Effective Member Engagement Scoring and Data Use Debbie McKeon, Senior Vice President Member Services, Council of Michigan Foundations Serenity Greenfield, Director of Marketing & Membership, Exponent Philanthropy Paul Kim, Research and Knowledge Manager, Philanthropy Northwest

Questions 1. Why did your organization decide to begin calculating engagement? What were your goals at the outset?

Questions 2. What types of engagement activities do you include in your score? And, what did you decide not to score?

Items CMF Scores for Engagement 1 Point 3 Points 5 Points Attended a Program (1pt/program) Speaker or Panelist CMF Board Member Requested Technical Assistance Chairs a Committee Participates in Affinity Group Funded A Special Project (Grant) Participates in an Initiative (Re-Grant) Event Sponsor Committee Member Provided Operational Support Referred a New Member

Items CMF Decided To Exclude Paying Dues Opening E-Communications Too granular on what we might count and for how many points KEEP IT SIMPLE

Questions 3. How have you segmented your membership? Why did you decide to look at the scores of these smaller groups within your membership?

CMF Segmentation

Questions 4. How have you changed your member engagement activities, communications, internal processes, etc. because of the scores?

CMF changes in communications Language Matters! Classifying some one as “Low Engaged” or “Not Engaged”, upsets people. Not Engaged members still pay dues and believe in CMF’s mission, they are ”Mission Supporters” We need to re-affirm there is nothing wrong with being at any of these levels if they are happy! Customized approach-meet members where they are Community of philanthropy—want relationship, not transactional

CMF changes in communications OLD Language High Engagement Medium Engagement Low Engagement None

Questions 5. What assumptions did you make during the process that were wrong? Did you have any unrealistic expectations?

CMF Assumptions Not Engaged or Low Engaged = Not Happy with CMF ☹️ Low or Not Engaged = High risk of dropping 📉 Everyone wants to move to a higher level of engagement 📈 Everyone needs to be moved to “High Engagement” 💯 Need to validate transactional vs relationship value

Questions 6. When have you revisited your strategy, or scoring? How have you adapted or adjusted your approach based on what the scores revealed or new strategic priorities?

CMF Strategic Priority Approximately 29 percent of CMF’s 2017-18 members would be considered “Mission Supporters” and the vast majority we spoke with (98%) are satisfied with CMF and their level of interaction.  CMF Strategy: Meet Members Where THEY Want To BE

Questions 7. An engagement score doesn’t tell the whole picture of a member’s engagement. How do you move beyond the objective focus of numbers and personalize the scores or add in a human element to the process?

CMF Personalizing Engagement Member feedback calls Assess satisfaction with CMF At least 1 conversation per year 3 Simple Questions

Questions 8. What are your top 3 lessons learned? Or, what are three things you wish you knew before undertaking the process?

Top 3 Lessons Learned/Wish We Knew Before We Started Debbie: Think of Members Individually-customized approach, relationship Prioritize Staff Time to Relationship Building-pays off in a big way Package what we do in easily consumable ways-Ask CMF, Suite of Services-We’ve Got Your Back booklet and video

Top 3 Lessons Learned/Wish We Knew Before We Started Serenity: Engagement scores are just numbers and don’t tell the whole story. An engagement score is not a direct predictor of the likelihood to renew. Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. Start somewhere, score something, and adjust/improve along the way.

Top 3 Lessons Learned/Wish We Knew Before We Started Paul: Don’t over-survey; 1:1 outreach can be better. Test your hunches. Be patient and trust the process.

Questions?

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