A Model Approach to Membership Managment

Thursday, August 25, 2005

By: Michael Stein

Many times the main purpose of membership management software is lost. Many of us think --
“Isn’t it just supposed to help nonprofit organizations keep track of their members?” In reality, most organizations use membership management software, or a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) tool, for more than just a place to deposit the names and addresses of members. Membership Directors’ need to make sure existing members are being served, retain existing members, and work to acquire new members. The membership management software has to have tools that allow directors to model the approach they take to member services and member sales.

A CRM acts not only as a membership manager but also a fundraising and grants management tool -- all three involve specialized forms of relationship management. In our MEMBERS ONLY software, most of the features needed to manage these relationships are not in those specific modules, but right in the core CRM. Some of these features are the lists and folders that allow users to categorize people and organizations into key constituent groupings. There are also tickers with specific task types and topic assignments that can assist a user in knowing the next step with each membership or donor prospect. An email blast tool lets the user communicate directly with any subgroup or community within the CRM.

List, folders, tickers, tasks, and communications tools are powerful, but only when an organization knows how to use them. An important piece of membership management is planning. Before diving into a pool full of software tools, the organization needs to determine what needs to be done in the first place. Below are some questions nonprofit staff can ask themselves to help them get the most out of a CRM by using a model approach:

1. Articulate your model. You may have never laid it out this clearly before, but you already have a model. You need to begin by analyzing the way you actually think about servicing your members and courting your prospects. What logical groups do they fall in? How do they move from group to group? What actions do you take for people in each group? This is your model.

2. Create Lists for your constituent groupings. Once you have articulated a systematic way of classifying your members and membership prospects, create MEMBERS ONLY lists so you can flag the members of each group. Also, think about whether any of these lists can be set up from queries, and create and save those queries.

3. Define Key Tasks. Your model was built on groupings and actions. Define task types for these in MEMBERS ONLY dropdown maintenance, so you can add specific ticklers for these tasks with scheduled dates. Now using the query or list browser, you should be able to target your work to specific constituent groups.

What steps do you need to take first to be able to use your system this way? And, how can we help you take a general set of tools for Community Relationship Management and turn them into a focused approach to membership development? Contact us at info@membersonlysoftware.com for more information.