We mentioned the membership price increase in our member newsletter (goes to all members) about a month before it happened. We also used it in our renewal messaging for about 2 months prior to the increase (our first renewal notice arrives approx 10 weeks before expiration). Finally, we sent out an email to members whose membership had lapsed in the past year encouraging them to come back before we increased prices about a month in advance of the price increase. Other than these communications, we did not advertise the increase (i.e. no website announcements, press releases, etc).

If you’d like to talk further, I can be contacted at jeff [dot] stern [at] ncmls [dot] org

What’s great for performing arts organizations though is that they can generate revenue from an individual from both ticket sales and membership whereas museum’s lose ticket revenue from the individual once they become a member. Granted, membership dues can generate more revenue than ticket sales.

Also the model for museums is that its membership is both a subscription with benefits for unique experiences that the general public won’t receive. What’s great about a museum membership is that you can join any time and there is no limit to how many subscribers the organization can have. But the members best experience from their membership will be blowing through the front door without paying admission.

Museum membership programs are becoming out of date, particularly with the growth of social networks where everyone can join and all is equal. Online you don’t find a tiered relationship between friends. And no one is excluded from any of the applications. Because of this the current generation will have different expectations when it comes to its relationship with non-profit organizations.

A good example from the article is the benefit of watching a conservator restore a painting. Why should we exclude non-members from watching the conservator preserve a work of art? Why not post the conservationist’s process online to engage someone with the organization in a powerful way that providing free admission will never do? Excluding people from these opportunities will only make the organization seem elitist and unwelcoming when many other parts of the art world is free and open.

Now is a good time to rethink what the goal of membership is and how to best frame that to continue engaging older generations while making it attractive to the next generation of donors.

You are singing my tune! Your comparisons to professional basketball are right on the money from my pespective. We at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra often draw inspiration from our friends in the sports world. Some of our brand makeover strategy can be directly attributed to things one would see in an NBA arena and NFL stadium. Same with the way we package our concert tickets and promote our individual musicians and orchestra in our marketing materials. Our goal is to create accessibility, familiarity, loyalty and retention. If we’re able to achieve this by borrowing some “plays” from an NBA or NFL playbook, then I’m all for it.

I agree with getting creative, and also think that great member benefits aren’t necessarily best kept as exclusive for members. A couple of years ago, I started letting members know in our email updates which days had the busiest school group visitation in the upcoming weeks. Lots of people said that this was one of the best perks of being a member. Rather than keep it just for members, we added it to our website.

While we do some behind-the-scenes tours, and they are usually available only to members, we do generally charge extra for these (http://takeyourcustomertowork.com/ will be a rare exception). However, we’ve tried to do more behind-the-scenes online, such as the addition of our Animal Department blog to connect members (or casual visitors) more directly to our animals while teaching them about the work of the keepers.

Then again, being a science center in a smaller metro area, perhaps we’re more akin to the minor league baseball team our city is famous for than the NBA teams you’re talking about (and therefore have had to develop a more grassroots and hands-on membership experience) ;-)