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Members reflect the strength of your customer base, making them a priority wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

There are not many practical ways to build your membership, either fun or for profit.

Who Should Read “The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit”? And Why?

Funding is perhaps the most challenging process but still manageable one if the organization has no shortage of high-profile individuals. To be recognized as a nonprofit ethical association, several factors must be met.

Generally speaking, this book is a magnificent gift for the decision-making body in any company or corporation. It’s quite useful for the ordinary people too, those who are looking for a way to join, co-create, or create their own membership base.

About Ellis M.M. Robinson & Kim Klein

Ellis M.M. Robinson is known as an expert in membership development due to her 25 years of experience in all subjects related to it.

As the current president of The Buttonwood Partnership, she enforced some practices on fundraising and management of nonprofit organizations.

Kim Klein works as an author and editor, or explicitly editing this series of books. She also wrote a few books including “Fundraising for Social Change” and co-authored “Stir It Up”.

“The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit Summary”

In general, defining members isn’t an easy job, because they can cover many profiles or statuses – from ordinary people to experts. Donors, supporters, buyers, newcomers you name it.

Organizations, these days have to think smart and act wisely, because no institution prefers to live on the verge of uncertainty. Without exception, all members regardless of their status contribute to the organizational growth.

Organizational boom must be your priority as a member, but it all depends on how you the system treats you, or what privileged access rights you have. Planning to build a membership-base? Here’s what you need to do. Identifying the key supporters or members driven by your vision.

Organizations develop a need for representatives in order to:

• • Influence some area – For instance, if you’re attempting to install some system, or create a company in some distant city, people who live there will increase your chances of success.

• • Authority – Members are no underdogs; sometimes their political influence can produce value.

• • Know-how – Members often, donate their specialized expertise- unselfishly. If your membership base is filled with economists, lawyers or people in business, for example, there will be no shortage of real value. These experts will use their skills on a volunteer basis, to spread the organization’s influence.

• • Word-of-mouth marketing – Is there any stronger marketing tool than word of mouth? Imagine you are in a cinema, after the great movie you’ve just watched, the next thing most people would do is to share the experience they’ve had. The same publicity is achievable with well-established organizations whose members share their vision, and values.

• Funding – The membership-system receive money from Individual donors- 80 percent of the time.

“The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit” offers unlimited access to valuable information for the nonprofit membership machines. The desperate need of money, political power, influence on a global scale, authority, credibility, workforce are just some of the aspects these organizations cover.

During the surviving process, many other benefits or restrictions may appear as well; nothing is certain nor forbidden. The life of these membership-structures is filled with relativity, for the same reason members are prone to give up their membership. The authors introduce their readers to dozens of different recruiting members techniques, both online and offline.

Quite often people don’t have a clue on how to deal with all the organizational issues that occur along the way. Membership fever has struck this world because all the people are trying to join some organization that will take care of their interest.

Facing challenges is perhaps the biggest advantage of these structures, and hence they must adopt a more flexible approach. Using different excuses to cover up the lack of political protection or influence is not a practical strategy, but sure is useful.

Managing these nonprofit membership institutions takes time and energy, so before you start doing anything, think about the purposes.

Don’t make any rash decisions is rule number one, enforce principles and norms should be the second in line. Nevertheless, the reality is variable, it all depends on where you’re looking from.

Even though it may seem evident, the definition of membership has some unexpected turns. As a fact-filled, straightforward, masterpiece, you’ll slowly work your way through any organizational obstacles due to the examples present in the book. 

Key Lessons from “The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit”

1.      Membership status – importance
2.      Different methods to obtain membership
3.      The power of special appeals

Membership status – importance

More reliant members are the ones who are “giving everything” to obtain a more significant membership rank.

Nevertheless, the no.1 spot goes to those money-sending members who support the processes – financially and ethically.

Different methods to obtain membership

Nowadays, memberships can be built across the ocean, on seven continents, meaning that the location doesn’t generate any boundaries like in middle-ages, for example.

Expressing commitment and tends to be the only method to solve some complex organizational or membership problems. To put it in another way, identifying these people as members, indicates that some work has been done on their part.

The power of special appeals

Special appeals are like short guide-books.

They give information on numerous subjects to entice the members to respond and contribute to the newly created task.

One of the techniques to improve the response rate is to prefer long-letters rather than short ones.

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“The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit” Quotes

Our Critical Review

This book will improve your decision-making abilities, those obvious mistakes you used to make, are going to disappear – one by one. Most prominent one of all is failing to convert those people who desperately seek to gain membership privileges.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.