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Catherine Green

Deputy editor, Voice of San Diego

catherine@vosd.org; @c_s_green

NOT GREAT

SO GREAT

VOSD STAFF

CEO

V.P.

Director of Corporate Development

Membership & Events Manager

Part-Time Program Manager

Managing Editor

Deputy Editor

5 Full-Time Reporters and 4 Freelance Reporters

2 Paid Editorial Interns

VOSD REVENUE

$1.6 million revenue this year

Foundations: 38%

Major Donors ($5,000+): 35%

Individual Members ($35-$5,000): 15% (1,971 members)

Community Partners, Media Partners, Sponsors: 12%

BASICALLY CRUSHIN’ IT

THE KEY QUESTIONS

Do you need the money?

Do you have a loyal audience who appreciates your work and

recognizes that you’re producing it?

Do you, or can you, collect their contact info so you can email

them?

Can you commit to managing a relationship with members?

SURVEYS + FOCUS GROUPS

News consumption habits: How often, what topics, what device?

Qualities: What do they value most about your organization?

What is your most popular product?

What would motivate them to support you?

Demographics: Sex, ethnicity, age, education, employment, income,

neighborhood or ZIP code

Affinities/hobbies: What do they do? What do they care about?

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

People didn’t understand the nonprofit news model.

They didn’t know how they could help.

They didn’t know the difference between being a member and a

subscriber.

We had done a great job telling other people’s stories but never took

the time to craft or tell the VOSD story.

OUR STORY

Voice of San Diego is a member-based nonprofit

investigative news organization that gives concerned

citizens the tools they need to engage in important

conversations about their community. We are unlike

any news outlet in San Diego because we dig deeper

to uncover the truth and devote the time necessary to

turn the chaos of news into a story people can access

and understand.

OUR STORY, CONTINUED

We believe concerned residents are the true Voice of

San Diego and it’s their collective voice we represent

in our honest and irreverent approach to reporting. We

are building a community of educated San Diegans

who dare to ask tough questions and demand

answers. Join our community and Raise Your Voice by

becoming a sustaining member today.

STEP ONE : DEVELOP YOUR BRAND + THEME

Raise Your Voice membership program –“I am the Voice of San Diego.”

STEP TWO: ITEMIZE YOUR EXISTING INVENTORY

Web content

Newsletters

News alerts

Magazine

Events

Access and experiences

STEP THREE: DETERMINE NEW MEMBER

EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS

Member Report – weekly email blast from CEO

Inside Scoop – preview of big investigations

One Voice at a Time conversation series

Brews & News panel discussions

VOSD Quarterly Magazine

VOSD Roundtable – high-level donors

STEP FOUR: PACKAGE YOUR BENEFITS

Conversation Starter - $35-$100Special delivery of: Morning Report, Culture Report, Inside Scoop and Member Report. Invitation to member events including Member Coffees and Brews & News and special recognition on our website.

Inside Voice - $101-$500All the above, plus a subscription to VOSD Quarterly magazine, free admission to One Voice at a Time and Meeting of the Minds events.

TOP-TIER BENEFITS

Speaking Up - $501-$1,000All of the above, plus a household membership and a free ad to plug your favorite cause on the VOSD website and magazine.

Loud & Clear - $1,001-$5,000All of the above, plus special invitation to a roundtable discussion and dinner with VOSD board members and the VOSD Experience member outing, sponsor VOSD memberships for local classroom or group.

PRO-TIPS

Choose benefits you can easily fulfill.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Assign fulfillment to someone and hold them

accountable.

Research and get to know members.

CATEGORIZE THE PIPELINE: FROM POTENTIALS

TO MEMBERS

Informed: people who read our content on the website

Involved: people who subscribe to our newsletters or

comment on our site

Invested: people who give us money

BUILD YOUR DATABASE

Make sure you’re collecting and storing as much information as possible about members and potential members:

• First and last name

• Email addresses

• ZIP codes

• Affinities and content preferences

• Event attendance

• Affiliations

BUT HOW?

Develop methods for capturing this data:

• Require subscriptions for email blasts

• Require registration for online commenters

• Require pre-registration for events

• Capture info at events with sign-up sheets

• Encourage social media followers to sign-up for

special offerings

• Add design elements on site to entice sign-ups

MANAGE YOUR TECH

WordPress: web platform

Givalike: donation processor

MailChimp: email provider

Predictive Response: automated renewal emails

Eventbrite: event registration

Survey Monkey: surveys

SalesForce: customer relationship management (CRM)

PRO-TIPS

Hire a CRM consultant

Learn from best practices

Don’t discount the importance of customer

relationship management

Maintain a clean database

RECRUITMENT GOALS

Determine membership revenue goal ($230,000)

Determine how many new members you need each

month (60 new members)

Renew existing members (80 percent retention rate)

Track progress with solid metrics

MEMBERSHIP BREAKDOWN

TARGETED COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Potential members:

• Three emails per month (emotional, intellectual, competitive approaches)

Existing members:

• 90, 60, 30 day renewal reminders

• “We miss you” expired donors

• Lapsed donor phone calls

• Quarterly campaigns (Spring, Politifest, Year-End)

USE EVENTS TO CULTIVATE MEMBERSHIP

Create events that can bring your stories to life.

Heavily promote events to member community and

beyond to raise awareness.

Include audience engagement opportunities.

Encourage existing members to bring guests.

Give special benefits to members: discounted or free

admission, etc.

Work toward more members-only events.

MEETING OF THE MINDS

ONE VOICE AT A TIME INTERVIEW SERIES

BREWS + NEWS PANEL DISCUSSIONS

POLITIFEST CIVICS FESTIVAL

WEAVE MARKETING INTO YOUR JOURNALISM

Don’t freak out!

Remind people you are nonprofit, member-based

Weave membership “ask” into all personal appearances

Place “donate” option at end of articles

Remind people of your impact (quarterly emails to major

donors)

INCORPORATE MEMBERS INTO WEBSITE

WEAVING MARKETING INTO JOURNALISM

Include pitches at the end of articles:

REMEMBER WHO YOU’RE SERVING

“The attributes of a person who contributes to political

campaigns, who wants to change the world, who

cares passionately about the community – that’s

the kind of person who gives.”

-Evan Smith

Texas Tribune CEO and Editor in Chief

Questions? Wanna chat?

catherine@vosd.org

@c_s_green