How to Scale Communities on Skool: The 100-Member Academy Model

5-6 years ago, the Vegan Gym started building communities on Facebook.

Today they are running 8 separate communities on Skool, and they cap each one at 100 members.

I recently talked with Daphne Bascom, their COO, and she shared how this academy model works and why they made the switch to Skool. It's pretty interesting.

Why Cap at 100 Members?

Most community builders think about scale as just adding more members to one community. The Vegan Gym does it differently.

"We try and keep our communities around 100 clients so that our coach to client ratio is about one to 20, one to 25, so that we can maintain those close connections," Daphne explained.

When a community reaches 100 members, they do not keep growing it. They launch a new one.

That decision comes from what they have learned works. Daphne told me that "100 size is about a sweet spot that we've identified in terms of coaching, client, community closeness."

This approach to community size management helps maintain engagement rates and member satisfaction while scaling operations.

How the Academy Model Works

Here's their community structure:

• 1 parent community (Vegan Superhero Academy HQ)

• 8 child communities with names like Avengers, Guardians, Legends, and Titans

• About 100 members in each child community

• 4-5 coaches per community

• 16 total coaches across all communities

Each community receives twice-weekly group calls, one-on-one coaching sessions with assigned coaches, and weekly masterclasses delivered by their coaching team.

Daphne mentioned they practice what they call "unreasonable hospitality" in each community. The smaller community size makes that personalized approach possible. As she put it: "I feel like I know everyone in that community."

This model represents horizontal scaling rather than vertical scaling—instead of growing one large community, they create multiple smaller communities as they expand.

Why They Moved from Facebook to Skool

The Vegan Gym transitioned their communities from Facebook to Skool after consistent feedback from their community members.

"We don't want to be on Facebook" was something they kept hearing, especially when bringing on new clients in early 2025.

They piloted the platform migration with a trusted group they call their "inner circle" before moving everyone over.

The result? "It's closer now in School than it was in Facebook. So I think we kicked it up a notch by moving to School."

They also consolidated their tech stack. Their Menopause Mastery community used to run on both Facebook and Teachable. Now everything lives in Skool, including their coursework in the classroom feature.

Their largest community is Thrive on Plants, which is free and focuses on delivering value to women who are plant-positive or plant-curious. This demonstrates how the academy model works for both paid and free community structures.

What This Means for Scaling Your Community

This academy model is worth paying attention to if you are thinking about how to grow your own Skool community.

The conventional approach is vertical scaling—keep adding members to one community.

What the Vegan Gym does is horizontal scaling—launch new communities as you grow.

That keeps the coach-to-member ratio consistent and maintains the level of connection that makes their communities work.

This strategy addresses a common challenge in online community management: maintaining engagement and personal connection as membership grows. By capping communities at 100 members, they ensure their community management remains sustainable while still achieving growth.

So if you are running a community on Skool and wondering when it makes sense to launch a second one, 100 members might be a number worth testing.

What has your experience been with community size and engagement? Have you noticed a point where member interaction starts to drop off? 👇

9 comments