Arts programs ‘can make more’ by focusing on data they have

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Friday, 20 September 2019

NEW research for the cultural and performing arts sector reveals that members, subscribers and volunteers can deliver financial benefit to organisations far in excess of annual fees alone.

Consultant Deanna Varga of Mayvin Global and doctor Lynda Kelly of LyndaKellyNetworks said the ‘Members and Subscribers - Is it working for everyone? Is everyone working for them?’ report identifies an opportunity for organisations to cut back their fundraising efforts by ‘leveraging’ existing supporter segments.

The data suggest organisations could help themselves by implementing auto-renewals or simply asking for donations. “A surprising 63 per cent of organisations do not offer auto-renewals and 29 per cent do not invite members to fundraising events,” Varga said.

A standard, consistent methodology across the sector for counting members/subscribers or collating membership data simply does not exist, Kelly added.

“This lack of consistent data makes it difficult for organisations to benchmark their programs and make informed and confident decisions about investing in the segment.

“Decisions about member and subscriber programs (seem to be) run on ‘gut feel’, which reinforces assumptions that we have found to be largely untrue.

“We anticipate our research will start to challenge these assumptions and change the value perceptions of membership and subscriber options within the industry.”

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