Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Membership Fees

Author

Message

DramaGal
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 7/13/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Topic: Membership Fees
Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:09am

I am on the board of a very small, completely volunteer, community theatre in Michigan. For a least the past 10 years we have only charged a $5 membership fee- this year we are raising it to $10 and some people are complaining and saying they won't pay. They are asking why it's being raised and what do they get for thier $10. I don't think it's all that much and administrative costs alone can account ofor the extra expense. Plus they get a free ticket for thier membership ($10 value)! Thoughts? What's the norm for charges and what you get for the cost as a member? Our annual membership meeting (free food) is this Sunday and we need to resolve this issue quickly- oh, and get this- the people who won't pay plan on coming to the meeting! What part of membership meeting don't they understand? I'm becomeing a very frustrated volunteer.

DramaGal

IP Logged

dougb
Celebrity

Joined: 3/30/04
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 148

Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:40am

There are many benefits to membership. First: It costs so much to run your organization - that money can come from ticket sales, memberships, grants and donations. We all have problems with coming up with enough money and the ticket prices seem to keep going up. If you get twice as much money from memberships, it reduces the pressure to raise the ticket prices enabling more people to afford to attend your shows. If your ticket prices get too high you will lose audience undoing much of the reason raising them.

Secondly, there are not many people who can not afford another five dollars for membership. But there are some who can't. There are some who can't even afford five dollars. These are people who won't be able to see your shows if you have to raise ticket prices by two or three dollars to balance the budget. Our local theater charges $40 for a membership - they get about 1/3 of their revenue from memberships. I don't get $40 worth of benefit but it keeps ticket prices down for everyone.

Thirdly, my membership lets me participate in the future of the theater by voting for the Board and serving on committees and the Board itself.

Finally, I don't believe giving away something for the membership. A free ticket equal to the membership fee nets the theater nothing!! If I got a free ticket (worth $10) for a $10 membership what has the theater really gained if I would have seen the production anyway?

Okay, I'll get down off my soap box.

Before I forget, our local theater charges $3 more for a non-member ticket. $16 vs $13.

IP Logged

Kathy S
Celebrity

Joined: 8/21/04
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 303

Posted: 7/13/05 at 9:24pm

We pay $25 for an annual membership and get first chance to buy reserved tickets for every show before they are offered to the general public. We get a newsletter about 4 times a year, we get to go to the awards night and annual meeting and vote for board members. We get a warm fuzzy feeling for helping to keep our community theatre growing. And that's priceless!

Nothing free..no free tickets or discounts on them. But there are a good many people who are willing to do this because they appreciate having a community theatre in the area.

IP Logged

gebbysmith
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 7/17/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 7/17/05 at 2:35pm

Thanks. I am trying to decide whether or not to chatge a membership fee...now I think I will suggest that we ask for a $25 membership fee.

Gebby

IP Logged

DramaGal
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 7/13/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 7/18/05 at 11:30am

Thanks for your replies. I'll bring your thoughts to our next board meeting. We had our general membership meeting and there were four long-time members who were vocal in their complaints, but everyone else was fairly incredulous that we even had to justify such a small fee. We said we'd re-examine the fee at the meeting, but after hearing most of our members thoughts and yours, I think we'd go the direction of raising rather then lowering the fee if we changed it. One member said she'd pay $100 to be a part of our group- another member thought that was a good idea and made a $100 donation!

DramaGal

IP Logged

jimfloyd
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 7/25/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 7/25/05 at 8:54pm

We started a membership drive last year, with
contributions ranging from $25 to $500. No tangible
benefits other than supporting our very small, but
30-year-old nonprofit. Currently, the contributions
greatly help our cash flow. Over the long run, we'll be
able to improve our sets and purchase items to
enhance our productions.

IP Logged

basscase
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 8/04/05
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 8/04/05 at 8:34pm

In our theatre everyone must pay membership dues to prove that they are part of the theatre for insuance purposes.

IP Logged

Wishbone
Player
Player

Joined: 8/05/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 22

Posted: 8/26/05 at 2:03pm

I think it is a good idea to make it higher. I suggest $20. I think that twenty is a good price that most people can pay.

Wishbone

IP Logged

johncamp
Walk-On
Walk-On

Joined: 7/28/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0

Posted: 8/26/05 at 4:01pm

We recently added a $30 membership fee for anyone who was cast in a play. This was a compromise for another plan that said you had to pay dues to be a voting member. The question of "what do I get from it?" did come up. Our board came out with a statement the dues did not pay for anything specifically but went into the general fund. I like the concept of the membership for insurance idea. Most of our diehard member?s immediate paid the dues as a matter of principle. Bottom line it was of little consequence except to our budget, which only helped. I also think it strengthens a volunteers commitment if they pay dues.

johnc

IP Logged

pauliebonn
Star
Star

Joined: 4/15/05
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 62

Posted: 9/03/05 at 2:14am

We used to charge $8 for family/ $5 for single memberships. We now charge a flat fee of $15. We do give the mambership a ticket for their donation, but not alot use it for that.

