Webhooks typically are used to connect two different apps.Wait isn't that an API? Not quite. Webhooks typically are used to connect two different applications. When an event is triggered in a application that supports Webhooks, the app will "serialize" data about that event and send it to Webhook URL. The application on the other end will usually upload or download data for a given event, but not necessarily both. Meanwhile, an API is designed specifically to manage communication and maintain state between applications. As a result, Webhooks can't handle complicated data streams or complex processes in the same way that APIs can. Sounds like webhooks are awful and I should use an API... RIGHT... Although we would usually recommend using API for something complex and custom, sometimes it's not an option, or an API is overkill. Webhooks really flow in one direction, and can simplify tasks that don't depend on complex responses. That makes Webhooks faster and more efficient in terms of communication and data efficiency. So it's great if you want to use the push model to immediately push updates or if you need an alternative to API. The problem: How do we link Jotform to HubSpot using Zapier? Our client was using Jotform as a registration system and they wanted to keep their registrant information in their HubSpot customer relationship management software. There is a native integration in the HubSpot marketplace, but it was barely helpful. So we had an idea! We could make a hidden form in HubSpot and pass all of the Jotform information to the HubSpot form. Read more about that here. However, that meant we had to create a new Zap for each form - that was not effective of efficient - this is where the Webhook comes into play! You can make one link that shares all Jotform submissions through Zapier to HubSpot. Let's take a look how we made that happen! JotForm: The Big BANG
Zapier: Evolutionary Data
Coloring in the lines
Zapier Python Code
Then, in the HubSpot step, and after you have connected you HubSpot account, select the Action pane. Here, select the HubSpot form you want the data sent to. Testing: Can you hear me now?
In a competitive digital landscape, email preview text has emerged as a valuable asset to captivate recipients and drive engagement. By leveraging this powerful tool, you can increase open rates, personalize messages, enhance clarity, and optimize the mobile experience. Take advantage of email preview text to stand out in crowded inboxes and unlock the true potential of your email marketing campaigns. Remember, the preview text is your gateway to capturing attention and driving conversions, so make every character count.
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RECOGNITION
By investing wisely in stewardship activities, you can keep donors engaged in a donating cycle and encourage them toward regular repeat giving and giving in increasing amounts, ultimately increasing your overall pool of donors and prospects, and boosting your fundraising income. The stewardship phase should feed back into cultivating the donor for a future ask. However, fundraisers should be extremely cautious that stewardship and cultivation phases are not just about preparing to make the ask. These phases are about engaging the prospect/donor in the institution. Donors who only hear from the institution with financial requests disengage quickly. You should invest time and effort in research, cultivation, and stewardship activities to have the best response rate. Be sure to remember to record details and notes every phase. HubSpot is especially well-suited to support all of these efforts. Why? Well, the commercial sales process called "the sales pipeline" is very similar to the donor cycle. We wrote an excellent article here outlining that process, similarities, and how to benefit from using HubSpot and the decades of sales technology to improve your fundraising.
The Power of First Impression
Creating a Sense of Belonging
Enhancing Engagement and ParticipatioN
Fostering Member Loyalty and RetentioN
Technology and Personalization
Continual Improvement and AdaptatioN
A new member experience is an indispensable ingredient for the success of membership organizations. By prioritizing the creation of a welcoming, inclusive, and personalized experience, these organizations can forge deep connections with their members, cultivate a sense of belonging, and drive engagement, loyalty, and long-term sustainability. Embracing technology, seeking feedback, and adapting to changing needs are essential elements of the journey to consistently deliver a remarkable new member experience. Together, let's unlock the power of membership organizations and create magical moments that inspire, connect, and transform lives.
