Closed Topics: Membership Fees

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Membership Fees

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Topic: Membership Fees

Posted By: DramaGal
Subject: Membership Fees
Date 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.

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DramaGal

Replies:

Posted By: dougb
Date 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.

Posted By: Kathy S
Date 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.

Posted By: gebbysmith
Date 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.

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Gebby

Posted By: DramaGal
Date 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!

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DramaGal

Posted By: jimfloyd
Date 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.

Posted By: basscase
Date 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.

Posted By: Wishbone
Date 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

Posted By: johncamp
Date 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.

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johnc

Posted By: pauliebonn
Date 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.