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Membership Drives Everything

A discipline grounded in real research and real results

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AGENDA What’s happening in and around us? What should we do about it? Current environment Need for a stronger membership base What members want

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What’s happening in and around us?

External• Economic uncertainty• Mass competition

Internal• <confidential>

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What should we do about it?

Members

Nurturing members

Selling impact

Transparency

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Current environment

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Current environment Donations have been declining

Number of Canadians reporting donations on their taxes have been declining since 1990

23.1% of Canadians were donors in 2009 versus 24.1% in 2008

2007 2008 2009Amount (in $ billions) $8.65 $8.19 $7.75

% change from year prior

-5.3% -5.4%

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Recent trends <confidential>

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Current environment Demand for charity “accountability” is

growing Increased media focus on charity effectiveness Donors demanding more control and involvement Charity rankings becoming more widespread

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Current environment

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What does this all mean? Increased competition Stakeholders want to associate with NPO

showing value More exposure if positioned correctly

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Membership drives everything

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Need for a strong membership base <confidential>

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Need for a strong membership base Why a strong membership base?

A membership base drives everything Key Success Factor

Donor Base (Members)

Corporate Sponsors

Government Media

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Need for a strong membership base

“Strong charities have a solid base of individual donors”

“Strategically important to build a base of donors who give regularly and in response to a cause”

- Scotiabank Philanthropic Advisory Forum

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Need for strong membership base <confidential>

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Need for strong membership base Cygnus Applied

Research reports: Acquisition is more

expensive than retention and often at a loss

Focus on boosting donor retention

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Need for strong membership base Customers leave for many reasons

Geographic move Death Wooed away by competition

#1 Reason: they simply feel you don’t care enough about them

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Members want to help

“The essential ingredient in forming productive engagements is to create ways for stakeholders to provide candid feedback to the foundation about its grantmaking practices and approach.”

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Members’ wants

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Plan of action

1. Establish monthly newsletter2. Generate more information sharing3. Establish effective database4. Emphasis on past stakeholders over new

ones

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What do we do with members?

Research shows that donors don’t want formal recognition, just information.

Prompt gift acknowledgement Confidence their gifts are “working” as

intended Measurable results of gifts at work before

another gift is requested

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• $50 per month for up to 100 members• Marketing using email• Marketing via social media• Donations, and more

• $25 per month for up to 250 members• Automated applications and renewals• Newsletters and email blasts• Member self-service, and more

How do we manage members? Inexpensive databases to manage members

effectively

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Thank You

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Questions?