Nonprofit membership benefits are among the most potent selling points of your organization, yet too many marketing departments (or, in the case of very small nonprofits, individuals) unwittingly neglect them.
Yes, your focus is on the mission. However, if you want to entice new members, then you must place your benefits at the core of what you do. Ensuring that people feel a part of your organization while simultaneously getting their money’s worth is the best way to grow, so let’s take a look at 20 of the best benefits to offer.
Why is membership important to nonprofit organizations?
Without membership, you won’t have the resources needed to explore new programs, expand existing offerings, hire speakers, help the needy, advocate, or even keep the lights on. Membership sounds like a big, important word, but all it really means is “the people who are with us in solidarity because we all believe in the same thing.” Without that, you don’t have much.
The good news is, nonprofit membership benefits can help you bring people in much faster than a holy-sounding mission can. When you give people the opportunity to do something good for the world and themselves at the same time, it’s a win-win.
20 of the best nonprofit membership benefits
Now, the good stuff. Following are 20 of the best membership benefit ideas a nonprofit can offer. These work for almost any industry or membership model. While you may have to tweak them to fit your specific cause, it is almost always possible to use them in some way.
Keep in mind that the following nonprofit membership benefits are great for your followers. However, they are also great for those in your community who can’t afford to pay for membership, because your other members will help float scholarship opportunities. In that way, you’re not only providing important services, you are living the true spirit of a nonprofit mission at the same time.
1. Networking opportunities
Hands down, one of the most desirable aspects of any organization is the possibility of networking. Forging personal relationships with people who matter in your field is a great way to get jobs, get funding for a cause, build capital, and otherwise achieve career and personal goals.
If your nonprofit encourages association networking, that will be viewed as a real perk by many of your members. Better yet, if you have a big name in your midst, make sure to put that front and center in your marketing (with the person’s permission) to help draw others in.
2. Professional development
Another excellent benefit that many nonprofits offer is professional development. If you are your own association, or a local chapter of a national one, professional resources could comprise a major draw for you.
Although you could go straight to creating a job board or hosting industry-specific continuing education classes, remember that professional development doesn’t need to be totally single-minded. Helping people explore different options or hosting expert talks can also be helpful.
3. Resources and information
Many professional organizations find that resources and information are among their most popular nonprofit membership benefits. These can take many forms, such as:
- Pamphlets that explain a specific problem (like an illness) or process (like citizenship)
- Books of literature, for sale at a reduced price or free for members
- Materials for fundraising, leadership, grants, volunteering, or other aspects of nonprofit life
- Templates and other fillable materials for starting businesses or writing letters
… and so on.
4. Advocacy and representation
Many nonprofit members need help, plain and simple, or at least the communities they serve do. Advocacy and representation are among two of the most important nonprofit membership benefits you can offer. If you provide these to your community, or even if you don’t, consider providing them on a pro bono basis to members who need them or who sign up for a certain tier.
5. Discounts and savings
One of the easiest ways to bring members in is simply to discount the prices of your offerings. As long as the amount you discount is less than the cost of a membership, then you are making money. If you add in all the support potential that comes from a member once they’re on board, then the scale clearly tips in your favor.
6. Recognition and awards
Everyone likes recognition, and awards are always a useful addition to a resume or LinkedIn profile. If being a part of your organization can lead to either of these, then it may be seen as a significant nonprofit membership benefit, which could lead to an increase in signups.
7. Community outreach programs
Many nonprofit organizations offer community outreach programs. These may be geared toward serving people who don’t have the resources they need, gathering information, building coalitions, supporting learning, and many other aspects.
Your members may need these services themselves or believe in building such causes, or both. Whatever the case, having them will advance your desirability in their eyes.
8. Career advancement
Yes, many nonprofits and professional organizations are straightforwardly focused on career advancement, and that’s okay. There’s nothing saying that a nonprofit must have a strictly charitable focus.
Indeed, the requirements for being a nonprofit – specifically, a 501(c)(3) – are that the organization reinvest all its profits into the organization and that it not attempt to influence legislation or politics. As such, a nonprofit can totally gear itself around career advancement in a particular field or overall, and folks love such a benefit.
9. Mentorship programs
Mentorship programs are powerful draws. Professional and trade organizations have a lot to offer when it comes to expertise, and they can help ensure that knowledge gets passed from one generation to the next with mentorship programs. Best of all, members will eagerly sign up for a chance to learn at the knee of a great.
10. Volunteer opportunities
It’s not hard to find places to volunteer. However, it is difficult to find well-structured, meaningful, fun, and safe places to volunteer that also look good on a resume. If your nonprofit can provide that, then you will find yourself overwhelmed with people who want to help – and who are therefore more likely to pay dues or donate.
