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Membership trends: A word to the wise art museum

March 31, 2009

A fascinating report charting current trends in membership includes a rude wake-up call for art museums, where membership is declining–in marked contrast to other member-based agencies (including associations, conservation groups, aquaria and zoos).

Maybe it turns out that increasing your door price 50% (a la the Art Institute of Chicago) isn’t, after all, a way to get people to say, “Might as well get a membership,” but instead a way to get people to say, “Those bleepers!  Bleep them–let’s go to the zoo.”

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Membership Totals

When comparing 2008 to 2007, the largest percentage of responders, 48.7%, stated that they ended the year with more members than the previous year, and 10.5% stated that membership totals “stayed the same.” Less than half (42.1%) stated that membership totals had decreased.

Membership Revenues

From the revenue perspective, membership departments fared even better: 59.2% stated that membership revenues were up in 2008 over 2007 while 14.5% stated that membership revenues “stayed the same.” The percentage that reported revenues decreasing from year to year was 37.5%.

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Pulse of Membership by Sector

The most interesting results emerged from comparing sectors of the membership world. The categories of respondents included Museums, Conservation/Nature-related organizations, Associations and Zoos and Aquariums. The difference in responses by sectors was significant and very telling. In general, Associations, Zoos and Aquariums, Science Museums, Conservation/Nature organizations, and “Other” types of membership organizations reported much more positive membership results compared to Art and History Museums. Respondents totaling 80% of Associations and Conservation/Nature organizations reported greater membership totals in 2008, as did 61.5% of Botanical Gardens, 58.3% of Zoos and Aquariums, and 53.8% of Science Museums and “Other” membership organizations. Only 33.9% of Art Museums and 44.4% of History Museums reported greater membership totals in 2008. Art Museums reported fewer members at a rate of 51.8%, and 61.1% of History Museums reported fewer members in 2008 as well.

On the revenue side, all types of membership organizations, except Art Museums, reported greater membership revenues in 2008 than in 2007. While all other membership organizations reported greater revenues (76.9% of Botanical Gardens and Science Museums, and 72.2% of Zoos and Botanical Gardens), only 41.1% of Art Museums reported higher revenues.

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Over half of Botanical Gardens, Science Museums, Zoo and Aquariums, Associations and Conservation/Nature organizations reported attracting more members in 2008 than in 2007. Art Museums (40%) and History Museums (50%) attracted fewer members in 2008 than in 2007.

If you would like to receive the full tabulation of survey responses, email your request to info@membership-consultants.com.

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Posted in Arts Organizations, Earned income, Finances, Marketing, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Dear Nonprofiteer, Isn’t Oprah omnipotent?

March 13, 2009

Dear Nonprofiteer,

I’m wondering if you saw the Chicago Tribune story last week about the billboards erected by the organization SmileTrain to “solicit” Oprah Winfrey and what your reaction is. Since I am writing, it’s clear that I think there is a problem here. It’s clearly a clever campaign in that, although it failed to win a donation from Oprah, it has attracted the attention of passers-by and of the media. But at the same time, isn’t it bad fundraising practice and bordering on unethical?

Signed, Taken Aback

Dear Taken,

I’m not sure I see an ethical problem, exactly: if a billboard were addressed to a regular person (“Hey, Kelly Kleiman you stingy bitch, why don’t you give more money to SmileTrain?”), that might be an invasion of privacy; but Oprah is pretty much a public figure, and there’s no particular reason she shouldn’t be importuned by billboards as well as discussed in the tabloids.

What’s wrong with the approach is that it suggests a single wealthy individual is responsible for satisfying the fundraising needs of this agency.  If fundraising consultants in Chicago had a nickel for every time a client said, “Why don’t we ask Oprah?” they’d be able to support all their favorite charities forever.  But of course Oprah–and Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs, and Michael Jordan, and Robert Redford, and every other celebrity–has charitable priorities of her own, and any agency that doesn’t happen to fit into them is not going to attract the celebrity’s support simply by virtue of waving a big flag.

