Does your membership org have a non-membership sustained giving program?

Erin Ellingwood

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

Joanne Felci 2

Wish I could be of some help


Our sustaining gift programs are tied to giving groups/membership model


Hope you are able to hear from an organization that has some information for you


Best of luck!


Joanne

Stephanie Morrill

This is our first year offering a monthly sustaining donation program that is separate from membership and it has been mildly successful but we feel worth it.  It is very easy to offer through the Altru program we use.  In the beginning there was slight confusion from members regarding their donation not being their membership renewal, but really no more than what our annual giving program generated.  

 

Lawrence Rush

We currently have a two-tier membership program that caters to bigger donors of $250.00+. We're trying to implement some sort of monthly giving circle at lower dollar amounts that will be treated like a giving club, but may provide some membership-type benefits. Still working out all of the details.

Becky Rine

Following this post with interest. While my organization isn't membership based, we do have a rewards-based incentive program for our alumni that might be able to offer enhanced tracking and reporting using this strategy.

Angie Stumpo

We are not a membership organization, but we do have a couple of small membership programs in addition to a monthly giving program. They operate very separately and generally cater to different audiences, so we don't see much affect one has on the other. Interestingly, we did just change our membership program to allow monthly payments ($25/month vs. $300 one-time payment) so we will see how that goes.


As a member of other organizations, I personally would see membership as separate from the monthly donation and I wouldn't give up my membership to become a monthly donor because of the benefits I receive as a member. Any monthly or other donation would be over and above my membership. I do think a good strategy to try would be when people sign up to be a member, ask them to become a monthly donor as well. Good luck!

Karen Tuecke

Wish we could help, but we do not have a membership program, but we do have sustained giving through monthly, recurring gifts. This can be done online or in paper format. Best wishes to you! -Karen

 

Lindsey Campbell 2

Erin Ellingwood:

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm following this thread as it's an interesting topic to me.

JoAnn Strommen

Sorry, no insights to share. Not a membership org using Convio. 


best wishes,

Mary Sommer

Hi,

We do not use Convio.  OUr memebrships are an annual renewal fee. We also include members in targeted appeals, such as end of year, or for a new exhibit.  We do allow memebrships for Corporations donating at a certain level. This ends up as a discounted membership for employees, on new memberships. There are not very many each year.  The Corporate benefits expire at the end of a year, after the gift date.


Mary Sommer



Erin Ellingwood:

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

Lisa Saneda

Erin Ellingwood:

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry I can't help you on this, Erin.  We keep membership and donations completely separate although we do have exceptions where if someone gives a large donation of artwork or cash, we will give them a mid to upper level membership for one year.  We don't do anything more than a year as accounting has to divide those funds over several different fiscal years.

 

Sunshine Reinken Watson

We don't have a program, but I'm interested to learn from this thread!

Joan Perry

Wish I could help...but hopefully as the "sustainer" model is gaining steam you'll be on the forefront or find others who are!

Jessica Wade

I agree with Angie Stumpo's comment above. Continue memberships and encourage monthly giving.


We aren't a membership-baased organization either, but we have Giving Societies ($1,000 and above). We are looking into Young Friends membership programs, but not there yet. We are a history of science organization, so our giving societies are (and future ones will likely be) named after scientitsts and scientific terms. Good luck!

Erin Ellingwood

Angie Stumpo:

We are not a membership organization, but we do have a couple of small membership programs in addition to a monthly giving program. They operate very separately and generally cater to different audiences, so we don't see much affect one has on the other. Interestingly, we did just change our membership program to allow monthly payments ($25/month vs. $300 one-time payment) so we will see how that goes.


As a member of other organizations, I personally would see membership as separate from the monthly donation and I wouldn't give up my membership to become a monthly donor because of the benefits I receive as a member. Any monthly or other donation would be over and above my membership. I do think a good strategy to try would be when people sign up to be a member, ask them to become a monthly donor as well. Good luck!

Thanks for your response, Angie! Many of our members also make at least one donation a year, which is separate and above and beyond their membership fee. But I really like your suggestion of encouraging folks to take that extra step when they sign up to be a member and become a monthly donor as well. I'd love to hear the results once your new monthly payment option for your membership program has been in operation for a while! I hope you'll share with the Community once the initial results are in. 


