What Tree-Huggers Can Teach You About Segmentation

Karin Jaros, Head of Membership and Annual Fund at The Morton Arboretum and McKinley’s Mike Norbut recently wrote an article “What Tree-Huggers Can Teach You About Segmentation,” which appeared in the June/July 2012 issue of FORUM magazine, published by the Association Forum of Chicagoland. See below for an excerpt.

For The Morton Arboretum, market intelligence is a precious commodity that directs activities across the organization. The Arboretum, a nonprofit membership organization based in Lisle, Ill., is a leader in tree science and education, working to save and plant trees. It’s a 1,700-acre outdoor museum that features more than 4,100 varieties of trees, shrubs and other plants from around the world. Because the Arboretum’s membership is equally varied, segmentation principles have proven to be quite useful in its efforts to redesign its membership structure, plan special events and coordinate critical fund-raising activities. Discovering how to segment its members and supporters, however, is a dynamic process for the Arboretum, and it’s not based solely on running database reports. Its intelligence has grown organically over time, and its segmentation opportunities are based more on behavioral tendencies than on strict demographics. After all, virtually anyone can be a tree-hugger, and common differentiating factors like age, gender or income don’t begin to tell the story of why someone loves nature.

To read more about segmentation click on the image to the right or contact Mike to discuss the article and his work with segmentation.