IP Logged

Closed Topics ( Forum Locked)
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Archives :Closed Topics

Author	Message
DramaGal Walk-On Joined: 7/13/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: Membership Fees Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:09am
	I am on the board of a very small, completely volunteer, community theatre in Michigan. For a least the past 10 years we have only charged a $5 membership fee- this year we are raising it to $10 and some people are complaining and saying they won't pay. They are asking why it's being raised and what do they get for thier $10. I don't think it's all that much and administrative costs alone can account ofor the extra expense. Plus they get a free ticket for thier membership ($10 value)! Thoughts? What's the norm for charges and what you get for the cost as a member? Our annual membership meeting (free food) is this Sunday and we need to resolve this issue quickly- oh, and get this- the people who won't pay plan on coming to the meeting! What part of membership meeting don't they understand? I'm becomeing a very frustrated volunteer.
	DramaGal

	IP Logged

dougb Celebrity Joined: 3/30/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 148	Posted: 7/13/05 at 11:40am
	There are many benefits to membership. First: It costs so much to run your organization - that money can come from ticket sales, memberships, grants and donations. We all have problems with coming up with enough money and the ticket prices seem to keep going up. If you get twice as much money from memberships, it reduces the pressure to raise the ticket prices enabling more people to afford to attend your shows. If your ticket prices get too high you will lose audience undoing much of the reason raising them. Secondly, there are not many people who can not afford another five dollars for membership. But there are some who can't. There are some who can't even afford five dollars. These are people who won't be able to see your shows if you have to raise ticket prices by two or three dollars to balance the budget. Our local theater charges $40 for a membership - they get about 1/3 of their revenue from memberships. I don't get $40 worth of benefit but it keeps ticket prices down for everyone. Thirdly, my membership lets me participate in the future of the theater by voting for the Board and serving on committees and the Board itself. Finally, I don't believe giving away something for the membership. A free ticket equal to the membership fee nets the theater nothing!! If I got a free ticket (worth $10) for a $10 membership what has the theater really gained if I would have seen the production anyway? Okay, I'll get down off my soap box. Before I forget, our local theater charges $3 more for a non-member ticket. $16 vs $13.
	IP Logged

Kathy S Celebrity Joined: 8/21/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 303	Posted: 7/13/05 at 9:24pm
	We pay $25 for an annual membership and get first chance to buy reserved tickets for every show before they are offered to the general public. We get a newsletter about 4 times a year, we get to go to the awards night and annual meeting and vote for board members. We get a warm fuzzy feeling for helping to keep our community theatre growing. And that's priceless! Nothing free..no free tickets or discounts on them. But there are a good many people who are willing to do this because they appreciate having a community theatre in the area.
	IP Logged

gebbysmith Walk-On Joined: 7/17/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 7/17/05 at 2:35pm
	Thanks. I am trying to decide whether or not to chatge a membership fee...now I think I will suggest that we ask for a $25 membership fee.
	Gebby
	IP Logged

DramaGal Walk-On Joined: 7/13/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 7/18/05 at 11:30am
	Thanks for your replies. I'll bring your thoughts to our next board meeting. We had our general membership meeting and there were four long-time members who were vocal in their complaints, but everyone else was fairly incredulous that we even had to justify such a small fee. We said we'd re-examine the fee at the meeting, but after hearing most of our members thoughts and yours, I think we'd go the direction of raising rather then lowering the fee if we changed it. One member said she'd pay $100 to be a part of our group- another member thought that was a good idea and made a $100 donation!
	DramaGal
	IP Logged

jimfloyd Walk-On Joined: 7/25/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 7/25/05 at 8:54pm
	We started a membership drive last year, with contributions ranging from $25 to $500. No tangible benefits other than supporting our very small, but 30-year-old nonprofit. Currently, the contributions greatly help our cash flow. Over the long run, we'll be able to improve our sets and purchase items to enhance our productions.
	IP Logged

basscase Walk-On Joined: 8/04/05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 8/04/05 at 8:34pm
	In our theatre everyone must pay membership dues to prove that they are part of the theatre for insuance purposes.
	IP Logged

Wishbone Player Joined: 8/05/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 22	Posted: 8/26/05 at 2:03pm
	I think it is a good idea to make it higher. I suggest $20. I think that twenty is a good price that most people can pay. Wishbone
	IP Logged

johncamp Walk-On Joined: 7/28/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 8/26/05 at 4:01pm
	We recently added a $30 membership fee for anyone who was cast in a play. This was a compromise for another plan that said you had to pay dues to be a voting member. The question of "what do I get from it?" did come up. Our board came out with a statement the dues did not pay for anything specifically but went into the general fund. I like the concept of the membership for insurance idea. Most of our diehard member?s immediate paid the dues as a matter of principle. Bottom line it was of little consequence except to our budget, which only helped. I also think it strengthens a volunteers commitment if they pay dues.
	johnc
	IP Logged

pauliebonn Star Joined: 4/15/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 62	Posted: 9/03/05 at 2:14am
	We used to charge $8 for family/ $5 for single memberships. We now charge a flat fee of $15. We do give the mambership a ticket for their donation, but not alot use it for that.
	IP Logged

Topic: Membership Fees( Topic Closed)