A Membership Campaign that Works

We all have members that have fallen off through the years or a targeted group of potential members. They remain in your contact list and you might send them the occasional email blast inviting them to an event or trying to entice them to rejoin the group. Why not take that a step further? One of our Executive Administrators, Caroline, did just that for one of our clients!

Caroline noticed a lack of new members joining and wanted to help her client grow their membership. In December 2019, she launched a new member recruitment campaign. This campaign targeted those in the industry and area that were not members. The campaign offered a 50% discount on 2020 dues to nonmembers. The regular rate is $260, making the discounted rate $130. Seeing that 50% off discount is enough to at least have people pause and consider the offer.

She then mailed this promotion to 272 non-members. The response was great and put the association back in front of some new eyes. Through this campaign, the association gained 11 new members and a branch of a current member that included 17 new individuals.

Associations might be hesitant to take this jump when thinking about costs. You might assume taking a cut in dues and spending the time and resources to send out a mailer, will not pay off. The results, however, showed. The total cost of sending the mailer and generating the list of recipients was $392.28. The income from this campaign was $1560 for this year alone. This results in a net income of $1,167.62. This is a huge for a nonprofit! It also only represents the amount of income generated from this campaign in this year. These new members will likely stick around for future years paying the full amount.

In looking for ways to grow membership or get previous members back involved, it is important to try new things. By giving a discount as an incentive, you are giving those members a trial run of what being a member of the association would look like. Once they have been in there, seen the benefits, and connected with others, they are more likely to stick around.

Planning for a Recession

Preparing for a recession should be something associations are thinking about during their strategic planning each year. This is something that, now, is coming into play more than ever. You might be wondering, how can Impact Association Management help our clients to successfully plan for an economic downturn?

Impact AMC can help!

Facilitate strategic planning and create a strategic plan, which considers and accounts for the possibility of an economic downturn. The organization will be much better off if this is done in advance rather than scrambling at the time.

Assess the historical impact recessions have had on membership, conference attendance, grant and partner funding, other key revenue sources and make recommendations based on this data.

o   Should special membership pricing or discounts be in place for renewal?

o   Should dues forgiveness be used for unemployed members?

o   Are renewals automatic?

o   Automate messaging leading up to conferences and renewals – why should they attend the conference or renew their membership? What benefits will they reap or haven’t they used yet?

Confirm their reserve model is prepared for risk.

Adapt content and messaging of member programming to reflect a near-term recession where appropriate.

o   Marketing should still be happening! It just needs to be efficiently targeted.

o   Reinforce the value of the association.

o   Offer more networking and career assistance.

o   What is the business case for attending the conference during an economic downturn?

o   Is their a collaborative forum for members to proactively engage with one another? If not, now might be the time to roll this out. It’s a low cost/low staff time engagement tool for members. This can be done via Association Management Software (Wild Apricot) and LinkedIn or Facebook groups

Using data, identify which programs meet the members’ needs the most and ensure they’re recession-proof and can sustain future economic trends. These programs should reflect the association’s core purpose. Conversely, identify which programs should be cycled out and retired.

o   These might be tough conversations, but they should be happening. Develop a way to assess program value and returns as well as when programs should be cycled out and retired.

Identify how your association can become a source of things your members cannot get anywhere else.

o   What is the association’s niche? Is the board of director’s view of this the same as the association’s members?

o   Hone into this and use it as a differentiator as to why people should join your association versus another one.

This might seem like a scary thing to deal with and something you only prepare for when the time comes. Being prepared, however, is what will help your association to thrive at a time that might seem unlikely.

Making the Most of Canceled Events

With the world a little crazier than usual lately, your association might be dealing with canceled events. Some of these events and conferences have likely been planned a year or so out and are a huge source of revenue for associations. If you are forced to cancel your event because of rapidly spreading Coronavirus, try a few of these tips to help recoup some money and still provide members with some benefits.

1.     Reread your contracts. Although you likely scanned thoroughly through your hotel or venue contract when signing it, read back through it and see if there is a Force Majeure clause. This is a contract provision that allows a party to suspend or terminate the performance of its obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise, making performance impracticable, illegal, or impossible.

2.     Hold webinars. In order to still provide conference-goers the content, they intended to learn, move sessions online. In order to make some money off of this, provide conference sponsors with the opportunity to sponsor the webinars. This will be a win-win for members, sponsors, and your association’s budget. You can also record the webinars for people who are unable to make it.

3.     Provide an opportunity for online networking. With everyone held up in their homes, people are going to be itching to connect with others. Move this experience online as well. There are plenty of platforms online that allow for breakout groups and networking opportunities. Throw a theme on it like “Cocktail Party” where everyone brings their own drink to the session to make it a little more fun and have ice breakers to get everyone talking.

