Managing and Tracking Your Membership

1. Managing and Tracking Your Membership

2. Webinar Panelists • Ron Puett, Kansas City Bicycle Club www.kcbc.org • Mary Derks, Twin Cities Bicycling Club www.biketcbc.org • Dan Ehrmann,ClubExpress www.clubexpress.com

3. Managing and Tracking your Membership Kansas City Bicycle Club (KCBC) • Started in 1964 • Incorporated in 1973 as not for profit • 308 members • 235 households • Membership Structure • Individual $20 • Family $25 • Sustaining $30 • Memberships for fiscal year • Filing for 501(c)3

4. Managing and Tracking your Membership Twin Cities Bicycling Club • Recreational bicycling club for Minneapolis-St. Paul area • 501(c)3 non-profit corporation • 1,700 members; 3% average annual growth • Single membership: $25/year • Household: $35/year • 2,000 rides/yr (mostly single day); 4-fold growth over past decade • $100k annual budget • www.biketcbc.org

5. 2006 LAB Club Census  • The average League-affiliated bike club has 325 members who pay $17 a year to enjoy a ride schedule of close to 250 rides in the year including one major ride that has 600 participants.  • What else did we discover about clubs? • Two-thirds are incorporated, and of those that are, one-third have 501 (c)(3) tax status. • The annual budget of the average club is around $40,000 with primary expenses being insurance, the newsletter, and ride expenses. • Only a handful of clubs don’t have a website. One-quarter of clubs have a members-only section to their site. • Three-quarters of clubs sell merchandise of some kind – most likely a jersey (more than 80% of those selling stuff) and possibly hats, socks, shorts, or jackets. • Eleven of the responding clubs had paid staff (either part time or full time) • Ten clubs had memberships of 1000 or more, with the largest being 6,800

6. Membership fees and structure • Anniversary: Membership expires on the same date that it began, in the following year. • Calendar: All memberships are for a given calendar year and expire at the end of that year, regardless of when purchased. • Membership types: Individual, household, family, student, shop, senior, service personnel, etc. • Article: Building Strong Clubs http://www.clubexpress.com/strongclubs • When was your last Fee Review date?

7. Membership drives • League support: • Exchange of mailing lists • FindIt on the League site will help let people know of your club • KCBC works with MS150 • Packet inserts for charity rides • Outreach to bike shops • Outreach to local governments and local alliances • Facebook or other online outreach

8. Membership benefits • League 100% club opportunity, adds American Bicyclist and Bicycling to the member benefits for $15 per household • Newsletters: Print or online? • Discounts on rides

9. KCBC Membership Benefits • Save money! • Discounts on entry fees to all KCBC and JCBC sponsored ride events. • The two clubs sponsor 6 rides for a potential savings of $30! • Save 10-15% on cycling products at club affiliated bicycle shops! • General Liability insurance on designated Club Rides(1) • Accident Medical insurance on designated Club Rides (2) • KCBC supports bicycling advocacy by donating every year to organizations that improve cycling • Your ride fees and membership support cycling organizations at the national, state and local levels • Access to a grass roots well-informed group to allow you to personally participate in issues that effect cycling—check the Advocacy box when you join or renew your member ship for more information • Club Merchandise • Purchase Lands End merchandise with the KCBC logo

10. KCBC Membership Benefits • Up-to-date bicycling information • Weekly and monthly ride listings of the best cycling routes in the area • E-mail delivery of the monthly KCBC award-winning newsletter • E-mail alerts of upcoming ride events • Links to other cycling resources • Access to “Members Only” section of our web site • Set the display level of your personal information on the web site • Share information in forums on web site • Social Networking • Meet other cycling enthusiasts at our rides and social events • Enjoy quarterly rides and picnics • Have fun with cycling friends at the club's annual banquet • You can contribute to KC cycling by serving on the club’s Board

11. American Specialty Insurance Benefit-All Clubs • (1)General Liability insurance—Even when you follow the rules of the road, there are risks associated with cycling.  If you injure a pedestrian or another cyclist or damage someone's property, they can sue you personally to recover damages.  The League of American Bicyclist has given us examples where this has happened, so it's not theoretical.  Your homeowner's policy may or may not cover such a lawsuit.  The club provides insurance coverage for its members (and NOT for non-members) for these types of situations, and it is provided through a company that specializes in managing exactly these types of claims.  The club's policy provides up to $1 million for an accident that occurs during a club ride (subject to a $3M annual maximum).  The policy covers both legal fees to defend you and damages should you be found liable (or if a settlement is reached). • (2)Accident Medical insurance—In addition to the liability coverage we just discussed, every member (and NOT non-members) has insurance coverage for medical bills if he or she is injured during a club ride.  This coverage pays after your own health insurance.  But, if you don't have health insurance, it can cover your bills up to $10,000 per accident after a $500 deductible.  Or, if you do have health insurance, the club's policy can help pay deductibles, co-pays, or bills not covered under that program.  In addition, in the event of a terrible accident, the policy includes a $5,000 accidental death benefit which would go to your beneficiaries if you were involved in a fatal accident.

