Preservation Action is the nation's finest advocacy organization for historic preservation and I am proud to have been a board member for the last ten years.
As a national lobbying organization for preservation, PA works closely with many partners including the National Trust. A recent article by the organization's president Heather MacIntosh describes what being a national advocate means and how we as board members try to influence legislation at the national level. Check out her article on the World Changing web site.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008153.html
If you would like to know more about Preservation Action view their web site www.preservationaction.org or contact me. Members are needed throughout the United States.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Politics and preservation
The work I am doing for Preservation New Jersey to assist municipalities to create or upgrade their historic preservation element of municipal master plans, proves again, that what Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House, said is true--"all politics is local."
So far I have consulted with five communities around the state, by advising them about how to make necessary changes to meet the minimum standards of the state's municipal land use law. This is the easy part. There are plenty of templates for these plan elements from other communities around the state. We have provided them and done additional research, so now we have about 50 examples available.
But doing an historic preservation plan element is easy compared to gathering local momentum to pass a local historic preservation ordinance, the backbone of all local protections for landmarks in the state and nation.
I am always impressed by the passion of local preservation advocates, and speaking with them reminds me why this field is still exciting after twenty five years.
All local folks must plot and plan how to create a group of like-minded and influential folks who can convince local elected officials that historic landmarks must be protected--even from their owners.
So hats off to local preservation advocates. Keep up the good work!
So far I have consulted with five communities around the state, by advising them about how to make necessary changes to meet the minimum standards of the state's municipal land use law. This is the easy part. There are plenty of templates for these plan elements from other communities around the state. We have provided them and done additional research, so now we have about 50 examples available.
But doing an historic preservation plan element is easy compared to gathering local momentum to pass a local historic preservation ordinance, the backbone of all local protections for landmarks in the state and nation.
I am always impressed by the passion of local preservation advocates, and speaking with them reminds me why this field is still exciting after twenty five years.
All local folks must plot and plan how to create a group of like-minded and influential folks who can convince local elected officials that historic landmarks must be protected--even from their owners.
So hats off to local preservation advocates. Keep up the good work!
Some tidbits from Make More Money from Members article
I have been interested in membership development and more particularly membership retention for a long time. I started talking about this issue in 2000 by preparing a talk for Main Street managers for Illinois Main Street when I was suburban coordinator there.
I agreed to write an article for Main Street News (the monthly newsletter of the National Trust Main Street Center) on this topic, which has allowed me to go back and review my material and up date it for the new ways of the Internet.
In the intervening eight years there has been a lot more written about member retention, particularly by those in the professional association field.
Recent statistics on retention
Several articles kept talking about new member retention being miserable. Statistics I found varied from 70 or 55 percent of members renew. New members, those in the organization for less than one year, were likely to renew at 50 percent or less. This is sobering.
Asking for gifts more often
Several text books on fundraising for non profits talk about mining the membership list for additional gifts each year. I know this to be true. When we were members of the Art Institute of Chicago we were solicited at least six times a year for one thing or another, this of course is in addition to our membership renewal.
Several well known publications recommend asking for additional gifts at least 10-12 times a year. I find this excessive. Local grass roots organizations might consider asking quarterly at the very least, but most especially at the year end for annual gifts. If the bulk of your membership renews in November or December, then annual gifts would not be appropriate, but gifts at the end of your fiscal year if it was say June 30 would make sense.
Revising your membership levels yearly
This seems like a no brainer, but apparently in the professional association world, people do not change their membership categories often at all. This is an opportunity wasted I think. A few categories should be increased each year if nothing else than to reflect inflation. How much to increase each category is another issue. Studies by professional associations showed that increases under ten percent created little push back from members. So you could indeed make more money from members by asking for $30 rather than $25 for an individual membership, and hardly anyone would know.
People who pledge are more generous
This also seems like a no brainer, but so few downtown organizations ask people to automatically give to their cause. Many Main Street organizations start out with three year pledges to build a base of support so they can get off the ground. But after that period they return to the once a year renewal. Why? Here their members have given for three full years. Why not offer them the opportunity to automatically give every year to the organization? All it takes is one check mark on the application form. The donation amount does not need to be big, but the monthly impact can be exceptional.
