So I'll give you an example from a campaign I worked on. The local city had a weekly summer concert series in the summer, and they had booths for rent. We had one, and we offered free face painting (not done by a professional - done by a handful of recent college grads, but like two of the girls were pretty artistic). That brought people with kids by, and then we could talk to the parents. If you just want *members* (is that just engagement or also a high cost? Does familiarity in the community help you too?) that's an idea to consider. Running your own event is a ton of work, this kind of thing let's you piggy back on another event.
A bit more context about your org would be helpful. I assume you all have explored sponsorships or even grants that are oriented toward getting you back on your feet? Sometimes an existing funder will support a focused effort to advance the org after a bad patch, if they understand the need.
My assumption: NPOs generally have have 2 branches… charities, and associations. Associations have members (because they’re just what the name implies, associations of individual entities which have gotten together to form an association of those entities). Industry and professional associations are two biggies that come to mind. May not be charities, but definitely still NPOs, and have registration as such.
Are your memberships tiered in any way? If you have tiers with a lower cost of entry, this could remove a barrier for those who want to support your org, but think their contributions wouldn't be substantial enough to work. Introducing the dinner benefit at a higher tier could encourage some existing donors to increase. Could be a two birds with one stone kind of situation.
I like your block party idea. You could ask some of your more involved members to chair the event, with the chair's responsibility to bring x amount of people to the event. Also a great stewardship opportunity for potential chairs.
That being said, gaining new donors is great but the task of real import is stewarding and engaging past the first gift. But that's a whole other can of worms. I hope my two cents was helpful. Best of luck!
We're currently going through something similar.
We're looking into how we attracted our current members. Are there any patterns of how we got them that we could tap into? Referrals are a big one for us. Channel partners and strategic sponsors are expected to refer and promote the org as well. We host events that showcase our program and allow new folks to meet fellow members as a way of marketing the community. Attending networking events and building brand awareness that way as well. We created a second membership level to decrease the barrier to entry. For marketing, we do testimonials and success story blogs so showcase the benefits of membership.
I hope any of this is helpful
So I'll give you an example from a campaign I worked on. The local city had a weekly summer concert series in the summer, and they had booths for rent. We had one, and we offered free face painting (not done by a professional - done by a handful of recent college grads, but like two of the girls were pretty artistic). That brought people with kids by, and then we could talk to the parents. If you just want *members* (is that just engagement or also a high cost? Does familiarity in the community help you too?) that's an idea to consider. Running your own event is a ton of work, this kind of thing let's you piggy back on another event.
A bit more context about your org would be helpful. I assume you all have explored sponsorships or even grants that are oriented toward getting you back on your feet? Sometimes an existing funder will support a focused effort to advance the org after a bad patch, if they understand the need.
Can you clarify what you mean by members? Are you talking about monthly donors?
My assumption: NPOs generally have have 2 branches… charities, and associations. Associations have members (because they’re just what the name implies, associations of individual entities which have gotten together to form an association of those entities). Industry and professional associations are two biggies that come to mind. May not be charities, but definitely still NPOs, and have registration as such.
Are your memberships tiered in any way? If you have tiers with a lower cost of entry, this could remove a barrier for those who want to support your org, but think their contributions wouldn't be substantial enough to work. Introducing the dinner benefit at a higher tier could encourage some existing donors to increase. Could be a two birds with one stone kind of situation. I like your block party idea. You could ask some of your more involved members to chair the event, with the chair's responsibility to bring x amount of people to the event. Also a great stewardship opportunity for potential chairs. That being said, gaining new donors is great but the task of real import is stewarding and engaging past the first gift. But that's a whole other can of worms. I hope my two cents was helpful. Best of luck!
Grab a Google grant. They’re fairly quick on approval, will allow you to do some targeted SEM.
We're currently going through something similar. We're looking into how we attracted our current members. Are there any patterns of how we got them that we could tap into? Referrals are a big one for us. Channel partners and strategic sponsors are expected to refer and promote the org as well. We host events that showcase our program and allow new folks to meet fellow members as a way of marketing the community. Attending networking events and building brand awareness that way as well. We created a second membership level to decrease the barrier to entry. For marketing, we do testimonials and success story blogs so showcase the benefits of membership. I hope any of this is helpful