Making the most of memberships
As a non-profit organisation you play a vital role in the support of individual and corporate members, whether you are a trade or professional association, a charity or an organisation focused on areas such as recreation, health and education.
UK non-profit organisations face some straightforward yet hugely significant challenges. They ask us – how can we safeguard, and even expand, the levels of membership that we currently enjoy by creating more interaction with our members? And how can we do this in a way that enables us to stay in control of the process in the face of growing time and cost pressures?
With over twenty years’ experience of working in the sector, we have the answers to these questions. Our customers engage us confidently, recognising that our approach to meeting their needs is based on understanding, empathy and proven expertise.
Perhaps you have historically been the principal focal point for members in your field. Yet with a proliferation of alternative membership providers, as well as greater focus by individuals and corporate entities on value for money, that luxury is increasingly threatened. As a result, you recognise the need to become more commercial in your approach to developing and sustaining a healthy membership database.
Demonstrating a commitment to providing added value has also become a key driver in managing membership services. To do so you need to get closer to your members, encourage greater levels of interaction with individuals and so achieve your overriding objective – to secure new and ongoing subscriptions and member loyalty.
Your members expect this interaction to be provided in several ways. . The Internet, email, telephone and surface mail are all mediums required through which you need toto exchange relevant and timely information. These are the channels through which you can enhance the benefits of membership by:
• Facilitating discussion groups
• Promoting and co-ordinating events
• Providing information and updates on industry or profession issues
• Simplifying the process of renewing subscriptions and making donations
• Encouraging continuous professional development through centre and distance learning
These valuable benefits may be a means of securing new and existing subscriptions, but providing them impacts on the resources you have available. Perhaps your manual paper or spreadsheet-based systems make it impossible to retrieve the information you need quickly enough. Maybe your disparate IT systems are unable to present a clear profile of each member’s requests and payment history, or allow you to co-ordinate event management without causing an administrative headache. Perhaps your existing membership management software simply isn’t up to scratch.
Whatever your reason for seeking a system capable of satisfying your operational and member serving needs, 3Si offers a cost-effective, versatile and highly flexible solution in which you can have absolute confidence. Our functionally rich and modular package, openmarket, addresses critical management demands, whilst our consultative project management approach ensures smooth implementation, training and ongoing support.
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