3 ways association chapters can improve their revenue – a StarChapter webinar
Updated: Jan. 9, 2023 | Categories: Revenues
There is no way your association chapter membership dues will be enough to pay for everything you need to accomplish, to hold the events people want to attend and to provide the services members and potential members are looking for – education, advocacy, networking, etc. And if it happens to be enough, what happens when you’ve been relying on dues to pay for those things and you see a decrease in association chapter membership, like what chapters experienced at the beginning of COVID and some still deal with today.
In a recent StarChapter webinar, we discussed several association chapter non-dues revenue strategies our customers have found successful. We wanted to share them with you, so you can try them in your own chapter.
Consider different event ticket pricing
Using different pricing levels can help show value for members and non-members. It can also make it easier for potential attendees to find the best level for their situation.
You might want to consider:
- pricing member tickets lower than tickets for non-members
- allowing your event volunteers to attend for free or at a higher discount than members
- pricing your tickets based on the behavior you’d like to see. If you would rather people attend in person, price your virtual event tickets and in-person tickets the same or make the virtual ticket slightly higher. If you want a larger virtual audience, discount the virtual ticket.
Job boards: what does the job poster really need?
It’s almost never just a job post. They may also need to:
- find and interview multiple candidates quickly
- post several jobs
- hold a job fair
- or something completely different.
Here are a few ways your association chapter job board and your job posting service can be attractive to whomever needs it.
Job posting bundles. Offer job posting packages that appeal to everyone. Maybe charge $75 for a single job post, but $600 for a bundle of 5-10 posts, which is $150 less than paying for 10 individual posts. Bulk job posts provide more value for the poster and more up-front revenue for your association chapter.
A la carte offerings. How can you make it easier for the person posting and increase the likelihood they’ll find the right candidate? Can you post the job for them? Or give their job opening a little extra exposure? Highlight the job online or in an email, your newsletter, etc. Or maybe they’d like to hold a job fair with your members, and you could organize and run it.
Marketing. Marketing usually falls at the bottom of a hiring manager’s To Do list. How about sending a weekly jobs email to your email database, with links to your job board and to the highlighted job opening(s). You could also include openings in your chapter newsletter and mention them at chapter events.
Develop a robust sponsorship program
Association chapter sponsorship programs are great for everyone – the sponsor, the chapter, and individual members. They deliver everything from visibility and potential for sales to organic connections and growth opportunities. For some organizations, annual sponsorships may fit their needs, while others, due to budget or timing, could be looking for individual sponsorship options.
Annual sponsorships. Offer packages – like gold, silver, and bronze – at reasonable price points. Explore your chapter and see where you could use some financial help and create sponsorship packages around them. Maybe your gold sponsor could sponsor all the marketing collateral for your annual conference, while your bronze sponsor pays for the marketing for your monthly meetings. Or silver sponsors cover all regular monthly meetings and bronze sponsors pay for meeting a quarter. In exchange for these sponsorships, you could give annual association chapter sponsors exclusive opportunities to connect with your members more intimately they might not have access to otherwise. And to make it even more attractive, you could include several free or reduced-price event tickets.
A la carte sponsorships. There are probably organizations that aren’t ready to commit to a sponsorship package or annual sponsors looking for an extra connection to your members. Offering a la carte association chapter sponsorship is an easy way for them to connect with members and give you some additional revenue. And these one-off sponsors can be great leads for your annual sponsorship program.
Consider opportunities to sponsor:
- Pages on your website. An organization could sponsor a single blog post, a series of posts or your entire blog. Or your job board or association chapter members-only forum.
- Offer opportunities to sponsor a breakfast, speak at an event or have their logo on an event presentation.
- Mentorship Program. Association chapter mentorship programs can be expensive to run. But perhaps an organization would be interested in sponsoring yours. In return they would get to meet the mentors and get “early access” to individuals looking for jobs.
To keep your chapter successful and strong, your planning needs a revenue strategy that includes more than just your dues. Find ways to bring in revenue and you’ll find yourself bringing in more new members and doing a better job keeping the members you have.
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