This question isn't Tessitura specific, but Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 I’m wondering if anybody here has experience taking a membership program where members renew at any point in the calendar year, most commonly ~12 months from the date of the individual’s previous donation, and converting it into a program where the entire membership would renew at the same time each year. I'm talking about the whole membership ecosystem here.
Specifically, I'm looking for concerns and suggestions on the transition period, and what impact that shift had on the program’s performance (short-term and long-term).
If you have anything that you would be willing to share, I would be most appreciative!
From: "Barrett Shaver" <bounce-barrettshaver9004@tessituranetwork.com>To: bvarro@smm.orgSent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 3:37:11 PMSubject: [Tessitura Development Forum] Converting a membership program's renewal dateThis question isn't Tessitura specific, but Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 I’m wondering if anybody here has experience taking a membership program where members renew at any point in the calendar year, most commonly ~12 months from the date of the individual’s previous donation, and converting it into a program where the entire membership would renew at the same time each year. I'm talking about the whole membership ecosystem here. Specifically, I'm looking for concerns and suggestions on the transition period, and what impact that shift had on the program’s performance (short-term and long-term). If you have anything that you would be willing to share, I would be most appreciative! --View this message online at http://www.tessituranetwork.com/COMMUNITY/forums/p/2719/9261.aspx#9261 or reply to this message--This message was sent automatically to you by www.tessituranetwork.com because you subscribed to the Tessitura Development Forum. You may reply to this message to post to the Development forum or visit the site to search, read and post to the forums. In the interest of keeping the forum posts from becoming cluttered, we encourage you to delete previous message text from your reply before sending. Thank you! Spam Not spam Forget previous vote
We have just done the opposite: we took a couple of static date membership organizations (individual and corporate) and converted into one rolling date membership organization!
I set up the new membership organization and ran a query (after lots of testing, of course) to copy the current membership of the old membership organizations into the new organization, using the initial gift of the membership as the initiation date and a year later as the expiration date. I then (by query) deactivated the old memberships.
Because we are not using the same membership organization, standard reports looking at renewal rates aren’t really applicable; but we weren’t using those reports anyway. We are using membership as a way to tell us when people want to be solicited for contributions.
I have had to do some manual adjustments on a few memberships (perhaps my query didn’t pick the appropriate gift as the first gift), and in a few cases have moved contribution history (again, by query) from the deactivated membership to the new one.
If you decide to go the “create a new membership based on an old one” route, I’d be happy to share my query.
Lucie
--------------------------------
Lucie Spieler
IT Development and Training Manager
Editor, Season Program
-----------------------------
Florida Grand Opera
8390 NW 25th Street, Miami, FL 33122
Phone: 305-854-1643 x 1521
Fax: 305-856-1042
Ticket Office: 800-741-1010
www.FGO.org
From: "Lucie Spieler" <bounce-luciespieler8144@tessituranetwork.com>To: bvarro@smm.orgSent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:57:14 PMSubject: RE: [Tessitura Development Forum] Converting a membership program's renewal date We have just done the opposite: we took a couple of static date membership organizations (individual and corporate) and converted into one rolling date membership organization! I set up the new membership organization and ran a query (after lots of testing, of course) to copy the current membership of the old membership organizations into the new organization, using the initial gift of the membership as the initiation date and a year later as the expiration date. I then (by query) deactivated the old memberships. Because we are not using the same membership organization, standard reports looking at renewal rates aren’t really applicable; but we weren’t using those reports anyway. We are using membership as a way to tell us when people want to be solicited for contributions. I have had to do some manual adjustments on a few memberships (perhaps my query didn’t pick the appropriate gift as the first gift), and in a few cases have moved contribution history (again, by query) from the deactivated membership to the new one. If you decide to go the “create a new membership based on an old one” route, I’d be happy to share my query. Lucie -------------------------------- Lucie Spieler IT Development and Training Manager Editor, Season Program ----------------------------- Florida Grand Opera 8390 NW 25th Street, Miami, FL 33122 Phone: 305-854-1643 x 1521 Fax: 305-856-1042 Ticket Office: 800-741-1010 www.FGO.org Spam Not spam Forget previous vote This message was sent automatically to you by www.tessituranetwork.com because you subscribed to the Tessitura Development Forum. You may reply to this message to post to the Development forum or visit the site to search, read and post to the forums. In the interest of keeping the forum posts from becoming cluttered, we encourage you to delete previous message text from your reply before sending. Thank you!
We actually tried this a few years ago, we had a new Finance Director come in and decided that things would be so much more tidy if everyone gave at the same time. For all the reasons that Beth has outlined, it never really worked. We had to "grandfather" all those people who had already given within the past 6 months and attempted to renew the rest early. These people were resistant, so we allowed that a pledge entered now, with payment coming on their usual donation date would suffice. We also had the problem that one of our major benefits, early ordering for the next season, comes into play right after the beginning of our fiscal year. Once that was past we had a difficult time persuading new Members to join. All in all it proved to be a very bad idea for our organization and we quietly reverted to our previous system which creates an expiry date 11 months after the end of the month of the donation (for new Members) and 12 months after that as they renew. We also allow a three month grace (lapsed) period where we continue to give Membership privileges. This system has been working well for at least fifteen years, maybe longer.
Thank you, everybody, for sharing your experiences and thoughts on this. Our jury is still out on our conclusion here. We're changing our performance schedule to a full year-round model in a couple of years, so I feel we need to wait until that model is in place and we've seen how our audience reacts before implementing any significant changes in renewal structure. However, just thinking through this now has been helpful in identifying things to look for as we approach and launch our programming changes.
Thanks again...
I also once did the opposite at Montalvo Arts Center-- moved to the regular 12 month membership cycle from the model you're proposing.
While it made renewal appeals much simpler when there was just one expiration date for all, it was certainly easier for people to understand when they got a membership for a full year instead of 4 or 6 months.
I'm wondering what advantages SFJazz is hoping for.