Hi Daniel,
After hearing of a similar program through Megan Geiken at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum, I agreed that this program would be a great benefit to our community members, since many live below the poverty level and are currently only able to visit our museum thanks to the discounted admission rates we offer through the Museums For All program.
While this Family Membership level would not be a part of the Museums For All initiative, it is similarly aimed to "encourage individuals of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum habits," at a 75% discount from the regular price. By creating this Membership level at IMAS the following benefits would be realized:
- MFA Members would only have to show their EBT/WIC card once, upon registration/renewal for their annual membership, instead of every time they visit us
- MFA Members would receive Member discounts on our workshops, educational programs, and camps which do not currently have discounts for low-income families
- MFA Members would have access to the hundreds of other museums that are part of the ASTC Travel Passport program to expand their museum experiences
We decided to make this its own membership level instead of creating a discount code purely for reporting purposes. (It's easier for us to pull reports and see member activity by level). However, we stress that this level is identical in benefits to the regularly-priced Family Membership level. We also have this level available to sell online with the note to either email a photo of their card or bring their benefits card upon their first visit so we may verify eligibility. This has worked well for us.
After a successful and well-received launch of this new membership level, I have gone a step further to include an automatic give-back feature to our highest level of membership. At our museum, we offer a membership that previously included the highest level of perks, plus a gift certificate for a regular Family Membership for that member to give away. We found that the members who purchased at this highest level were less interested in gifting a membership to a specific family, with many of them responding that all their friends already were members, or they would gift the certificate only for it to never be redeemed.
After community requests for a 'scholarship' of sorts for memberships, I decided to establish the Pay It Forward Membership Fund at IMAS. Our highest-level members now have the option to receive that one certificate -OR- the museum would use that value to gift three memberships to families in need. Of course, overwhelmingly, the response has been to give three away.
Since this fund launched, just a week ago, we already have the funds to give away 18 fully funded Membership For All Family memberships! We will begin awarding these to first-time members who also qualify for Museums For All. After this first free year, they are still eligible for a discounted MFA membership.
I hope this helps, but if you have any additional questions feel free to reach out! Best of luck!
------------------------------
Aylaia Sifuentes
Development & Marketing Coordinator
International Museum of Art & Science
McAllen TX
------------------------------