Fundraising takes place in concentric circles: your biggest supporters are the people who are closest to you, your Board of Directors and others directly touched by the services you provide.  If someone on the SmileTrain Board of Directors knew Oprah personally and could ask for her support, that’s different; but to pick her name out of the newspaper, just because it’s in the newspaper, as someone who should support the group is just pure laziness masquerading as fundraising planning.

And yes, there may be an argument to be made that laziness in fundraising planning is tantamount to an ethical violation; but do we really need to go there?  The point is: SmileTrain should solicit support based on its mission from people with whom it has or can create some connection.  Buying a billboard to announce that it has no connection with a celebrity, but still feels entitled to her assistance, just makes the agency look desperate.

I’d be interested in hearing you articulate the ethical concerns to which you refer, and in hearing SmileTrain articulate its rationale for the billboard.  Of course, if the first rule of public relations is, “Say what you like about me as long as you spell my name right,” then the agency has already accomplished its purpose, and its rationale–to get its name mentioned–is clear.

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Posted in Boards of Directors, Current Affairs, Disease charities, Fundraising, Health care, International, Management Advice Day tip, Marketing, Mission, Nonprofits--General, Private Philanthropy, Relations with funders | 3 Comments »

Of kids and dogs

March 10, 2009

Obviously the Nonprofiteer has been in the business too long, because the press release below–trumpeting an uptick in aid to charities serving Indian children in the wake of Slumdog Millionaire–made her think of nothing so much as the “101 Dalmatians syndrome” dog-lovers mention to explain their dismay that the Obamas are getting a Portuguese water dog.

The dog-lovers fear people will be inspired to copy the First Family’s choice of dog and then abandon the animals when they prove to be too much trouble.  The Nonprofiteer fears that people will be inspired to support children’s charities in India this week and then abandon them when some equally photogenic opportunity emerges next week or month–abandoning the Indian children, in other words, when they prove to be too much trouble.

On the other hand, when she heard the dog-lovers’ plaint she thought, “Oh, get a life!”  Dog adoption on balance is a social good, and shouldn’t be discouraged just because some people who engage in it probably shouldn’t (much like parenthood).

Likewise, donations to children’s charities in India are a social good, and shouldn’t be discouraged just because they won’t continue forever.  What we hope is that people who adopt dogs grow into the responsibilities that go with pet ownership, and that at least some of the people who turn their attention to Indian orphans on a whim will grow to understand the causes of their poverty and thus to support the means necessary to alleviate it.  (Prominent among those necessary means: not just consistent individual giving but an increase in the U.S. foreign aid budget.)

And meanwhile, UNICEF (along with the charities cited below) will be glad of any and all contributions, no matter how passing the fancy which produces them.

CAFAMERICA: SUCCESS OF “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE” IS AIDING CHARITIES

Oscar-Winning Film Inspires a Boost in Donations to Groups Working With India’s Children; CAFAmerica Offers Simple Means By Which to Target Donations to Best Programs In India.

ALEXANDRIA, VA///March 3, 2008///The Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” – depicting the often dire circumstances faced by children in poverty in India – has sparked interest in charities that target the problem, according to CAFAmerica, which promotes borderless charitable giving as part of the CAF International Network that spans six continents and has over $4 billion of charitable funds under management.

CAFAmerica CEO Susan Saxon-Harrold said: “Individuals and organizations that have been touched by ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ should consider donating to aid Indian children. I have seen the excellent work by charities working in the slums in Mumbai. These charities are making a huge impact on the health, welfare and education of children living in poverty with very little by way of resources. The success of the film has thrown a positive spotlight on their efforts. We advise donors on how best to get involved in giving to India as well as how to make donations safely to get the best impact. As well as working with individuals we work with CAF India to help corporations with their corporate community involvement goals in the region.”

According to an estimate by UNICEF, there are currently 11 million children living on the streets of India, many of whom have fled abuse or mistreatment at home.