12. Membership renewal and retention • League’s renewal process • Up to 6 mailings • Up to 6 emails • Service providers automation options • Surveying members to evaluate satisfaction and value of benefits and programs

13. Membership data and mechanics • How KCBC functioned before 2009 • Secretary picks up mail from PO Box • Records Membership information • Hand delivers checks to Treasurer each month • Resulting in significant delays in depositing checks • No automation of payment processing • Very difficult to do accurately

14. Membership data and mechanics • Issues and concerns • Officer Turnover every 2 years, at best • Each new officer did it their way; Excel, Access, or Lotus • Vacation coverage of processing • Computer crashes—are your backups current? • Labor intensive and tied to Treasurer’s duties • Who picked up the mail, deposited the checks, updated the membership listing • Manual Forms Illegible • Manual data entry

15. Membership data and mechanics • Service Provider review with fellow club • Service Provider for membership function and others • Wild Apricot found • Contacted fellow bike club user • Took advantage of trial membership • Goals • Standard system for all to learn • Build knowledge base over years given turnover • Software designed for club’s needs • Automation of payment process and posting to membership data base • Other features considered gravy—until we saw them

16. Original benefits desired • Standard System for all to learn • Build knowledge base over years • Software designed for clubs needs • Automation of payment process and posting to membership data base. However, once on the system we noticed Supplementary Benefits

17. Supplementary Benefits • “Cloud” approach to data storage • Forced capture of information at time of registration: • Those interested in; serving on Board, volunteers, racing, members’ skill sets. • On-line membership reports • No need to print and mail a Membership Directory. No need to track those that don’t want to be listed in Membership Directory. Users set this. • Automated renewal notices—set times for software to generate • After one year, snail mail near zero—less manual work for Board member(s) • System used to list events, i.e. pay rides • On-line history spanning years • Prior year pre-registration amounts • Ease of second year web ride generation • Cut and paste from prior year-change dates • In 2010, greater than 50% pre-register for rides • Reduces work at ride registration • Untouched as of yet, Donations/Fundraising feature of software—Topic for future webinar

18. System Goals - TCBC • Each member has their own account. • Facilities waiver signing, volunteering, mileage tracking, event registration, etc. • Sign waiver online as part of registration/renewal. • Centralized processing. • Auto-backups; minimal maintenance by club. • Multiple access – shared workload by volunteers. • Member self-service • Volunteer recruitment. • Improved data integrity. • Easy to use!

19. Membership Data “Cloud” President V.P. Treasurer Board Members login from home or anywhere internet access is available

20. Membership Reporting

21. Membership Tracking • Note: Total Contacts drives Wild Apricot fees

22. Members set their own disclosure of information—No required Membership Directory

24. Draw backs • If members don’t have an email account, this system does not work well for them. • Members must login to see Member Only information, set passwords, renew membership, view directory. • Decision on printing Newsletters going forward—paper people.

25. Membership data conversion—ClubExpress • Configuration first • Prepare the online system to accept data • Member types • Club-specific data elements • Interests (types of rides, skill level, pace group, etc.) • Data load • Export from your current system into Excel • Data cleanup • Send to us to import for you • Including non-member mailing list • Included in our fees

26. Added Registration Fields

27. Known System Options: • Z2 Neon, www.z2systems.com • ClubExpress, www.clubexpress.com • Wild Apricot, www.wildapricot.com • If others, please let us know

28. Fee Schedule: Wild Apricot • Based on Total Contacts (counted as members or event participants), tiered fee schedule: • Trial 30 Days, 500 contacts, Free • Free, with ads, up to 50 contacts • Group, up to 250 contacts, $25/month • Community, up to 500 contacts, $50/month • Professional, up to 2,000 contacts, $100/month • Enterprise, up to 15,000 contacts, $200/month

29. Fee Schedule: ClubExpress • One-time setup fee $150.00 • Member Fee $0.40/Month (active members only) • ½ for additional family members who need the ability to login • No fee for family members who don’t need login • No fee for non-member mailing list (event registrants, etc.) • Discounts for clubs > 500 members • Includes everything: • Hosting • All modules • Unlimited pages, documents, photos, videos, bandwidth • Unlimited blast emails • Unlimited toll-free support for admins & members • Additional fee options • New member packets, logistics, etc.

30. Fee Schedule: Z2 Neon • $540/yr for up to 1,000 members. • $895 setup fee • No hidden fees

31. Fees • If using Active.com, transactions costs will go down if using Wild Apricot or ClubExpress. • Active.com $3 per transaction vs. PayPal rates of $1.03 to $1.17 • ClubExpress offers a built-in merchant account • All allow you to use your own

32. Questions:

33. Follow up Questions Ron Puett (816) 213-2341ronpuett@swbell.net Mary Derks (651) 335-6505 maryderks@yahoo.com Dan Ehrmann (847) 255-0210 dan@clubexpress.com