By Elyse Savaki, MemberClicks solution advisor

One of the many great sessions on the new Small Staff track that I attended at ASAE this year was this session on generating non-dues revenue.  And one of the things that I loved about this session, is that is focused exclusively on an area of non-dues revenue that seems to be largely overlooked in the needs-based conversations that I have with small-staffs on a daily basis: Sponsorship Dollars, ie: Strategic Partnerships.

And when sponsorships do come up in conversation with my customers, they’re often doing it in a very small way.  This brings me to my first major take away from this session:

·  Small-staffs have a LOT to offer!

Well, of course they do!  But too often organizations (even larger ones) short-change themselves by thinking we’re only have x number of members, or we only do y.

·  Your impact is bigger than you think.  Your members have families, friends, and professional networks—promote the extent of your organization’s reach, not its membership size.

·  Your members are more than their profession/affiliation with your organization—did a little more into the demographics to expand your value.  Are your members mostly male, female, just out of college, just about to retire, etc?

Another big benefit your organization can offer to sponsors?

·  Lending your credibility to them. Think about it like this: Are you more likely to respond to generic bank/insurance/printing service solicitation, or are you more likely to give credence to one recommended by a friend?  Same goes for your members—be that referring friend. This is a very real need that your potential partners have!

·  A caveat here is to be sure that you are partnering with companies that you trust with your organization’s reputation.  Because you are lending your reputation to them, make sure that they can be trusted with it.

Now that’s all well and good, but how do you know who to approach (and for what!) in the first place?

1. Identify who your members are (demographics), and who would be interested in them

2. Do a bit of preliminary research to identify companies that have formed other strategic alliances (look for companies that value these types of partnerships to economize your time)

3. Look into their activities—past, present, and future.  Ultimately, we’re going to craft a package that will speak right to them.  Knowing their objectives and marketing initiatives helps us be effective here.

Once you’ve made those identifications, it’s time to put together your prospectus.  There were several tips great tips on this:

·  Create specific opportunities (not just a generic ad space on your site)

·  Look for ways to extend those opportunities throughout the year—Maybe the sponsorship includes a series of smaller events throughout the year, or being the sole sponsor of all of your educational emails throughout the year

·  Limit the number of opportunities available (make it exclusive!)

·  Offer a custom sponsorship, tailored to the purchasing company

And the next step here which was just ingenious:  Send this prospectus to your prospective partners while it is still a work in progress, and ask for their opinions!  This serves a dual purpose—it helps to build critical relationships for your organization, and it also asks potential partners to get involved in a non-threatening way right up front.  We all know those old truths that people love to be made to feel important, and they love to share their expertise.  So go forth and let your future partners know how much you value them.  Having a part in the process makes them so much more likely to sign on when the time comes to make the ask, and there is no better way to get valuable feedback on any project than going straight to the source.

Does your small staff want to know how to earn non-dues revenue? (Let’s be real: what organization doesn’t?!)

Here are some ideas and insights from Tracy Thompson-Przylucki, Executive Director, NELLCO and Lewis Flex, President of Flax Associates.

Typical non-dues revenue opportunities include:
- Conference sponsorships
- Gala dinner; other fundraising event
- Advertising
- Event or program sponsorships
- List rental
- Affinity programs

But what can your organization do differently when creating corporate relationships? (And think about it … are those corporate messages believable?)

- Bundle benefits strategically
- Tier packages to incentivize companies to ‘buy-up’
- Price packages based on value
- Consider their interests
- Understand their current activities, objectives and challenges
- Clarify how they work with others
- Seek ways your association can assist
- Identify why your organization is unique

What are your keys to success?

- Targeted focus
- Recognize and understand needs
- Speak their language
- Relationship first
- Seek and value their input
- Simple outreach
-Make it happen
- Celebrate small successes!

Happy Friday! Who’s psyched for the weekend? I hope everyone is staying warm with all the crazy snow so much of the country has gotten so far this year. Anyway, as always, there were lots of great posts within the association blogosphere this week, so I’ve got five of my favorites below in case you missed any of them. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

1. Erik Schonher shared 25 universal secrets that could help drive your membership and non-dues revenue. And doesn’t every association want that? One of my favorites: make every customer believe they’re the only customer, even if they know it isn’t true. Isn’t that what providing a great member experience is all about?

2. Innovation is a hot topic in the association world, and Eric Lanke discusses Google’s 20% policy, which encourages Googlers to use 20 percent of their time to work on innovative projects of their own inspiration. Although it may be difficult to actually execute an innovative project with only 20 percent of your time, if you couple it with a good transparency policy about how ideas are selected, perhaps innovation could occur more often at your association.

3. Christina Stallings shared some great tips on how to stay focused. Although she geared the tips toward those who work from home, I think several of them could apply to everyone, no matter where you work. For one thing, she points out that maintaining a consistent schedule is key, and I know that’s definitely true in an office setting as well.

4. Jamie Notter discussed organizational culture and how we prefer for it to be stable. But just because you like your association’s culture a certain way doesn’t mean it can’t be better. It’s the whole “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mindset – but could it be holding you back?

5. David M. Patt shared some great statistics via Forbes Magazine – essentially, business executives overwhelmingly preferred face-to-face meetings for building deeper, more meaningful relationships. Although technology allows us to be more flexible and save money, face-to-face still has several advantages.

It’s not too late to sign up for ASAE and The Center‘s Online Conference for Small-Staff Associations. Although the three-day conference began today, there is still tons of valuable information to be had. Wednesday’s segment will discuss additional ways for smaller associations to earn revenue and will feature Lewis Flax, president of Flax Associates, an organization that assists nonprofits in understanding and implementing successful sales strategies.

Thursday’s sessions will discuss getting the most from your board and some tips for working with volunteers. ASAE has put together a really awesome line-up with some fantastic speakers.

Check out the agenda for the conference here, and register here. There’s some awesome information, and those of us at MemberClicks encourage association professionals at small-staff organizations to consider participating.