For example, if your bottom line donation is $40 for an individual that would mean a donation of $4.00 a month (total $48 a year). Why not ask for $5.00 as the minimum donation, so that you would reap $60 a year? You can take check (have them send a voided check and you will take care of the rest with their bank), or credit card. Just remember to actually bill the member on a regular basis, say 15th of the month. Apparently Greenpeace now has a minimum donation of $15 a month which yields $180. They say they have slightly fewer members but more highly committed ones. This is also the lowest level they accept as a donation. Think about that.
Why not consider a lower price point for seniors and students too? It is a good entry for those that want to support your cause but short on funds.
Finally, use the Internet as a 24/7 tool for membership recruitment
Some folks use PayPal or Network for Good as a third party processor for their memberships. renewals or events on their web site. If you have a very large operation, you might want to build your own shopping cart on your web site. There is plenty of functionality for these and other third party credit card processing sites. All process cards for the typical merchant fee, and donations are recorded into the merchant account you set up. There is an excellent article on the web that compares all the third party systems that nonprofits are using on Idealist. com .
Here is one good article
http://www.idealware.org/donations/intro.php
Another article is excellent too
http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/FAQ/QuestionViewer/default?section=16&item=23
Regardless what you chose, make sure that the donor and member understands that you have a privacy policy about not sharing their information (make sure they can find it on your web site) and that you (if you build your own) have the most sophisticated encryption possible. Both of these will register with donors and show that you are a responsible nonprofit organization.
Please let me know about your experiences.
I agreed to write an article for Main Street News (the monthly newsletter of the National Trust Main Street Center) on this topic, which has allowed me to go back and review my material and up date it for the new ways of the Internet.
In the intervening eight years there has been a lot more written about member retention, particularly by those in the professional association field.
Recent statistics on retention
Several articles kept talking about new member retention being miserable. Statistics I found varied from 70 or 55 percent of members renew. New members, those in the organization for less than one year, were likely to renew at 50 percent or less. This is sobering.
Asking for gifts more often
Several text books on fundraising for non profits talk about mining the membership list for additional gifts each year. I know this to be true. When we were members of the Art Institute of Chicago we were solicited at least six times a year for one thing or another, this of course is in addition to our membership renewal.
Several well known publications recommend asking for additional gifts at least 10-12 times a year. I find this excessive. Local grass roots organizations might consider asking quarterly at the very least, but most especially at the year end for annual gifts. If the bulk of your membership renews in November or December, then annual gifts would not be appropriate, but gifts at the end of your fiscal year if it was say June 30 would make sense.
Revising your membership levels yearly
This seems like a no brainer, but apparently in the professional association world, people do not change their membership categories often at all. This is an opportunity wasted I think. A few categories should be increased each year if nothing else than to reflect inflation. How much to increase each category is another issue. Studies by professional associations showed that increases under ten percent created little push back from members. So you could indeed make more money from members by asking for $30 rather than $25 for an individual membership, and hardly anyone would know.
People who pledge are more generous
This also seems like a no brainer, but so few downtown organizations ask people to automatically give to their cause. Many Main Street organizations start out with three year pledges to build a base of support so they can get off the ground. But after that period they return to the once a year renewal. Why? Here their members have given for three full years. Why not offer them the opportunity to automatically give every year to the organization? All it takes is one check mark on the application form. The donation amount does not need to be big, but the monthly impact can be exceptional.
For example, if your bottom line donation is $40 for an individual that would mean a donation of $4.00 a month (total $48 a year). Why not ask for $5.00 as the minimum donation, so that you would reap $60 a year? You can take check (have them send a voided check and you will take care of the rest with their bank), or credit card. Just remember to actually bill the member on a regular basis, say 15th of the month. Apparently Greenpeace now has a minimum donation of $15 a month which yields $180. They say they have slightly fewer members but more highly committed ones. This is also the lowest level they accept as a donation. Think about that.
Why not consider a lower price point for seniors and students too? It is a good entry for those that want to support your cause but short on funds.
Finally, use the Internet as a 24/7 tool for membership recruitment
Some folks use PayPal or Network for Good as a third party processor for their memberships. renewals or events on their web site. If you have a very large operation, you might want to build your own shopping cart on your web site. There is plenty of functionality for these and other third party credit card processing sites. All process cards for the typical merchant fee, and donations are recorded into the merchant account you set up. There is an excellent article on the web that compares all the third party systems that nonprofits are using on Idealist. com .