4.     Practice the virtual event. Even though the switch may be last minute, make sure to get everything in order before introducing it to members. We all know that technology can be finicky and do not want to add to the stress of members whose plans have been shut down. Make sure that everything stands out and is a strong and fun experience for those that join.

Although this shift in plans may not be ideal, it is something we must accept. With that in mind, you might as well make the most of it and still work hard to provide your members and vendors with a unique experience. This could also prove to be successful and something you may want to do in smaller doses throughout the upcoming year, providing a new benefit to members.

How to get your Board to Hire an AMC

Life can be pretty hectic for a volunteer in an association. Balancing a full-time job, feeding kids or fitting in a run, and being a volunteer is not always easy. When this overwhelming feeling gets to be too much, it might be time to start your search for an association management company. The obstacle that many volunteers come across with this decision is getting the whole board on the same page about the potential switch. If you are having trouble swaying some stubborn board members, set a plan in place to ease their worries and streamline the process.

1.     Introduce the idea of an AMC to your board. Some boards have never considered an AMC before. It is your job to define what an AMC is and make sure they understand how this would work in comparison to the current system. Give a full overview of what type of work could be passed off to the AMC and what decisions and tasks could be left with the board.

2.     Discuss the current division of tasks. Have a conversation with fellow board members about how they are feeling with their current workload for the association. Do they still have time to commit? As a group, do you all often discuss bigger picture items or are the majority of meetings centered around administrative duties? This is a great way to get the board thinking about how their experience as a board member could be different with someone else in charge of the details, allowing them to focus more on their passion for the organization.

3.     Evaluate the financial pros and cons. If all tasks are currently managed by the board, hiring an AMC will take some hits to the budget. These hits, however, should be worth it. Once the AMC gets moving and fully takes over management, they will be able to look for efficiencies and ways to grow revenue. They are the experts when it comes to membership, event planning, marketing and communications, operations, and financial management and can ensure that things are being done successfully . This will also allow for the board to spend more of their time thinking of ways to market membership and events which will in turn, grow revenue. After explaining the benefit of this to the board, set a budget for how much you are willing to spend on an AMC.

4.     Define what you need. Once your board is on the same page, make sure that everyone feels comfortable and confident about the AMC that you choose. Discuss what is important to you all as a board and organization. Some things to consider when starting your search would be a size and culture fit, passion, transparency, multiple dedicated administrators to your account, and experience.

5.     Assign someone to lead the search. It is important to ensure there are not too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to the actual search. Although it is important to keep the board involved in the decision of making the switch, not everyone needs to be a part of the final decision of which AMC to go with. Many organizations going through this process assign the task of interviewing and hiring an AMC to the current President and President-Elect. Find what works for your organization but try to keep the process simple. This will keep things moving quicker and smoother.

By providing a clear outline of how to go about making the decision to move to an AMC and how to begin that search, your board will be more open to the idea. It is a lot easier to accept something when someone has done the leg work and preparation for the task at hand.

Engaging Young Professionals

The hot topic for associations right now is engaging young professionals. Younger generations are either not seeing the value in membership or do not have the extra income to pay for one. Christina McCoy with AMPED spoke to our group on how to involve young professionals and provide them the value they are looking for rather than just a generic membership.

Identify the problem. What is causing young professionals to stay clear of your association? Is there a void in education? Are there enough networking opportunities? Many young professionals have the perception of “This isn’t for me yet.”

Set some goals in place to change this mindset. Obtain better data on the audience, advocate for money in the budget to be dedicated to young professionals, and create a dialogue between young professionals and other members. This will help to immerse them more in the organization. It could also help to provide opportunities and resources specifically for the young professionals. Hold an educational session for young professionals by young professionals or host a young professional breakfast at your conference. This will allow the group to connect with one another easier.

Another way to get this demographic engaged is to restructure parts of the organization to include young professionals. Create a committee for young professionals or include a spot on the board for one. This will allow people who understand the upcoming generations better to be making the decisions on how to engage them.

When making these changes, it is important to have the proper execution. Make sure to stay flexible. Some ideas will work and others will not. Be ready to adjust when those plans do not go as planned. It can also be helpful to create a timeline or use a project management tool to ensure things are moving at the right speed. This initiative cannot be something that falls off the radar after a few months or any time spent on it will be wasted.

It is also important to evaluate the success of the efforts after they have been made. Come back to your initial goals and see how much progress has been made. It might be as simple as noting engagement from young professionals on social media or tracking the increase of attendance from young professionals to the organization’s events. Any progress is something to be excited about but it is important to maintain the efforts moving forward. There will always be a new group with new challenges that you are trying to involve more in the association.