2. Use HubSpot for your Membership database, Membership Relationship Management and Marketing Automation: Sign up for HubSpot for free. It comes filled with a ton of automation tools that'll make your life a whole lot easier. Whip up some lead capture forms on your website to gather visitor information and build your ultimate contact database. Then, use HubSpot's email marketing features to send out personalized and targeted communications to all those potential and existing members. Oh, and don't forget to make use of HubSpot's lead nurturing workflows to automate follow-up emails and guide leads through the membership conversion process. And the best part? HubSpot's analytics will help you track website performance, email open rates, and member engagement like a boss.
4. Implement Content Marketing Strategies for your Members: a. Cook up a content marketing plan to provide value to your target audience and attract potential members. b. Create a blog section on your website where you can share your best articles (or recipes), industry insights, and your note-worthy member success stories. c. Produce high-quality content like ebooks, whitepapers, or video tutorials that'll have your members asking for seconds. d. Spread your content through all the channels, from social media to email newsletters to guest posting on those totally relevant platforms. e. And don't forget to use HubSpot's content management tools to schedule and automate the distribution of your content, track all that juicy engagement, and gather feedback that'll make your content even better
6. Engage with Online Communities and Forums: If Social Media is like the cocktail lounge, forums are like the Pub where people go to get the local recommendations they need. a. Identify online communities, forums, and discussion boards relevant to your organization's industry or interests. b. Participate actively in these communities by providing helpful insights, answering questions, and sharing relevant content. c. Include a link to your website or relevant resources in your forum signatures or profiles. d. Utilize HubSpot's social listening features to monitor online conversations and join discussions where your organization can provide value. e. Avoid being overly promotional or spammy; instead, focus on building relationships and establishing your organization as a trusted resource.
8. Monitor and Analyze Your Online Presence: a. Regularly monitor your website analytics, social media metrics, and engagement levels to assess the performance of your online presence. b. Utilize HubSpot's reporting and analytics features to track website traffic, conversion rates, email open rates, and member engagement. c. Make data-driven decisions by identifying trends, understanding member preferences, and optimizing your online strategies accordingly. d. Actively listen to member feedback and address any concerns or suggestions to continuously improve your online presence and member experience. e. Stay updated on the latest digital marketing trends and tools to ensure your online presence remains relevant and competitive. And viola! That's a chef's kiss! By following these steps and leveraging the power of HubSpot for marketing automation and Member Center for membership management, you can build a robust online presence for your membership organization. Remember to adapt your strategies as needed, stay engaged with your members, and provide ongoing value to attract and retain a strong membership base.
aKA: IDEAL MEMBER DANCE PARTY!
Embark on a Soul-Searching Mission Before identifying your ideal members, take a deep dive into your organization's purpose, goals, and values. Gain a comprehensive understanding of what your organization aims to accomplish and the value it provides to its members. This clarity will serve as the foundation for creating an ideal member profile that aligns with your organization's mission. Go Undercover and Analyze your Existing Members Examine your current membership base to identify the members who are actively engaged, enthusiastic, and satisfied with their experience. Look for patterns, commonalities, and shared characteristics among this group. Consider demographic data, professional backgrounds, interests, motivations, and engagement levels. This analysis will provide valuable insights into the qualities and traits of your ideal members.
Identify Key Characteristics and Traits: Based on your analysis and member feedback, start identifying the key characteristics and traits that define your ideal members. These can include professional backgrounds, industry affiliations, educational levels, geographical locations, or specific interests. Dive into their pain points, aspirations, and the benefits they seek from joining your organization. This process will enable you to create a detailed and well-rounded profile.
Tailor Marketing and Communication Strategies Speak their language, address their pain points, and make it personal. Armed with your ideal member profile, tailor your marketing and communication strategies to resonate with this audience. Craft compelling messaging that speaks directly to their goals, and desires. Utilize appropriate channels, such as social media platforms, industry events, webinars, or newsletters, to reach and engage your ideal members effectively. Personalize your communications to create a sense of connection and exclusivity. Read the Room: Evaluate and Refine Continuously monitor the pulse and evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies by monitoring key metrics: membership growth, engagement levels, feedback, etc. Assess the resonance of your messaging and tactics with your ideal members. Seek their input through surveys or focus groups to gather valuable feedback for improvement. Stay nimble, adapt, and refine your script to stay in tune with the ever-evolving needs of your ideal members.
