Forum - October 2009

More passive marketing tools, including paid search advertising, online ads and social networking, were ranked as effective by less than 1 percent of respondents.

• Discounting first-year dues is the most effective membership recruitment incentive. Based on their renewal rates, associations’ most successful recruitment offers involve first-year dues discounts, which also stimulate future renewals, as 75 percent of associations offering new-member dues discounts have renewal rates of more than 80 percent.

• A highly personal approach to new member on-boarding might help retain new members. Of associations’ top 10 most cited “on-boarding” techniques for new members — mailed welcome kits, e-mail welcomes, membership cards, volunteer or staff welcome calls, invitations to chapter meetings, new-member surveys, in-person new-member receptions, special discounts on purchases, custom new-member e-mail follow-ups and new-member newsletters — those that are considered “high touch,” including volunteer welcome calls and new-member receptions, correlate with higher renewal rates.

• Continuing renewal contacts and services may improve renewal rates. When it comes to their renewal process, associations that “don’t stop contact” with expiring members are 83 percent more likely to have renewal rates of more than 80 percent than associations that stop contact early. Similarly, associations with longer grace periods are more likely to have higher renewals than those with short grace periods; in fact, groups that grace member benefits three or more months are nearly three times more likely to have renewal rates of more than 80 percent.

The Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey consisted of 37 questions, the answers to which are summarized in a free 40-page report that’s available at www. MarketingGeneral.com.

Nonprofits’
Top Training
Priorities

Most association executives agree: Training and education are key. What they’re less likely to agree on, however, is what type of training and education. To help them identify their education priorities, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Nonprofit Advancement recently asked executives from 91 D.C.-area organizations about their most pressing training needs.

According to the Center’s 2009 Training & Education Needs Assessment Survey Report, nonprofits indicate they’re most in need of training and education in: fund development, governance and public relations/marketing.

Based on self assessments — respondents were asked to rate the strength of their organization in several areas, the weakest ratings representing the greatest training needs — nonprofits are especially hungry for training on the following activities: