Understanding your audience, helps you understand the competition. Are your supporters young, older retired, families, singles? Once you have that narrowed down, it is a factor of the choices they have that are high on their priority list. Young children-plenty of athletic, group activities, instruction (music, ballet, horseback riding, etc.) Older visitors-social activities, church, group travel, care for younger family members. Families-everything under the sun, shopping, social, school activities. Singles-social groups, travel, local opportunities with other singles/bar/gym/movies/etc. Making your programming relevant to their priorities is often the most difficult thing to do, and may not always be the best thing to do-what drives the programming then-the need for the audience or the need to provide the programming to meet the mission?

Ask your own volunteers where they spend their discretionary time, or where their own family and friends spend theirs. And why. They often have some wonderful insight.

S. E. Henrich
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