Establish membership levels
Closed this issue · 10 comments
Over in #120, I put a bunch of notes comparing some membership levels on orgs that came to mind. Let's use this issue to synthesize that and do an even better job.
V1: Simple membership levels.
V2: Schwag (sweatshirts/hats/stickers/etc).
We just need to figure out what these levels are, and then we can make forms for it over in: #131
Individual Membership Levels:
Non-members get:
- 5 docket alerts (or 15 if install RECAP)
- Unlimited daily search alerts
- No real-time search alerts
Tier 1 - $10/monthly or $120/annual
- Unlimited docket alerts (currently costs $5/month - will need to deal with increase or grandfather in or lower to $5/month)
- Unlimited real-time search alerts (currently costs $10/year - will also need to deal with increase)
- Stickers (Welcome packet??)
Tier 2 - $25/monthly or $250/annual
- Tier 1 benefits
- What else can we give???
Tier 3 - $50/monthly or $500 annual
Tier 4 - $100/monthly or $1000/annual
Tier 5 - $500/monthly or $5000/annual
Platinum - $10,000+ annual
Eventually add schwag - t-shirts, totebags, hoodie, what else? and need to find source for reasonably priced drop ship on demand
Brainstorm ideas:
- Recognition on website??
- Inclusion in a membership directory?
**I think this is a new feature - can set up as an annual membership with monthly payments - maybe for the higher levels? Tier 3+? Leaving Tiers 1 & 2 as monthly memberships. I like the annual membership, paid in monthly installments - particularly for the higher swag levels. Concerns - can we effectively track if they stop paying to turn off features on website?
We'll grandfather the $5/month folks, but maybe we can urge them to upgrade by asking nicely. Why not? We're a non-profit!
One more thing to think about is that we're about to add RECAP Search Alerts, which are a BIG deal. I think they're enough to say that $10/month is the new price for real time search alerts (except for those grandfathered in), and it includes RECAP Alerts.
So that'd be:
- Non-members: Only Weekly RECAP Search Alerts
- All other tiers: Count of real time RECAP search alerts allowed is 2× their monthly price. So, if you pay $10/month, you get 20 alerts.
As for extra bonuses...I don't know. More schwag is the usual thing. I'm not sure if orgs/people want public recognition, but sure, if you contribute upwards of $5k, we can offer that, why not.
Probably worth some creativity here, and I'm bad at that and out of juices for the day. We could look around a bit though and see what else comes up.
Print on Demand Swag options to research:
- https://www.swagmagic.com/ - has API access via Zapier
- https://www.swagup.com - recommended by Tim Sarantino (might be more than we need - they do have great boxes that might be useful down the road)
- https://www.spokecustom.com/ - print on demand & API
- https://www.covver.io - at a quick look this might be a good option.
- axomo
Ideally solution will:
- integrate via API
- sustainable - allowing individuals to pick their items or turn them down (too much swag is just thrown away)
- one sustainable option is having codes sent via email or postcard and then people go to the website to order or choose to donate the cost back.
- easy-to-use portal and ordering
- no monthly cost for platform - easy monthly billing
- print & ship on demand
- cost, quality & customer service top priority
I mean, being able to automatically send people things via API would be pretty darned cool. I love that you're looking to API all the things.
I'd love to finally get schwag figured out generally, but I hesitate because our branding still needs work. So, like, do we really want to figure out hats and stuff when our design foundation isn't good yet? Maybe it's fine and we'll make some janky stuff at first that we can laugh about later. Our true supporters will wear anything, right???
Meetings with swag companies 10/19 - notes at https://github.com/freelawproject/fundraising/issues/171
One meeting to go - but so far Covver is the clear leader & looks to be a good fit.
Need to figure out tax deduction implications for memberships
And look at all options for ensuring everyone who is entitled gets membership benefits
- current monthly $5 donors (grandfathered in)
- annual donors
- monthly donors
- annual memberships
- monthly memberships
IRS guidance on deductibility of membership dues
additional explanation of "low cost articles" -
Swag - can be ignored if cost is $5 or less (this is easier for tax deductibility - I can track who gets swag & keep the lowest level at $5 our cost)
Token items: You don't have to reduce your contribution by the value of any benefit you receive if both of the following are true.
- You receive only a small item or other benefit of token value. (other documentation says $5 or less in cost)
- The qualified organization correctly determines that the value of the item or benefit you received isn't substantial and informs you that you can deduct your payment in full.
I think we can say that the value (or cost) of the "Preferred access to goods or services" is nominal ($5 or less).
The bigger IRS issue is that we need to make a statement somewhere that the membership is fully (or partially) deductible, and what we deemed the value to be - if their donation is $75 per year or more. Statement can be provided either when we solicit or when we send the acknowledgment.
Also I think we fall into here for the upper level memberships - If the membership amount far exceeds the cost of any benefit received, the IRS will consider the membership dues tax-deductible. This is often the case for organizations such as museums and philharmonics.
"Tier 1 memberships ($100 annual or $10 monthly) are fully deductible, as allowed by law. The donor received preferred access to services with only a nominal annual value."
Tier 2 memberships ($250 annual or $25 monthly) are fully deductible, as allowed by law. The donor received preferred access to services with only a nominal annual value and may have received a token gift of appreciation. this is the lowest level of swag - just need to keep cost of item at $5 or less
Tier 3 thru Tier 5 memberships are fully deductible, as allowed by law. The membership amount exceeds the cost of benefits received, which may include any or all of the following: preferred access to services with only a nominal value, token gift of appreciation, or free listing in membership directory. We could decide to lower the amount that could be deducted by the cost of the swag they receive - giving people the option to keep the full amount of their donation as deductible by turning down the swag
Platinum memberships ($10K) are fully deductible as allowed by law. The membership amount exceeds the cost of benefits received.
Individuals who receive complimentary memberships because of their donation levels, would not have a change to the tax deductibility of their donation. They would receive preferred access to services, but many would never use the access. And we would not be providing any swag to this group. If an individual asks for the swag that comes with their complimentary membership - we could make that note & change up the deductible amount as needed.
Something to think about here: I can 3D print things these days, so we could make somebody a 3D thank you note, with, say, their name in it or something at higher tiers. I feel like there's an opportunity here, but it's a bit of work...then again, Kelvin might do it for us.
I'm closing this one. We can/should discuss swag and other benefits elsewhere. This is launched though, so I think it's fair to say it's done — for now!