The film “Slumdog Millionaire” has inspired a boost in donations to the following children’s charities:

* Railway Children (http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/) reports that has experienced 10 times as many hits on its Web site as normal and is witnessing a new wave of donations. Based in India, Railway Children established its first charity project in India in 1996, working with local third sector organizations to address the problem of homelessness. Chief executive Terina Keene has been quoted as saying: “We just hope that this marvelous film will help put us at the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to helping the charity. The children on the streets of India desperately need our help.”

* SOS Children’s Villages of India (http://www.soscvindia.org/soswebsite/index.php) is a non-profit, non-government, voluntary organization, committed to the care of children in need. The aim and objective of SOS-India is to provide long term family based care to parentless, homeless and abandoned children and to strengthen disadvantaged families as a preventive measure against abandonment and social neglect of children. Since its inception in 1964, SOS-India has expanded its services for children at a rapid pace.

* Save the Children, India (http://www.savethechildren.in/index.html) is an independent member of the International Save the Children Alliance. The organization fights for children’s rights and delivers immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives in India. Save the Children has existed in India since pre-independence days and is currently working in 11 states and union territories of India.

Both SOS Children’s Villages and Save the Children, India have reported an increase in donors and sponsors in the wake of the release of the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

Individuals and organizations that wish to rely upon the knowledge and due-diligence capacity of CAFAmerica to investigate these and other overseas charities at http://www.cafamerica.org/cafa/SearchModule/NpPublicProfileSearch.aspx, can donate to help Indian children by going to CAFAmerica Home page and clicking the donate Now button
at http://www.cafamerica.org/dnn/Home/DonateNow/tabid/148/Default.aspx.

CAFAmerica helps companies, family and community foundations, and individuals to manage their international philanthropy efforts and strengthen charitable activity around the world. It also advises on fundraising and grantmaking, allows online account management and provides an online giving mechanism for nonprofits to place on their websites.

ABOUT CAFAMERICA

CAFAmerica was founded in 1992 as a member organization of the London-based CAF International Network, which provides charitable financial services to nonprofits, individuals and companies. The CAF International Network spans six continents and has over $4 billion of charitable funds under management.

CAFAmerica is dedicated to expanding borderless charitable giving by providing guidance and international grant making options for donors. CAFAmerica’s range of innovative charitable solutions for US donors and overseas nonprofits include Donor Advised Gifts, Donor Advised Funds, Matching Donor Advised Fund and most recently, the ‘Friends of’ Charity Fund.

CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, in the US, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com; and Fiona Fountain, in the UK, +44 1892 544035 or fiona@fionafountain.co.uk.

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Posted in Advocacy groups, Current Affairs, Fundraising, International, Marketing, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Poverty, Private Philanthropy, Public private partnerships | Leave a Comment »

Nonprofit storytelling done right

March 6, 2009

Here’s a really terrific example of nonprofit storytelling, from the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.  It talks about the community and its needs, then makes a neat pivot to talk about how its programs help that community and fulfill those needs.  Bonus points for highlighting the Y’s collaboration with two other agencies–catnip to donors who view collaboration as insurance against duplication of social-service effort (and therefore against wastes of money).

For an agency like the Y, whose physical-fitness methods have nearly obscured its social-service roots, such storytelling is all the more important.  The message delivered to the e-mailboxes of its members, many of whom come and go from spin class without giving the place a second thought:  if you think the Y is just a cheap place to work out, think again.

Bravo.

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Posted in Marketing, Mission, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Social Service Agencies | Leave a Comment »

Dear Nonprofiteer, Is there a Rosetta Stone for nonprofits?

March 5, 2009

Dear Nonprofiteer,

I just joined a big social-service agency as a development associate, which means I’m charged with doing a lot of our development writing: grant proposals, the annual report, fundraising appeal letters to individuals. Naturally, this means I need to understand the work of our agency, which does everything from credit counseling to teaching English as a second language.

I’ve been meeting with the heads of the various programs, but so far the conversations have been like something in a foreign language: “Our FTEs are up but ESL enrollment is down” or “We’ve got to teach KSEs and demonstrate progress under Section 90.” How on earth am I supposed to understand that, let alone write about it?

