2010 Membership, Development, PR & Marketing PAG Spring Workshop. Cultivating Membership Among Young Professionals - Presentation by Caroline Stevens, Development Officer, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

2. Museum Council History
• Established in 1980 as a volunteer group
• Created age restrictions in 1996
• Museum Council revamp in 1999 into a full
membership program
– New membership levels and prices
– 12 month rolling membership
– Events and programs exclusively for Museum Council
members

3. Museum Council Overview
• Age restriction: 21‐45
• Dual membership, allows 2 people to participate
• Retention rate: 50‐60%
• Average age: 35
• Current membership: 310 households
• Host 5‐10 events per year, plus bonus programming

4. Museum Council Membership
– Museum Council Associate: $250
• Just for individuals ages 21‐26
• 45 Museum Council Associates
– Museum Council Member: $500‐$999
• 173 Museum Council Member households
– Museum Council Fellow: $1,000‐$2,499
• 72 Museum Council Fellow households
– Museum Council Patron: $2,500+
• 21 Museum Council Patron households

5. Museum Council events
• Associates and Members: 5 events
– Focus on exhibitions and collections
• Bonus Events: 5‐12
– No cost programming

6. Museum Council events
• Fellows: 3 events + Member events
– Focus on collecting and connoisseurship
• NYC Connoisseurship Weekend,
• Private Collection Visit
• Council Patrons: 2 events + Fellow events
• Insider Perspectives programming

7. Engagement and Retention

8. How to grow young donors into
leadership
• Research
• Engage
• Communicate
• Create a defined transition plan and policies
– Integrate donor volunteers in the transition
efforts
• Foster a group mentality
• Peer mentoring

9. Marketing and Communication
‐Placement on web
‐Ease of navigation
‐Email only
‐ Steering Committee
‐Prospecting Events
‐Bring friends to events

10. Print collateral
Give the people what they want!
•Move away from print collateral and focus on
email
•Print collateral only for large appeals and
annual mailing to members

11. Marketing: Online presence

12. The economy and young donors

13. The economy and young donors
Trends:
•Acquisitions decreased
•Retention stayed level overall and increased at
the highest level
•Focus on retaining and upgrading core supporters