Raise more funds, increase the predictability of your revenue, and inspire donor engagement with memberships.
A membership program is a way to tie donations to incentives. Donors pay a yearly membership fee and receive special members-only benefits and recognition from your organization.
To add membership management to your subscription, email [email protected].
Tip: If you use custom fields or another custom method to track memberships in Bloomerang CRM, consider upgrading to the membership management add-on. You’ll save time with a streamlined membership workflow built right into Bloomerang CRM.
In this article:
Why Start a Membership Program?
Both you and your supporters benefit from memberships.
Your organization gets:
A new, predictable source of fundraising. Members commit to yearly donations at a certain level of giving and can opt to automatically renew.
New donors. Attract new donors to your cause who value memberships.
Increased engagement. Build stronger donor relationships with meaningful incentives and member-focused communication.
Unified donor and membership management. Save time, streamline your operations, and cross-cultivate donors and members.
Members get:
Exclusive access to perks. Offer thank-you gifts, discounts, members-only events, guest passes, early access, publication subscriptions, special online content, a membership card, or other benefits important to your supporters.
Recognition. Publicly recognize donors at certain membership levels.
High-touch engagement. Communicate with members in personalized ways, such as custom emails and letters.
Requirements
Bloomerang Payments is required if you plan to:
Use online membership forms that you create in Bloomerang CRM
Automatically process membership payments
Plan Your Program
Plan the basic structure of your membership program before you set it up in Bloomerang CRM. To get started, use this checklist.
Set Up Your Program
Set up membership management in just a few steps.
In Bloomerang CRM, create one or more membership programs. Your organization might need only one program. Or, you might create multiple programs, like separate Individual and Corporate programs.
In each program, create at least one membership level and yearly membership fee. For example, create one flat-rate membership level for everyone. Or, create multiple levels with tiered benefits and fees.
Next, create a membership form in Bloomerang CRM. In the form settings, select which membership program the form uses. Finally, add the Bloomerang-hosted form to your website or share a link to the Bloomerang-hosted form.
Members Join Online
To join your membership program, supporters visit your website and click a Join button. On the membership form, supporters select which membership level to join and whether to automatically renew each year. Finally, supporters enter their payment information.
For more information, view How Do Constituents Join a Membership Program Online?
Tip: You can also manually add memberships to constituent accounts in Bloomerang CRM.
Manage Your Program
After a member joins, Bloomerang CRM automatically:
Emails a confirmation to the new member (if the member completes the online membership form).
Emails a payment receipt to the member for each autoprocessed payment if you enable online payment receipt receipts.
Emails an acknowledgement for the initial payment and renewal payments if you use Journey Automation.
Adds membership information to the constituent’s record and automatically updates it, too. View the constituent’s membership program, membership level, status, and renewal date.
Adds the member to the membership group for that membership level.
Adds the member to one or more Bloomerang Donor Groups, which are based on donor lifecycle stages (New, Current, Retained, and others).
Recalculates the member’s engagement level. Current members always have a Hot or higher engagement level.
Tip: To quantify the success of your membership program, view analytics and run reports for each membership group.
Communicate with Members
To keep your members engaged, send personalized communications to each membership group. For example, customize a welcome email or letter that explains membership benefits and what to do next. Later, invite members to attend exclusive events, participate in special opportunities, and view members-only content.
To encourage members to renew, automatically send renewal reminders. For example, schedule a multi-touch email series for members who didn’t select to renew automatically.
For more information about member communications, view Membership Emails and Letters and Confirmation and Receipt Emails for Memberships.
Tip: Analyze recipient engagement to measure the success of membership emails.
Related
Elevate Your Membership Management from the Bloomerang blog