WRITE YOUR adventureNow that you have your member persona, you'll need to put your self in the shoes of your member. What communication, relationship, and engagement do you want to build with your membership? This process should also helps you identify potential member drop-offs and roadblocks that could hinder retention (aka the dragon in the fairytale) . Below are a things to think about in your member journey.
After you have visualized your journey and gone through these questions, you will want to create SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goals for each step that work with your donor cycle and membership system.
So how can this magical little TOOL be used for Nonprofits? Membership Cultivation.Membership cultivation is a critical aspect of non-profit organizations and other membership-based groups. It involves building relationships, engaging with members, and nurturing their connection with the organization to encourage long-term engagement and support. Chatbots powered by GPT technology can be a valuable tool to aid in membership cultivation efforts. Here are some ways how to use Chat GPT for membership cultivation: 1. MEMBERSHIP MESSAGING
2. RESPOND VIA EMAIL WITH EASE
It's important to note that while Chat GPT can be a valuable tool for membership cultivation, it should not replace human interaction and it should not be used unchecked. Chat GPT is a tool meant to complement and enhance the existing efforts of your organization's membership cultivation strategy. Human touch and personalized engagement are still essential for building strong and meaningful relationships with members. Chat GPT should be used as a supportive tool to augment your organization's efforts in cultivating and engaging with members.
specific goalsSpecific: The goal should be clearly defined and specific. Avoid vague or broad goals that are difficult to measure. The advantage of using SMART goals is that these practices should help you Identify clear quantitative objectives and deadlines. Ask yourself: What exactly do you want to achieve with your membership efforts? Who is the target audience? What are the specific outcomes or results you aim to achieve? Example: Increase the number of new members from the target demographic (e.g., young professionals aged 25 to35) by 20% within the next six months. measurable outcomesMeasurable: The goal should be quantifiable so that progress can be tracked and measured. Establish concrete metrics or indicators that can be used to assess progress toward the goal. Example: Track the number of new members from the target demographic who join during the six-month period and compare it to the baseline data to determine if the 20% increase has been achieved.
RElevant to your nEeds & desiresRelevant: The goal should align with the overall strategic objectives of the organization, be relevant to the membership cultivation efforts, and be relevant to the needs of your members. It should be meaningful and contribute to the overall mission and vision of the organization. Example: Ensure that the goal of increasing new members aligns with the organization's strategic plan and supports its mission and vision of expanding the reach and impact of the organization's programs and initiatives. TiMe SensitiveTime sensitive or time-bound: The goal should have a specific timeframe for completion to create a sense of urgency and accountability. Set a deadline or timeline for achieving the goal to keep the membership team focused and motivated. Example: Set a deadline of six months to achieve the 20% increase in new members from the target demographic, and regularly review progress towards the goal during the timeframe. By using the S.M.A.R.T. framework, you can create clear, actionable, and measurable goals for membership cultivation efforts. These goals can help guide your organization's strategic planning, resource allocation, and performance evaluation, ensuring that your membership efforts are focused, effective, and aligned with your organization's overall objectives. Regularly review and update your S.M.A.R.T. goals to adapt to changing circumstances and maximize the success of your membership cultivation efforts.
​Welcome Email
​Creating a welcome email for members is an important part of your marketing strategy. The right email can entice new members to stick around and eventually become loyal customers. These emails should also include helpful content that helps new members get the most from their membership.
FREE HTML EMAIL TEMPLATE
All emails should also include the logo and colors of your organization. This will help your association stand out from other organizations and create brand awareness. If you're new to creating HTML emails from scratch, and you've used up those three wishes from your genie - we have your back! Include your info below and instantly have access to our free HTML template with instructions for customization.
