Hi fellow organizers...
I've got a question about membership...
1. If you have membership, what are its perks (to the dancer and also to the wider community if you promote that)
2. If you have membership AND sliding scale at the door, how does that work?
Backgrounder:
- Our door fee has been $12 regular // $10 members and students // 16 and under free)... .... we also have a seasons pass which includes membership and is where dancers pay for the whole season in advance (there's a bit of a discount).
- Membership is $30 (for about 25+ events); we also have sustaining membership at $50 for those who want to support the organization even more.
- We typically have 80-100 members a year.
- We promote membership as not only a way for dancers to get a $2 discount on each dance and get a cool button but that it's also a way to really support the organization's work. It allows us to take risks in programming (family dance series; afternoon dance workshops) and to strengthen the community in other ways (e.g., musician/caller workshops).
We're thinking of changing our door entry fees and I'd like us to consider a sliding scale. Maybe something like suggested fee of $12-16, $10 low income, $6 12-16yrs old... ... also include messaging about the cost of the dance. BUUUT... it seems like if we do sliding scale, the membership perk of $2 off/dance is naturally removed.
I'd like to hope that we could keep our 80-100 members if we put the membership at say $20 and really promoted the the community betterment piece. But I'm not sure... ... ...
Thoughts? Other member perks to build in that aren't directly $$ related?
With thanks!
Emily with Ottawa Contra