Signed, New in Town

Dear New:

Let me suggest that you get hold of a new book called “Seeing Through A Donor’s Eyes,” by Tom Ahern. A big fan of plain English, Ahern describes the use of jargon as one of four “veils” with which nonprofits conceal how important and exciting they really are. Let him tell it: he pulls no punches.

Allowing jargon into your case is a faux pas. It’s a mildly disgusting habit, something you don’t do in front of guests, like flossing at the dinner table.

Here’s a United Way of my acquaintance explaining itself: “Our awareness and efforts now focus on community impact goals, and how we feed into that. In other words,” [my emphasis added], “our work has become driven more by mission than by function. We need the multi-pronged approach to move public will, and there has been an exponential benefit of working more closely and in concert.”

In other words? This writer needs help. Real “other words” would have said something obvious like, “We’ve changed the way we do things. We hope to get better results this way. Our first attempt was a big success.”

Read the book, and then (0r even meanwhile) walk into your next meeting with the program people and say, “I can’t tell the world how important your work is if I don’t understand it; and I can’t understand it if you use buzz-words or acronyms or terms of art.  So please tell me what you do in plain English.”  Then feel free to stop them every sentence or so and say, “What does that mean?”  Often, program people simply don’t remember that they’re speaking in jargon; reminding them is your job.

The key to success here is that you not mind looking like an idiot.  (No one with any brains will think ill of you for asking to be educated about what you don’t know; but that doesn’t mean you won’t encounter people who give you attitude when you ask them questions.) Remember: it doesn’t matter how YOU look; it matters how the agency looks.

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Posted in Advocacy, Fundraising, Management Advice Day tip, Marketing, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Social Service Agencies | Leave a Comment »

Ah, the humanities!

March 2, 2009

The Nonprofiteer hardly knows what to say about the argument that the humanities must justify themselves economically or die out.  The humanities (or the liberal arts, or non-vocational education–whatever term is current) teach people to read and evaluate arguments so they can make decisions.  Is there some more useful skill than that, in the economic realm or elsewhere?

Which means that Professor Kronman’s blithe concession in the article that study of the humanities may inevitably become a luxury constitutes a rich man’s indifference to everyone else’s needs.  Doubtless he simply means to be provocative–this is, after all, the same good professor who infuriated the Nonprofiteer in a long-ago Contracts class by arguing for the enforceability of slavery.

But let’s not be so quick to give up on the idea that everyone should be taught to read and write.  If humanities professors can’t manage to make that argument, without stooping to “It adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to your lifetime earning potential,” they should get new jobs.

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Posted in Coverage of nonprofits, Current Affairs, Education, Higher education, Marketing, Mission, Poverty | 2 Comments »

On-line auction in the public interest

February 16, 2009

Regular reader Professor Anita Bernstein writes to point out a sign of the times:

“There’s now a cross between Goodwill and eBay to sell & buy stuff, the first ever nonprofit online auction site: www.shopgoodwillcom.

It makes sense in a straitened economy that people should do their on-line auction shopping at second-hand stores, and it makes even more sense that the second-hand stores of choice should be those benefiting charities.  Thanks for bringing this new pro bono shopping opportunity to light.

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Posted in Current Affairs, Earned income, Fundraising, Marketing, Nonprofits--General, Poverty, Social Service Agencies | 2 Comments »

Friday Supplemental: A request of readers

January 23, 2009

The Nonprofiteer would be grateful if each of her readers would Google “Nonprofiteer” and then click the X (for “remove from results”) next to the entry whose headline reads “Shiver Me Timbers.”  If enough people do this, “Shiver”–a site pirate whose decision to squat at the Nonprofiteer’s old Web address makes it difficult for people to find her current site–will be removed from all Google searches for “Nonprofiteer,” and order and stability will be restored to the blogging universe.

Thanks to all who can spare a few minutes to do this.