Are you a HubSpot user who also is using Gmail, Outlook or Office 365? If you are, we are about to make your life much easier! Did you know you can use the HubSpot Sales extension/add-in to automate creating and updating contacts information AND track and log these conversations within HubSpot so your entire organization can stay on top of engagement with your customers? This article will focus on the Google Chrome extension, but if you are interested in the Outlook desktop add-in click here or the Office 365 add-in, click here. What is the HubSpot Sales Chrome Extension? The HubSpot Sales Chrome Extension is an extension for Google Chrome that adds HubSpot tools directly to your inbox. It can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store. This extension lets you use your Gmail inbox as if it was built by HubSpot. When you use the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension, you'll be able to receive instant notifications when a contact opens an email. You can also track your emails with the log feature and you can even search your contacts database for information that's relevant to your current conversation! featuresTrack and log emails with the HubSpot Sales Chrome When you reply to an email from a customer, member or complete stranger, the HubSpot Sales Chrome Extension give you the ability to:
So let's dig deeper into these features, so you can get started and start saving more time. Log and track emails
Schedule tasks
Building off of templates, if you have an upgraded HubSpot account, you can even move the email into an automated Sequence, making your life simpler, and giving your customers the sweet content, they desire! Many people do not realize that HubSpot also has some awesome tools for scheduling meetings and proposing times to fill your calendar in the most effective way possible. If you haven’t already checked out HubSpot’s meetings booking page, you should check it out here. Aside from simply putting in a link that will send the reader specific meeting windows, you can propose preferred meeting times that you have already curated. Again, all available right within the Gmail message compose window. installing the extensionHow to Install the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension All this sounds pretty good right? Well how do you start using the extension so that hypothetical version of yourself on the beach can be a reality? Easy, open Chrome, go to the Chrome Extension web store and search for the HubSpot Sales Chrome Extension. Click the “Add to Chrome” button and breeze through the tour to connect and sync Gmail to HubSpot and away you go!
CONSIDERATIONS FOR GATED CONTENTVALUE PROPOSITION You should offer up content to your audience at predetermined levels. This can include free content, and paid subscriptions at differing levels. Your free content should act as marketing tool to intrigue paid users with a clear call-to-action for further engagements. For paid members, it's important to make sure that your gated content is worth the cost. Think about your user and how it creates value for them. By offering valuable content, you can build your brand name and establish an expert status. USABILITY It's is a good idea to make your gated content easy to use. This includes a table of contents, and instructions on how to navigate the content. Here at Member Center, we provide gated content for members with easy access, so all they need to do is provide their email address and we check it against your membership's status in HubSpot, so no password is needed. ENGAGEMENT Gated content can also be a a good way to build a community and will give you an opportunity to interact with your users. This can be through a member-only forum, online classes with a chat feature, an online book club, a blog ( commenting on).
Whether you're a fledgling startup or a well-oiled machine, gauging member satisfaction is crucial for triumph. The value in a survey lies in your representative sample. You want to make sure that the folks taking your survey match the demographics of your membership. Once you've got that locked down, measuring member satisfaction will give you the lowdown on what your customers crave and expect, ultimately boosting engagement, retention (aka profitability) and foster customer loyalty. The key to nailing customer satisfaction lies in using a tool that dishes out actionable insights. Lucky for you, there are plenty of tools to use. You can go with a system that automatically sends out surveys to your customers, then crunches the numbers and dishes out reports. Alternatively, you can opt for a tool that taps into the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to adapt to your customers' needs. If you're a HubSpot user, we'd highly recommend Survey Monkey, which seamlessly integrates with the HubSpot CRM. What to includeCreating a survey is just as much about getting feedback as it is about coming up with the right questions. There are several ways to go about doing so. A customer satisfaction tool can be used to measure a variety of key metrics, including satisfaction, loyalty, intent to repurchase, and overall satisfaction.