11. Newsletters and publications
Among the best and easiest nonprofit membership benefits are newsletters and publications. It’s important that you make these anyway, as they are great marketing tools and important documents to put in your archives.
However, you can also gate part or all of your publications, either temporarily or permanently, to encourage membership signups. If you keep the good stuff (essays from luminaries, important resources, cutting-edge research, and so on), then you will encourage your audience to pay to play.
12. Webinars and seminars
As with newsletters and publications, webinars and seminars are among the most powerful nonprofit membership benefits because they are so freighted with important information. This is true in a professional or charitable setting, both of which draw people who really want to improve themselves and make a difference.
Depending on how you set up memberships, you can offer these (and other informational resources) in different ways. For instance, you could use a tiered membership structure, where people get more advanced videos as they pay more.
Or you could tie separate webinars and seminars to donation amounts. For instance, X amount earns X video, Y amount earns Y video. Or X amount earns one video, while Y amount earns two and Z earns three. There are so many ways to ensure they get their money’s worth, but you avoid giving the milk away for free.
13. Access to research and data
You can think of research and data the same way you can newsletters, publications, webinars, and seminars: as powerful nonprofit membership benefits that will bring people to your table. Just make sure you don’t gate them too fiercely; as a nonprofit, you should still support people’s needs and goals first and foremost.
14. Grants and scholarships
Charitable nonprofits use most of their money on programs meant to improve the lives of their communities. However, professional nonprofits take a slightly different approach, exchanging career-oriented goods and services in exchange for dues and fees.
However, you can offer grants and scholarships among your nonprofit membership benefits for either type. If you’re purely a charity, then setting aside money for grants and scholarships will encourage donations. If you are an association, which is more likely in the context of membership benefits, then advertising potential grants and scholarships comprises a real draw.
15. Legal and consulting services
Much like representation and advocacy, legal and consulting services are often very expensive in the real world. Therefore, offering them as nonprofit membership benefits is a powerful way to encourage people to pay their dues or donate.
16. Health and wellness programs
Workplace health and wellness programs are becoming more and more commonplace. As research helps us understand the role of daily activities, nutritional choices, posture, and stress in human longevity, more corporations are stepping up to help ensure their workers’ wellbeing. At the same time, more and more workers are looking for such benefits when they apply for jobs and are using such perks as ways to decide between multiple offers.
Many people can’t get such perks through their work, however, but would love to have them as nonprofit membership benefits. This is especially easy to offer if you’re a gym, health center, physical therapy association, or other nonprofit that has real premises. However, even if you don’t, you can offer discounted memberships to health and wellness programs as part of your benefits package.
17. Exclusive industry insights
Industries run deep, and understanding the ins and outs of a profession is hard to do. Top experts rely on extremely detailed, current research and cutting-edge reports. Many professional associations offer such insights as nonprofit membership benefits.
You can package these insights as whitepapers, case studies, journal subscriptions, gated publications or newsletters, or even webinars and in-person talks. The delivery method matters less than the substance and the elite nature of it.
18. Social and recreational activities
Nothing beats fun in the sun (or fun in the snow, depending on your season and region). Nonprofit organizations that can offer recreational activities among their nonprofit membership benefits are just that much more likely to bring in new members, and the same goes for those that offer social activities.
19. Leadership opportunities
Leadership is an endlessly useful opportunity. All kinds of people want opportunities to lead the group, such as:
- High schoolers and college students trying to figure out what they’re doing in life
- Young professionals who want to move into management roles
- Experienced people who are looking to get into board positions or the C-Suite
- Anyone seeking to improve their resume
If you can offer leadership opportunities among your nonprofit membership benefits, you will see an attendant uptick in your membership signups.
20. Customizable membership packages
One of the biggest questions that nonprofits have, whether new or old, is how to structure their membership levels. Pricing tiers is always a struggle though, because nonprofits are wary of taking advantage of their members – yet at the same time, they need to keep the lights on, as discussed.
A good solution to these issues is to make your membership packages customizable. If people can choose for themselves how and what to pay for, then you’re much more likely to convince them that your organization is the one for them.
Final Thoughts
No matter which of the above nonprofit membership benefits you choose, you can take your memberships to the next level with MemberClicks. Our community-driven online platform helps you reach new audiences while giving your current members a convenient dashboard experience.
Better yet, MemberClicks helps you organize your audience, minimize paperwork and staff, increase flow, bucket your subscribers, and otherwise streamline your management process. If that sounds pretty good, it’s time to get in touch and discover what we’re all about today!