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Posted in Coverage of nonprofits, Current Affairs, Marketing | 7 Comments »

Dear Nonprofiteer, I hear tough times don’t last and tough nonprofits do, but I doubt it

January 22, 2009

Dear Nonprofiteer,

I’m in the unenviable position of Executive Director of an agency serving ex-cons.  We help them find housing, support services and jobs–though all three are in incredibly short supply right now.  And so, of course, are funds to keep us going.

Here’s my problem: whenever I tell donors how desperate we are, I get a sob story about how desperate THEY are.  (The next person who tells me he simply doesn’t read his 401K statement is getting a swift kick in the pants.) It’s obvious these people have money; they just don’t want to share it with us.  What’s your advice?

Signed, Getting Conned on Two Sides

Dear Con:

First, my advice is to get the chip off your shoulder.  If you’re no longer able to bring commitment and enthusiasm to your work, that’s an infectious disease that will soon lay low your entire organization.  Maybe you just need a weekend off–how long’s it been since you’ve had that?  Take a day or two, and then come back ready to rumble with the problem rather than with people who constitute the solution.

Second, remember this: people don’t give to agencies they think are desperate; they give to agencies they think are successful.  Of course they understand that you need resources, and of course they want to be assured that you’re not wasting those resources on wine, women and song; but beyond that, they don’t want to be asked to feel sorry for you.  In the current economy, they’re too busy feeling sorry for themselves.

It may be accurate to say, “Without your $100, we won’t be able to house our clients tonight.”  But it’s just as accurate, and twice as effective, to say, “With your $100, tonight Charles and David will have a place to sleep and access first thing tomorrow morning to telephones and computers to continue their search for a job.”  As the song says, “Ac-cen-tu-ate the positive . . .”

Finally, talk about Charles and David–not about “clients” or “the men” or (God forbid!) “ex-cons.”  People like to hear–more, people NEED to hear–concrete stories about actual individuals who’ve been helped in specific ways by your program.  “When Charles showed up in November, he was really pretty desperate.  But we helped him put together some decent job-hunting clothes and he went through our interview workshop, and he found a job at the Pick n Save.  Now he’s working on his G.E.D. at nights.”  If you can, figure out whether the prospective donor’s $100 would underwrite those same services for James, who sleeps in the next bed.  Make it real for your listener.

And really, really finally: of course you feel resentful of people who are actually well off yet complain about their financial circumstances.  But these people are genuinely shaky about their long-term financial futures, as are we all.  You can acknowledge their concerns–and share them, putting yourself in their corner–without accepting those concerns as a refusal of your pitch: “I know, it’s the same with me.  Even those of us who have education and assets and jobs are feeling nervous; so you can imagine what it must be like for people who are on the edge to begin with.  Anything you can spare will make an enormous difference,” and then offer a specific.

There’s never a good time to be poor; but in a tough economy it’s easier for the well-off to identify with the poor and therefore be motivated to assist them.  Why do you think Social Security passed during the Depression?  If this be Depression II, let’s make the most of it!

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Posted in Current Affairs, Executive Directors, Fundraising, Housing, Management Advice Day tip, Marketing, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Poverty, Private Philanthropy, Relations with funders, Social Service Agencies | 2 Comments »

Mathoms for charity

December 12, 2008

Those of you who’ve read Lord of the Rings and its progeny are familiar with mathoms–gifts that make the rounds in a group of acquaintances because, frankly, no one really wants them.  Now there’s a way to make use of the archetypal holiday mathom, the fruitcake.

It’s a partnership between PayPal and Facebook, which have recruited some celebrities to lead the way in sending 10 “virtual fruitcakes” to friends on Facebook, with a message urging people to donate through PayPal and/or send virtual fruitcakes of their own to encourage their friends to participate in holiday charitable giving.  Best tech twist: a map showing the voyages of your mathom.

Details at regiftthefruitcake.com, though you need a Facebook account to explore the entire application.

Away, away with rum, by gum . . .

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Posted in Benefit events, Fundraising, Marketing, Nonprofit management, Nonprofits--General, Private Philanthropy, Relations with funders | Leave a Comment »

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