We’re excited to share that the Mississippi Children’s Museum has launched their new Digital Membership initiative with Cuseum.
Exploratorium Launches New Digital Memberships with Cuseum!
We’re psyched to announce that San Francisco’s premier museum of science and technology, the Exploratorium, has launched their Digital Membership cards with Cuseum.
Powerhouse Science Center Gets New Digital Membership Initiative Off the Ground
We’re so excited to announce that the Powerhouse Science Center has released their new Digital Membership cards this week.
Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens Initiates New Digital Membership Program
We’re stoked to announce the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ new Digital Membership initiative went live yesterday!
University of Tennessee Alumni Association Launched New Digital Alumni Cards
We are thrilled to announce that the University of Tennessee Alumni Association has joined the Cuseum family, with the launch of their Digital Membership Cards for alumni.
Looking to Make the Most of Your Digital Membership Program? The Analytics Dashboard Can Help
For organizations who have launched Digital Membership initiatives with Cuseum, one of the easiest ways to make more data-driven decisions and to accelerate your transition to a more efficient membership program is to add on Cuseum’s Digital Membership Analytics Dashboard. From keeping you updated on your card adoption rates, giving you insight into different membership levels, and helping you understand the effectiveness of your own member communications, the analytics dashboard can help facilitate a smooth switch to digital!
5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Digital Membership Card Adoption Rates
Congratulations – your Digital Membership program is up and running! Now, you want to ensure your valued membership base gets the news, and is fully empowered to install their digital card and access their membership benefits.
If you’re looking to increase the adoption rate of your digital membership cards after you launch, here are 5 easy communication strategies that can help set you and your members up for success with digital!
7 Reasons to Launch Digital Memberships During COVID-19 (and Closures!)
The COVID-19 pandemic has been full of stops and starts for cultural institutions. Depending on their location, public health guidelines, and the type of organization, museums, zoos, aquariums, and gardens may be facing difficulties like capacity limitations, intermittent closures, operations challenges, and more. Membership and development departments have been hit particularly hard. From keeping up with membership card fulfillment during extended remote work, struggling with tight budgets and staff cuts, declining renewal rates, managing membership extensions, maintaining communication with members, to facilitating a positive onsite experience, membership departments have faced no shortage of setbacks throughout the pandemic.
Whether your museum is fully reopened, yet to reopen, or anywhere in between, Digital Membership Cards can help. Read on to discover 7 ways digital memberships are helping organizations adapt their membership program in the age of COVID-19:
Introducing a New Partnership: Cuseum & accesso
Partnerships have long been the backbone of the arts and cultural sector. Now, amidst the challenges related to COVID-19 and adapting to the “new normal”, partnerships are increasingly important to the continued success of museums and cultural attractions.
At Cuseum, we’re always excited to establish partnerships that can expand the offerings and opportunities available to the diverse organizations we work with. Now, more than ever, we’re committed to supporting museums, attractions, and nonprofits of all kinds as they rethink the visitor experience and introduce “contactless” options that can make visiting safe and seamless for guests. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce our partnership with accesso Technology Group (LON:ACSO), a premier technology solutions provider for attractions and venues worldwide.
Coronavirus: The Unexpected Driver of Digital Innovation at Museums and Cultural Attractions
COVID-19 brought much of the world to a standstill. As the government implemented stay at home orders, museums and tourist attractions dutifully closed their doors. After the initial days and weeks of closures, what seemed like a temporary situation began to set in as a new reality, and new concerns seized the attention of the entire cultural industry – what will the future hold?
Oregon State University Alumni Association Announces New Digital Membership Cards!
Cuseum is glad to announce The Oregon State University Alumni Association has launched their digital membership cards!