Just remember to keep it short and sweet. No one wants to spend a lot of time filling out a survey, so keep your questions concise and to the point. Also, always use clear language. Avoid jargon and technical terms that your members may not understand. Perhaps offer incentives for completing the survey. This could be a discount on membership, a free gift, or simply a thank-you. Building consistency FOR COMPARISONDeveloping consistency in your systems and processes is a crucial strategy for any business, no matter how big or small. Consistency helps you deliver better products and services, and makes your business more efficient. Process consistency can also improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Process consistency allows you to assess your weaknesses and strengths, and to react to changing conditions in your competitive landscape. It is also a key component of building your brand. Consistency helps you establish trust and reliability at all levels of your organization. In order to ensure consistency, it is important to create an organizational environment that promotes the concept. Leaders should model consistent behavior. They should also give their employees the power to make decisions and respond to customers. They should also provide training on performance reviews.
Watch out Ikea, our users are expert Hubspot hackers who are dedicated to getting the most out of the free version of HubSpot. So let's talk about how to use HubSpot for events... Here are a 3 of our favorite ways to use HubSpot to host events for free (or pretty close to it): eventbritE
There is almost nothing that you need in the starter package that you can not achieve with the free version of HubSpot and a plug-in. Obviously there are a few exceptions, but we have found there is almost always a workaround using a plug-in or service like Zapier. One exception to this rule is when accepting payments, but only because depending on otherother form or registration tools you may or may not get a better deal. Start with Sales Hub ProfessionalIf you are budget conscious and interested in our other content, we are going to make a bet that HubSpot Sales Professional is the best upgrade for you. Why? Well, you probably actually would prefer Marketing Professional, but at $800, sales professional's price tag of $450 seems a lot more reasonable and many of the most significant features can be achieved with this plan. HubSpot Sales Professional
That is not to say that HubSpot Marketing Professional will be the best plan, but it is the most cost effective option for the included features and a great place to start. Look for the discountDid you know that HubSpot offers significant discounts to nonprofits and Startups? Talk to a HubSpot sales rep, they are helpful in making the determination for what is best for you, but also for helping you find a good deal. HubSpot for Start Ups Small startups can be eligible for up to 90% off their first year, 50% off in the second year and 25% off ongoing. HubSpot for Nonprofits Nonprofits get 40% off indefinitely.
3. PRIORITIZE MEMBERSHIP IN YOUR SIDE BAR EXTENSION The right hand sidebar in HubSpot can be adjusted in whatever best fits your priority by dragging and dropping. By adding Member Center to the top of this panel, you have quick and easy access to renew members and see their membership status. 4. MAKE MEMBERSHIP CHANGES WITH EDITS TO YOUR CONTACT PROPERTIES Set Member Center properties as your default to see them on your contact's left sidebar. Once there, you can make manual changes that will be automatically (or auto-MAGIC-ly as we like to say) saved and updated with Member Center. Pro-tip: You may want to not include this in your sidebar if you are worried about multiple people within your organization making membership changes. LEARN HOW TO SET UP THESE FEATURES:
2. sign up membersNow that Hubspot offers payment options, you could build a custom membership system. This will run you about $1,200+ a month plus the cost of transaction fees, or you could use a plug-in like Member Center for $5+. Is this a shameless plug? Why yes, yes it is. But we were built exactly for this reason and we purposefully are priced to accommodate small businesses and nonprofits. 3. onboard new membersUse HubSpot forms as a tool for member onboarding surveys. Learn more about what drives your members and what value you can provide by surveying them to learn more about themselves. Using Hubspot forms
HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing tool and customer relationship management software (and no they do not pay us to say such nice things about them!) They have an amazing and robust knowledge base, but we thought we would create an all encompassing resource for newbies first adding a tracking code to their website. A WHAT?Tracking code is a snippet of code that tracks the activity of a website user by collecting data and sending it to HubSpot. You have heard of cookies right? No not the ones you eat, but the ones in your browser! The tracking code uses a cookie to anonymously track a visitor across your site. When a visitor fills out a form, say for example to join your mailing list, that submission will then add them as a contact to HubSpot, or associate them to an existing contact!
