In a previous blog post, I wrote about the work that we did with the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) around membership recruitment and retention. The primary audience for our efforts was one that associations can easily overlook: former members. While there likely was a reason why members decided not to renew their membership, there also was a reason that compelled them to join in the first place. Because of that, reaching out to these former members and asking them to return to the organization can have a stronger impact than simply making a pitch to a new list of prospects.
ASA’s recruitment success was featured in a March 2012 story that appeared in FORUM Magazine. To read the story, click here.
~ Post by Mike Norbut, Managing Consultant
In the world of associations, some universes, or pools of membership prospects, are easier to quantify. A medical association, for example, has a clearly defined set of professionals that it hopes to recruit. It’s every association’s goal to achieve as close to 100% market share as possible – in other words, compelling every professional in your universe to join your organization. The ability to appeal to every professional is not only a mark of leadership and prestige, but it also translates into more revenue as that penetration rate increases. But how do you separate your low-hanging fruit from your membership challenges? With a limited budget, is it worth it to pursue certain prospects if you’re not confident in the returns?
Within every collection of non-members, you are bound to have former members, prospects who have had contact with your organization and other professionals who represent “the rest” of your universe. While the middle group represents a custom-made membership opportunity, opinions vary on the first and last groups. On one hand, former members had been a part of the “family,” but chose to leave for some (often unknown) reason, leaving the question of whether it’s worth it to try to change their mind. On the other hand, never members represent that untapped membership reservoir, but information about these prospects can be limited.
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How are you feeling about the economy? For the past two years, McKinley has tracked the association community as it has faced unprecedented layoffs, budget cuts, declining memberships and dwindling reserves. Our goal was to find out – by individual, by sector, by community – how the association profession was grappling with one of its most challenging environments.
We are delighted to report that, in many ways, the association community has turned a corner. The 2011 Economic Impact Study shows marked improvements along almost every major economic indicator. The majority of the 300 study participants show optimism about the future of the economy, express declining concerns about the residual impact of the recession both generally and along specific business lines and report rebounding fiscal and organizational health. In McKinley’s study, it was not only the shift in perception, but the degree to which the participants’ perceptions shifted towards a more fiscally stable and positive outlook.
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