The strongest newsrooms are rooted in community — so much so that a community is willing to fund it.
Membership programs are the lifeblood of nonprofits. But, unfortunately, many programs are about to be hit by a bus.
If folks only consume news on social, how to we get them to donate? If chatbots summarize your newsroom’s work, how will readers know your organization is the source? If newsletters go away — and Gen Z reading habits suggest they will — will email appeals go up in flames?
I believe membership programs should be panicking. Not so much that you can’t get anything done, but enough to put a fire under you. That’s why I take a different approach.
Experiment. Then experiment again. Then again. Do it so much it becomes second nature. Try new things. Analyzing results. Apply learnings.
That keeps a newsroom flexible. That creates the nonprofit of the future.
And I know it works. This approach is how I grew The Colorado Sun’s membership revenue by 12%,turning it into a $2 million program. And grew members by 18%, now with more than 17,000 supporters, in one year.
If you’d like to know more, shoot me an email at danikaworthington@gmail.com.
The gist of how I do membership:
- Always have an experiment running
- Love on analytics and use past results to create stronger campaigns, while making sure there’s still room for nuance
- Create new giving opportunities, such as valentine’s day cards or social media fundraisers
- Engage and cultivate members — through emails, events, the website and more — to deeper your relationship and increase retention
- Show some personality. Let folks get to know you, your reporters, your editors and your newsroom.
- Always remember that members are the core of an organization. We wouldn’t exist without them. So if you haven’t recently, thank them.