WIX
SQUARESPACE
SHOPIFY This one and the next one are a little tricky, so we recommend following the instructions here: tinyurl.com/mtcn7j3k WORDPRESS Follow the instructions here: tinyurl.com/bp8fah46 WEEBLY
What are some different membership models? Asked almost no one, anywhere. But it could be a very valuable question to ask. As we know, sometimes learning from others can be vital when evaluating what may work for you. (Just think about that childhood memory of you watching your wild cousin touching that hot stove top ... Aren't you glad you didn't try that yourself?) But in all seriousness, when looking at your membership value proposition, engagement, retention, and growth, your metaphorical cousin in membership may know a thing or two, so let's look at a few different models:
how to GET SET UP
|
A MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM |
DONOR MANAGEMENT |
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT |
A donor management system is a system that tracks donations from supporters or members of an organization, from their first donation to subsequent gifts and memberships. |
A CRM is a software used to manage your organization’s interactions with donors, members, and well ... everyone. Flexible CRMs store information about volunteers, vendors and all the relationships and engagements they have with your organization. |
Pro: Great financial tracking |
Pro: Relationship development |
Con: Does not provide the best tools to continue engagement |
Con: Often lacking financial tracking |
Donor management software has some limitations, specifically when compared to CRMs. While donor management software is a great tool for keeping track of your donors, it's important to remember that CRMs are better when it comes to consistently engaging your membership. This is because they're more flexible and give you a more complete view of each member's engagement with the organization. They can also take into account things like how often any member of your staff has called, emailed, commented on social media, or interacted with a member or prospective member.
If your organization is looking to improve its operations or manage its members more effectively, there's no better time to learn more about your options and make use of these technologies. However, you can see both options have their downfalls, therefore we recommend systems that integrate well with other apps and have a strong team dedicated to future improvements. Through integration, you compensate and tailor the system to fit your needs and with a dedicated staff, you can rest assured that the platform is dedicated to growth.
Ultimately, the best tool for your organization should fit your needs. Identify what are the most important priorities and requirements for your organization and find the ecosystem that serves your needs.
If your organization is looking to improve its operations or manage its members more effectively, there's no better time to learn more about your options and make use of these technologies. However, you can see both options have their downfalls, therefore we recommend systems that integrate well with other apps and have a strong team dedicated to future improvements. Through integration, you compensate and tailor the system to fit your needs and with a dedicated staff, you can rest assured that the platform is dedicated to growth.
Ultimately, the best tool for your organization should fit your needs. Identify what are the most important priorities and requirements for your organization and find the ecosystem that serves your needs.
crms for nonprofits
CRMs are not just for commercial businesses. Nonprofits can make use of them too! CRMs are a tool for managing and tracking relationships. These tools can help maintain engagement by sending timely communications, inviting them to events, volunteer activities, fostering a sense of belonging and community in your organization.
There are several CRM options out there that are custom-built for nonprofits. Some of these include:
There are several CRM options out there that are custom-built for nonprofits. Some of these include:
- Member Center built on HubSpot CRM (shameless plug! www.membercenter.net)
- Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud (www.salesforceforce.com)
- DonorPerfect (www.donorperfect.com)
- NeonCRM (www.neonone.com)
WHY HUBSPOT?
If you're thinking about trying HubSpot CRM, there are a few things to consider.
If you're considering HubSpot but want it to manage your membership, Member Center is your solution.
If you're thinking about trying HubSpot CRM, there are a few things to consider.
- First of all, it's a great choice for nonprofits with a small budget because the free account tier gives you a lot to work with.