Thanks also to everyone else who's responded so far! It's encouraging to see that so many others are interested in this idea, too. I think Blackbaud might want to consider doing a future webinar on this specific topic!

Some additional information that might be helpful for the discussion: we do offer a special donor-member program for people who give $750 or more in a year. People who give at or above that $750 level receive membership benefits for one year, and they have the option of spreading their gift out over monthly payments. We call that monthly payment option our Sustainer Giving program, and it's the only track we offer that uses installment payments for donations and includes membership benefits. 

Courtney Bogunia

Wish I could help. We have a membership program but it's on it's own. 

Elaine Tucker

We have just started a monthly donor program, but do not use concur AND we also are incorporating membership levels to coincide with the donation levels. 

 

 

 

Megan Shackle

My organization does annual giving, membership and animal & garden sponsorship. We have a sustaining giving program, but it is solely based on membership. Because of the different programs, there is sometimes confusion. However, most people seem to get it. As long as your materials and website is clear in the seperation of your programs, I believe it will be fine. The first year, it may alightly impact your other programs as people figure out where they want their money to go, but we have seen that many of our sustainers give to our other programs throughout the year.

 

Shinnelle Bjorkgren

My company is not membership-based.  However, just a thought, but when I'm trying to donate to something, I usually prefer to be anonymous and I like when it's simple, no forms to fill out other than payment method.  I don't know how many others feel this way, but I think letting people just donate without a membership is good for at least a few potential donors.  Hope that helps, and good luck!

Laura Salfen

We do keep memberships and donations separate, though we are preparing to revamp and boost our sustainer giving program. I don't think that a sustainer program would negatively affect membership for us, as they are separate and our membership program is fairly strong, but it is something we should consider. Every so often we will have a donor call who thinks that a donation they made recently should include a membership, but that is rare (maybe 2-3 times per year). We don't use Convio but are Altru users. Hope all goes well your sustainer program! Please keep us updated!


 

Denise Covington

Erin Ellingwood:

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

I am not much help either, but one idea is to reach out to a few donors and ask what their thoughts are.  Donors like to be asked for their opinion and usually freely give it!  :)

Erin Ellingwood

Laura Salfen:

We do keep memberships and donations separate, though we are preparing to revamp and boost our sustainer giving program. I don't think that a sustainer program would negatively affect membership for us, as they are separate and our membership program is fairly strong, but it is something we should consider. Every so often we will have a donor call who thinks that a donation they made recently should include a membership, but that is rare (maybe 2-3 times per year). We don't use Convio but are Altru users. Hope all goes well your sustainer program! Please keep us updated!

 

Laura, it sounds like you guys are exactly the kind of org we were hoping to connect with (even if you don't use Convio)! It's encouraging that you only get confused donors asking about membership a few times a year--I should ask our membership folks how often that happens for us with our current model. I'd love to talk more with you about your plans and exchange some ideas. In the meantime, we'll share any updates we have about our efforts with the community--and I hope you'll do the same! 

Kendall Anderson

Erin Ellingwood:

We are a membership organization with a two-track model. We have several levels of membership that each have their own yearly membership fee. Separate from that, we also encourage people to make donations. What we don't offer is a combined donor-member option (where donations at or above a certain amount include a membership at no additional cost). This strategy has been in place for many, many years and will not be changing anytime soon. 


Here's our conundrum: we really want to start offering a sustained monthly giving option to our donors (which won't include membership), but we're not sure how it might impact our membership program. We have tried for months to find out any information on the following:

• Are there any other membership organizations using Convio that have implemented a sustained giving program that doesn't include membership?
• If so, what impact, if any, has it had on your membership program?

Our Customer Success Manager isn't aware of any such organizations among Convio's client list. Her suggestion was to reach out to the Community and ask, so here I am. Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

Our organization has a membership program that is separate from donations. We also offer an option for recurring gifts, and it hasn't had any impact on our membership program.  I have never heard any donors leave negative feedback about the membership not being included with a recurring gift, I've only had a couple of donors call to ask about it who gave to a specific campaign and assumed a membership was included.