideas. Serves over 3,000 customers with 350,000+ communities.
- Higher LogiccoreFeatured partner for State of Community Management 2022. Higher Logic connects people, knowledge, and ideas to improve lives and organizations. Serves more than 3,000 customers, representing over 350,000 online communities with 200+ million users in 42+ countries.
- HivebritesupportingPremium partner for State of Community Management 2022. All-in-one community management and engagement platform. Over 800 organizations worldwide use Hivebrite including American Heart Association, JA Worldwide, Cartier, WWF, and NYSE.
- SWOOP AnalyticssupportingPremium partner for State of Community Management 2022. Empowers employees and leaders with collaboration analytics for Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Workplace from Meta and M365.
- Higher LogiccoreHigher Logic Community platform used for TheCR Network member login and community infrastructure.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Community Roundtable competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CMX (CMX Media / CMX Hub): CMX is the most direct competitor to TheCR's professional development and community-for-community-professionals offering, providing conferences (CMX Summit), training, certifications, and a member network for community professionals. Originally founded by David Spinks and now operated under Bevy, it targets the same audience of directors, VPs, and C-level community leaders.
- FeverBee: FeverBee is a community strategy consultancy and training firm that publishes research, runs certifications, and delivers advisory engagements for organizations building online communities. It competes head-on with TheCR's benchmarking, audit, and training services from a UK base.
Broad incumbents
- Higher Logic: Higher Logic is a community platform vendor serving 3,000+ customers and 350,000+ communities, and also a Core technology partner and SOCM sponsor of TheCR. It overlaps with TheCR's buyer base (enterprise community teams) and competes for the same community program budget through its own customer education content.
- Khoros: Khoros is a large community and customer engagement platform that sponsors TheCR's SOCM research and serves enterprise community teams. As a broader incumbent, it offers both the technology and adjacent advisory/content that compete with TheCR's research, benchmarking, and training revenue.
- Hivebrite: Hivebrite is an all-in-one community management and engagement platform used by 800+ organizations including American Heart Association, JA Worldwide, and Cartier. It targets the same enterprise community-builders as TheCR and has been a Premium SOCM sponsor.
- Bevy: Bevy is an enterprise community and event platform that acquired CMX Media. Through CMX, Bevy directly competes with TheCR's training, conferences, and professional network for community professionals, in addition to serving enterprise community teams with its software.
- Verint: Verint provides the Verint Community platform for online communities and forums and is a SOCM sponsor. As a broad customer engagement incumbent, Verint competes with TheCR for enterprise community program budgets at the platform-plus-adjacent-services layer.
- Salesforce Experience Cloud: Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) is a major community platform used by large enterprises and competes for the same customer base as TheCR. While not a direct research/training peer, its scale and bundled advisory offerings constrain TheCR's pricing power with Fortune 500 buyers.
Emerging players
- Mighty Networks: Mighty Networks is a community platform focused on creators and niche B2C communities. It is an emerging player with partial overlap to TheCR's buyer base of organizations building online communities, particularly in the membership and creator-economy segment.
- Disciple Media: Disciple Media is a community platform for branded communities serving creators, education, and enterprise use cases. It is an emerging player with a smaller footprint than Higher Logic or Khoros but partial overlap with TheCR's enterprise buyer base on community technology decisions.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Community Roundtable social profiles
Digital presenceCommunity Roundtable financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Community Roundtable leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Community Roundtable funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Community Roundtable M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Community Roundtable
What does Community Roundtable do?
The Community Roundtable is a research, training, and advisory organization serving online community management professionals. It sells access to a private peer network (TheCR Network), a subscription resource library (The Library), professional development courses (The Academy via TalentLMS), proprietary frameworks (Community Maturity Model and others), annual research reports (State of Community Management), benchmarking/audit services, and an annual Connect conference plus Community Leadership Awards.
Is Community Roundtable a public or private company?
Community Roundtable is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Community Roundtable founded?
Community Roundtable was founded in 2009. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Community Roundtable based?
Community Roundtable is headquartered in Boston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Community Roundtable make money?
Seven revenue lines are on record. TheCR Network Membership is the primary driver. The others are the Library Subscription, the Academy Training, community Performance Benchmark, community Readiness Audits, research Reports and Special Reports and events and Conferences.
Who are Community Roundtable's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CMX (CMX Media / CMX Hub) and FeverBee. Broad incumbents are Higher Logic, Khoros, Hivebrite, Bevy, Verint and Salesforce Experience Cloud. Emerging players are Mighty Networks and Disciple Media.
Does Community Roundtable have an API?
No public API is recorded for Community Roundtable.
What industry is Community Roundtable in?
Community Roundtable's product category is Community Management Research & Advisory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHACAA, Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies), with a secondary code of THAHAMAD, Customer/User Conferences & Client Advisory Boards. Its NAICS code is 81392 and its SIC code is 8600.