I recently heard a news story that Generation X struggles the most with debt. This sandwich generation started out in the workforce during the Dot-Com bubble-and-burst and then faced the Great Recession. They are caring for parents who are living longer and have children living at home longer. The personal finance experts being interviewed recommended scheduling automatic payments where possible to help with maintaining a budget and consistent cash flow (and avoid late fees).
This had me thinking about how our clients could help members, donors, and other customer who may be in a similar pinch. Looking at my own bank statements, there’s a lot going out end of year. Shopping for gifts, holiday meals, travel, year-end donations for my favorite causes, my $500 annual dues…my $10.99 streaming subscription. That bigger annual dues amount can be a big ask when it comes at a time that the customer or donor has a lot of other things going on that aren’t directly tied to the membership or cause. A smaller, regular payment can be easier on the budget.
In our on-demand webinar, we talk about installment payments, recurring gifts, and pledges. We encourage you to consider the tools available not by their name or module, but by the solutions they can provide your members.
Here are a few netFORUM tools we will touch on that can help you help your members:
Fundraising
We’ve all heard that recurring donors give more over time, are more loyal, and are easier to retain than one-time gifts. To boot, recurring gifts is more reliable cash in-take.
We are talking about recurring gifts and pledges in netFORUM including setting them up and some pros and cons of each.
Don’t manage a foundation, but still curious how recurring revenue may apply to your organization? Watch our on-demand webinar to find out!
Membership
Consumers have grown accustomed to monthly fees. Consider streaming music and tv, your cell phone coverage, insurance. Why not membership? Would your membership be more likely to renew if they were billed a set fee each month and didn’t have to take time from their day to renew their membership?
Do you have a commitment-phobic membership prospect pool? We will explore options to invite members into the organization.
Exhibitors
Events season isn’t just for meeting planners. Exhibiting companies manage waves of exhibit shows – including large show deposits and final payments. netFORUM has long supported these milestone payments but they can be difficult to collect while creating cash flow spikes. Instead, consider creating a more consistent cash flow by allowing exhibitors to pay fees in regular payments. (If you allow payment by credit card, some exhibitors may be even more inclined to exhibit if they can earn points through lower but more frequent charges.)
Lower the barriers of entry to your members, exhibitors, donors, and more by setting up recurring gifts and installment payments. Watch our on-demand webinar where we review the following features in netFORUM Enterprise and the use cases behind implementing them:
- Installment orders
- Installment payments
- Pledges
- Recurring gifts
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