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Membership Programs

In some cases, membership programs can be helpful to attract and retain donors. These benefits need to be balanced by the real costs of benefits given and the soft costs of time to administer a membership program. If you choose to start a program, here's what you need to determine:

  1. Membership levels (e.g., $100, $500, $1000, etc.)
  2. Benefits associated with each level (e.g., $100 gets a free tshirt, $500 gets admission tickets plus the tshirt, etc.)
  3. Fair market value of the benefits (FMV is not what UVM paid for the item, but what the retail price of the item would be)
  4. Membership duration (usually the duration is "annual" and it is *best* for it to be fiscal year based or calendar year based)

Important considerations: First, be careful with the benefits you choose to give away. Will these benefits really increase membership? Are we giving too much away? Second, there are tax implications. Some benefits reduce the donor's tax deduction, so consult IRS publication 526 for more information (www.irs.gov).

Soliciting Members: Work with Alumni and Parent Programs to determine the best solicitation strategies.

Tracking Members: When pledges/gifts are received, you will have access to reports of new activity, which show you who is eligible for benefits. You can track these levels within your department or you can have access to DAR's database and track members in "Gift Clubs". Here, you would look up a donor and assign the membership level to the donor. This also allows you to assign "honorary" memberships.
See How to Track Gift Club Membership. [PDF 300K]

Membership Reports: You can view (and save/export) membership listings. See "Gift Club - Listings." If you need additional reports, you can request those as needed via "Custom Reports."