Because of the way our organization is structured, we do not have
memberships, although we have friends group and a heritage group affiliated
with the institution. Instead of these membership drives, then, we do an
annual fund drive which has actually performed rather well for us...we were
conservative in our hopes for it and as a result didn't attach too many
expectations. It does well. We are small, terribly specialized and
religious AND German in a community that is transitioning away from its
traditional Germanic heritage.
Anyway, in the past we have used collections objects as a jumping off point
for our fund drive material -- for example, a tall case clock then some sort
of catch phrase -- then last year, for a fifth anniversary of our new
building, we used "Five Reasons to Love the Heritage Center." Now the staff
no longer is doing most of the creative work, except for some ideas; the
board has taken it over. Hooray!
Hitting them up once a year like this really seems to work for us.
Candace Perry
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
www.schwenkfelder.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Sarah Sapperstein
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 11:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Membership Drives
We're in the same boat here- small museum with small budget, and
extremely specialized topic that doesn't appeal to extremely large
masses. I would definitely recommend partnering with some larger,
already established (and maybe more wealthy) institutions in your area-
We're talking to establishments like the Symphony and major theatre
groups who have performances/productions relating to our museum/research
topics...
Another idea, building off something someone else said, was to turn the
focus to current members in terms of recognition and recruitment. We
found that more than HALF of our membership was happenstance "walked
past the museum" or "word of mouth" suggestion. If you can turn your
members/supporters into ADVOCATES, they will sell it for you....
--
*Sarah Sapperstein*
Membership Coordinator
Oriental Institute
University of Chicago
1155 E. 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Ph: 773-834-9777
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
http://oi.uchicago.edu
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