The coronavirus crisis continues to keep museums and cultural organizations closed to the public, and closures are predicted to continue for weeks to months more. As a result, many institutions are facing disruptions to their revenue streams and finding it hard to connect with their members, donors, and constituents without in-person interactions and events that allow members to gather.
This week over 1,000 guests joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Growth and Partnerships @ Cuseum), Elizabeth Epley Sheets (Chief Advancement Officer @ Cheekwood Estate & Gardens) & Bradford Talley (Membership Manager @ Museum of Pop Culture) as they discussed the ways they’ve been honing their communication and messaging to connect with their members and donors during this difficult time. They discussed the potential of “virtual events” and gatherings that can help members stay connected to your organization and with each other.
View the video recording here.
Read some of the top takeaways below!
Adopt a Multi-Channel Approach to Communication
As echoed in our previous Membership Monday Webinar: Fulfillment, Renewals & Budgets in Membership During Coronavirus, maintaining an open, honest and transparent line of communication is essential during this time. With mail service interruptions in most regions, many institutions have started to rely solely on digital channels to relay their messages. At MoPOP, Bradford is encouraged by the open and click rates for their digital member newsletter, which are at par with pre-coronavirus metrics. As we’ve seen with many organizations, digital messaging is allowing organizations to stay relevant and top of mind, even while the doors are closed.
“We're doing a lot more blog posts. We have moved some of our programming over to the digital realm. At this point, we've stopped all print communications.”
– Elizabeth Epley Sheets
Along with social media, blog posts are gaining popularity among institutions looking to give members a more interactive experience. Blogs are an opportunity to spotlight digital content as well as convey membership messaging. Cheekwood Estates & Gardens is using their blog to take their “Tots program” online, encouraging members to try activities at home and post the results on social channels afterwards.
Craft Meaningful Messaging
With many members inquiring about membership extensions, organizations are making sure to develop sensitive and positive messaging to respond to requests.
Striking this positive tone and reminding your members the importance of their continued support is important now more than ever. Personalized phone calls and messages have been a popular topic in our past webinars. Both panelists agreed that they have had tremendous success with personalized outreach during this time. Personalized outreach can be amplified by offering digital resources as a source of value to audiences. Many institutions are generating donations by offering digital events in lieu of physical events, with people who had purchased tickets turning their price of admission into a donation. Although personal messaging and digital resources are striking a chord with members, most institutions are offering extensions on memberships.
“We're going to do a blanket extension, which is possible on Tessitura. Early after this all began, [Tessitura] released a utility to make that easy with our CRM. I went through some testing rounds with it last week and everything came out really nice and clean.”
– Bradford Talley
Both panelists agreed that providing members with an extension on their membership is the right thing to do. Institutions are turning to technology to implement these widespread membership extensions with Cheekwood Estate & Gardens turning to a tool recently released by Blackbaud’s Altru and MoPOP using their Tessitura system. Elizabeth and Bradford are both using the extension notification as a thank you to members for their continuing support and as a reminder about upcoming fundraising events at their respective institutions.
Take Part in #GivingTuesdayNow and Other Fundraising Initiatives
Regionally and nationally, special giving campaigns can be a great opportunity to “ride the hashtags” and start a fundraising initiative for your own organization.
For example, Giving Tuesday Now will take place this coming May 5, and will serve as a day of global action for giving and action. Both panelists’ organizations are taking part in this event. Cheekwood Estate & Gardens is wrapping its Giving Tuesday Now campaign into a local fundraising effort with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Likewise the Museum of Pop Culture is running a fundraising campaign that began on April 15th and will culminate with a 48 hour social campaign on May 5 asking donors to donate through their Give Big Site.
“Fundraising messaging during this has been pretty personal. It's been forthright, telling the story that the donor can help our doors stay open and also being frank about the revenue loss.”
– Bradford Talley
Fundraising has become increasingly important as institutions try and recuperate losses from gate revenue. Both panelists agreed that reminding members how their institutions are depending on gifts to help them through this time is essential. As fundraising efforts continue now is the time to look ahead, make adjustments and prepare for reopening.
Adjusting to the “New Normal” Upon Reopening
Organizations are currently strategizing about what changes to make to facilitate a smooth reopening.
As questions about when institutions are reopening continue to roll in, both Elizabeth and Bradford stressed the importance of complying with your respective local and state government guidelines and explaining to members that the museum experience may be different upon return. With the help of Tessitura and Altru, both the Cheekwood Estate & Gardens and MoPOP are planning to enact timed ticketing as a means to adhere to foreseeable crowd limitation regulations. The Cheekwood Estate & Gardens is also planning on extending its opening hours from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, opening the grounds to seniors only between the hours of 8 am and 9 am as well as opening Mondays for members only.
“We have a membership base that really likes to visit, we have changing exhibitions, changing seasons. I think once we are able to reopen the property, I would hope to see a spike in membership renewals.”
– Elizabeth Epley Sheets
Although the experience will be different moving forward, organizations are expecting members and visitors to be eager to return to their institutions. Bradford plans on addressing the possible crowd limitations by hosting multiple sessions of the same monthly event. This will help save time and reduce costs and still give many members the opportunity to attend. As it is still unclear what open food and crowd limitations may be in place, it is important for organizations to be adaptable and prepared for anything when it comes to organizing larger events. Both the Cheekwood Estates & Gardens and MoPOP are still moving forward with plans to host large events, but they are being cautious in communicating dates and finer details such as catering with their members.
As states start to reopen, institutions are eager with anticipation to allow visitors to return. Although the overall experience will be different, leveraging technology, effectively communicating new regulations and making contingency plans will go a long way in ensuring the shift to the “new normal” is as efficient as possible. The time to get back to what you love doing is almost here, plan accordingly and let your members know you are still there!
Looking for more information? Check out our coronavirus resources page.