Here is one good article
http://www.idealware.org/donations/intro.php
Another article is excellent too
http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/FAQ/QuestionViewer/default?section=16&item=23
Regardless what you chose, make sure that the donor and member understands that you have a privacy policy about not sharing their information (make sure they can find it on your web site) and that you (if you build your own) have the most sophisticated encryption possible. Both of these will register with donors and show that you are a responsible nonprofit organization.
Please let me know about your experiences.
Bloomberg news article about house museums
A very interesting article that appeared in Bloomberg news today by Joe Mysak about Mark Twain and Edith Wharton Houses. But the author goes further and makes the distinction between well known and "pathetic" house museums. Click through to see the article.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=columnist_mysak&sid=a7UgIXFGHzjk
What do you think of this article?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=columnist_mysak&sid=a7UgIXFGHzjk
What do you think of this article?
Friday, June 6, 2008
Preservation Forum Issue devoted to historic sites at a crossroads
The professional journal of the preservation movement, Forum Journal has published an entire issue this Spring discussing historic house museums at a crossroads.
All of the articles are stimulating and very compelling. Most build from the conference held in April 2007 that I attended at the Rockefeller home Kykyit in Tarrytown NY on Historic Site Stewardship in the 21st Century. At this conference I presented a brief report on the alternatives I uncovered during my research for the book New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long Term Preservation of America's Historic Homes.
Most interesting is the first article by Marian Godfrey, the Managing Director for Culture and Civic Initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts, explaining the Trust's approach to philanthropy for historic sites. She also discusses the Living Legacy Project, a project on which I consulted, and mentions the importance of my research and book for historic sites.
Contact me if you would like a PDF of the articles.
All of the articles are stimulating and very compelling. Most build from the conference held in April 2007 that I attended at the Rockefeller home Kykyit in Tarrytown NY on Historic Site Stewardship in the 21st Century. At this conference I presented a brief report on the alternatives I uncovered during my research for the book New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long Term Preservation of America's Historic Homes.
Most interesting is the first article by Marian Godfrey, the Managing Director for Culture and Civic Initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts, explaining the Trust's approach to philanthropy for historic sites. She also discusses the Living Legacy Project, a project on which I consulted, and mentions the importance of my research and book for historic sites.
Contact me if you would like a PDF of the articles.
The Pew Trusts Magazine Articles about House Museums
The Pew Charitable Trusts publishes a quarterly magazine about its wide variety of programs. The spring issue contains two articles where the authors discuss issues facing historic house museums. These are fine articles that really do a good job of articulating the pressures facing historic sites. You can view these articles by clicking this link to the Pew Trust's web site.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=38618
Both of the articles cite New Solutions for House Museums as an important resource for historic sites struggling with sustainability issues.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=38618
Both of the articles cite New Solutions for House Museums as an important resource for historic sites struggling with sustainability issues.
Main Street and social networking
I am working on an article for Main Street News, the magazine of the National Trust Main Street Center, on "Make More Money from Members." I am looking for downtown and commercial district revitalization programs that do a good job of exploiting their membership lists to upsell members, ask them to give more, and give more often. Part of this research involves how local main street organizations use social networking sites.
I also interested in learning how these organizations recruit volunteers using social networking sites or their own web sites. So far I have gotten leads from the following state or county wide programs.
Main Street Iowa
Oklahoma Main Street
Baltimore Main Streets
Delaware Main Street
Wisconsin Main Street
Main Street Oakland County Michigan
I have been in contact with the following groups so far, but more will be in the offing.
Downtown Ferndale MI
Main Street Libertyville IL
Downtown Rochester MI
Rehoboth Beach DE
Main Street Bloomfield IA
I will post more information about my research on this blog as I get the information from local sources. Thanks and contact me for more information.
I also interested in learning how these organizations recruit volunteers using social networking sites or their own web sites. So far I have gotten leads from the following state or county wide programs.
Main Street Iowa
Oklahoma Main Street
Baltimore Main Streets
Delaware Main Street
Wisconsin Main Street
Main Street Oakland County Michigan
I have been in contact with the following groups so far, but more will be in the offing.
Downtown Ferndale MI
Main Street Libertyville IL
Downtown Rochester MI
Rehoboth Beach DE
Main Street Bloomfield IA
I will post more information about my research on this blog as I get the information from local sources. Thanks and contact me for more information.
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