Webinar Highlights: Membership Mondays: Membership Marketing, Audience Shifts & Community Engagement after Coronavirus
After almost two months of coronavirus closures, many museums and cultural organizations are preparing to welcome visitors and members back. However, while organizations may be reopening, many are doing so in a graduated way and facing new challenges. In particular, many are realizing that tourism will be down for quite some time, which has the potential to profoundly affect admissions and membership revenue. At the same time, cultural organizations may have renewed appeal to local audiences as the world embraces a “stay local” or “staycation” mentality for the foreseeable future.
Last Monday, 1,600 people joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Growth and Partnerships @ Cuseum), Tim O’Connell (Director of Membership & Annual Giving @ North Carolina Museum of Art), Julie Knight (Director of Membership @ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Sewon Barrera (Digital Marketing Manager @ Exploratorium) & Daniel Vincent (Director of Membership @ Trustees of Reservations) as they discussed shifts in audiences and membership marketing strategy in light of coronavirus. The webinar addressed how organizations can reorient the value propositions of membership and double down on local audience development to survive and thrive in the coronavirus era.
Watch the full recording here.
Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from the conversation:
Webinar Highlights: Membership Mondays: Reimagining Revenue Streams & Events
Due to COVID-19, many museums and cultural organizations are facing significant disruptions to revenue with the absence of gate attendance and on-site purchases. From membership extensions, halted acquisition campaigns, canceled events, to public funding cuts, many other traditional revenue streams have also been interrupted. Even as organizations prepare to reopen and welcome members back, traditional events and other common revenue sources may be diminished or even off the table entirely for quite some time.
Despite the challenges, by rethinking the membership business model, initiating virtual events, and seeking out new revenue opportunities, membership departments and cultural institutions have the potential to bounce back, and membership can continue to be a primary revenue stream.
Over 2,000 guests joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Growth and Partnerships @ Cuseum), Claire Byfield (Membership Manager: Engagement @ British Museum), Tom Knowles (Membership Events Manager @ British Museum) & Rosie Siemer (Founder & CEO @ FIVESEED Membership Consulting) as they discussed how membership, revenue, and events can be reimagined to bolster museums and ensure their financial health going into the future.
View the video recording here.
Read the top takeaways below!
Webinar Transcript: Membership Mondays: Reimagining Revenue Streams & Events
Due to COVID-19, many museums and cultural organizations are facing significant disruptions to revenue with the absence of gate attendance and on-site purchases. From membership extensions, halted acquisition campaigns, canceled events, to public funding cuts, many other traditional revenue streams have also been interrupted. Even as organizations prepare to reopen and welcome members back, traditional events and other common revenue sources may be diminished or even off the table entirely for quite some time.
Despite the challenges, by rethinking the membership business model, initiating virtual events, and seeking out new revenue opportunities, membership departments and cultural institutions have the potential to bounce back, and membership can continue to be a primary revenue stream.
Over 2,000 guests joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Growth and Partnerships @ Cuseum), Claire Byfield (Membership Manager: Engagement @ British Museum), Tom Knowles (Membership Events Manager @ British Museum) & Rosie Siemer (Founder & CEO @ FIVESEED Membership Consulting) as they discussed how membership, revenue, and events can be reimagined to bolster museums and ensure their financial health going into the future.
How Museums & Attractions are Increasing Safety and Convenience with “Contactless” Experiences
Before the vast majority of the world’s museums and attractions were forced to temporarily close due the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting a museum was often a very social experience, involving various person-to-person interactions. From exchanges at the admissions and membership desks, interactions with fellow patrons, and special experiences involving touch screens or hands-on activities, moving through a museum previously put guests in close contact with shared devices as well as other visitors and staff.
Now, as we enter an era of social distancing, institutions are rethinking various aspects of the museum experience. New statewide regulations on sharing materials such as maps and traditional audio guides are affecting the traditional standards in which museums will operate in the upcoming months and years. As the shift to a “contactless” approach emerges, institutions are looking at ways to leverage technology to continue to bring modern conveniences and a safe experience to their visitors.
Webinar Highlights: Membership Mondays: Fulfillment, Renewals & Budgets in Membership During Coronavirus
It’s been over a month since many museums, zoos, and aquariums first closed down their physical sites due to coronavirus. This “new normal” has presented certain challenges, and many organizations are working to adapt their workflows to the current reality. In particular, many membership professionals are struggling with managing membership fulfillment, renewals, and reduced budgets from their home offices.
Over 1000 guests joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Partnerships @ Cuseum), Alice Stryker (Director, Individual Giving @ Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum), & Kimberly Kirkhart (Director of Membership @ Santa Barbara Zoo) as they discussed how they are adapting workflows and reallocating resources to stay on top of essential membership operations during this time.
How Museums Are Leveraging Digital Membership During COVID-19
Right now, many museums, zoos, and cultural organizations have been closed for nearly a month and are predicted to be closed for more weeks to months to come. This “new normal” has presented new challenges, and many museums are working to adapt their workflows to the current reality.
In particular, with the majority of membership departments currently working remotely, it is becoming increasingly difficult to adhere to the traditional methods of membership outreach. Membership departments are working harder than ever to fulfill membership cards, send out renewals, stay on top of gift processing and acknowledgment letters, and maintain a line of communication. At the same time, the lack of access to printers and materials, combined with the uncertainty around membership expiration dates, is making it nearly impossible for membership professionals to effectively execute the fulfillment process from home.
Digital Membership is one way to remove the burden from the membership fulfillment process while also providing institutions with a channel to quickly and easily distribute information to their constituents.
Webinar Highlights: Membership Mondays: Expanding The Member Experience During Coronavirus
As museums continue to prolong their physical closures due to coronavirus, membership and development professionals are encountering new challenges. Now that in-person visits and special exhibition tickets can no longer serve as a primary benefit to members, how do membership professionals expand, augment and/or transform the member experience?
This week over 800 museum professionals joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Partnerships @ Cuseum), Jennifer Stone (Membership Manager @ Denver Museum of Nature & Science) & Chelsea Graham Jackson (Assistant Director of Membership @ Cleveland Museum of Art) as they discussed how the member experience might be expanded, especially through digital offerings, during coronavirus closures.
Watch the full video recording.
View the top takeaways below!
Webinar Transcript: Membership Mondays: Reinforcing the Value of Membership During Coronavirus
As the perpetual state of Coronavirus uncertainty continues to loom over us, cultural organizations have never faced prolonged, unplanned, closures in the way we are now. Historically, the majority of closures are brief, lasting for a few days or even weeks. Yet with no end in sight, cultural organizations are facing an entirely new, unprecedented challenge.
For many organizations who depend on income from on-site purchases like admission tickets, special exhibitions, and gift shop sales, the membership department is one of the only sources of income at the moment. In a time, however, when members cannot physically come on-site, the question becomes, how do we reinforce the value of being a member?
This past Monday, over 700 membership and museum professionals joined Ash Harris (Vice President of Guest Experience @ San Antonio Zoo), Kelli Buchan (Director of Membership @ The Franklin Institute) and Dan Sullivan (Head of Partnerships @ Cuseum), as they discuss ways that you can continue to reinforce the value of your membership, even when members cannot visit on site.
Watch the full recording here.
Read the full transcript below:
How Colleges and Universities Turn to Digital to Enhance Alumni Engagement
More than ever before, ensuring alumni engagement and career success are top priorities for colleges and universities. Indeed, as higher education enrollments continue to fall and universities feel heightened pressure to bring in more revenue, active alumni networks not only help institutions of higher education cultivate a compelling brand, but also serve as a vital source of financial support for colleges.
According to the latest findings by Salesforce, “the advancement office is fundamental to institutional growth and development” at universities. Additionally, advancement and development staff rely heavily on the generosity and giving of alumni to achieve their fundraising goals and keep their institutions vibrant and afloat.