- HubSpot integrates with tons of other tools (and I mean tons) which means that it is powerful! Mailchimp, Square, Zoom, Gmail, Eventbrite, Constant Contact, and Stripe are just a few.
- HubSpot CRM is beautiful and the interface is user-friendly and intuitive. This means that your staff and colleagues will have an easier time getting started, and will want to use it.
- In addition, HubSpot has a lot of functionality built in so you can customize everything from marketing campaign management, revenue forecasting all the way to remembering the birthday of your donor's dog!
- HubSpot has a robust knowledge center filled with videos and articles to help you learn and grow.
- HubSpot makes it easy for any nonprofit looking for an alternative solution to switch quickly and easily and grow with you. Simply sign up and upload your contacts to get started.
If you're considering HubSpot but want it to manage your membership, Member Center is your solution.
DONOR CYCLE VS SALES PIPELINE VS CUSTOMER FLYWHEEL
Most of us know the story of goldilocks and the three bears. Something is too big, maybe too small but then there is that one thing that is just right. Increasing your donors or developing a system to steward your donors is the same way. There is no one method. Each organization and business is different but that is not to say that you can not streamline your efforts to more efficiently grow your donors.
To create your system, let's look at the top three cultivation frameworks that are used both in nonprofits and large corporations.: Donor cycles, flywheels and sales funnels (oh my! .... just kidding - now we are mixing up our fairytales). These are all marketing concepts used to drive conversions, but they have slightly different focuses and objectives. Let's explore the key differences between and how they can be applied to create a fundraising pipeline that works for your donors...
To create your system, let's look at the top three cultivation frameworks that are used both in nonprofits and large corporations.: Donor cycles, flywheels and sales funnels (oh my! .... just kidding - now we are mixing up our fairytales). These are all marketing concepts used to drive conversions, but they have slightly different focuses and objectives. Let's explore the key differences between and how they can be applied to create a fundraising pipeline that works for your donors...
SALES FUNNEL OR PIPELINE
Technically a sales funnel and sales pipeline are different. The sales pipeline visualizes the buyer's journey from a salesperson's perspective, tracking open deals from start to close. Meanwhile, the sales funnel visualizes the buyer's journey from the prospect's perspective. However, they are both about perspectives of buyer's journey in a commercial/corporate setting and so for our purposes, we will use these terms in tandem. A Sales Funnel (from the buyer's perspective) is a framework for managing relationships with potential customers to a business. The funnel typically consists of four stages. In each stage, the business aims to attract the attention of the potential customer, provide them with information about the product or service and then persuade them to make a purchase.
| Photo courtesy HubSpot: blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-funnel |
A Sales Pipeline (from the salesperson's perspective) is a specific sequence of actions that a sales reps takes in order to move a prospect from a new lead to a customer. Traditionally, the stages of a sales cycle is structured something like:
- Qualification. The sales rep determines if the prospect has the need, budget, and authority to buy in the near future.
- Meeting. The sales rep and prospect discuss a solution that would best fit the prospect’s needs.
- Proposal. The rep sends the prospect a quote detailing what will be provided, at what cost, and for how long.
- Closing. Final negotiations are made and contracts are signed. The prospect is officially a customer.
CUSTOMER FLYWHEEL
In 2018, one of the world's leading Customer Relationship Management platforms called Hubspot replaced their sales funnel, with a flywheel. Whereas the marketing and sales funnel aims to convert leads into paying customers, the flywheel focuses on converting and retaining customers. (We may be biased, but here at Member Center, we like to think sales folks realized the superiority of the donor cycle and made their own cyclical process - but more on that in a minute.) At its core, the customer flywheel is a strategic framework that focuses on creating a seamless and delightful experience for customers, leading to increased loyalty, advocacy, and ultimately, more customers by using three key stages:
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donor cycle
A donor cycle is a framework for managing relationships with donors or potential donors to a non-profit organization. The cycle typically consists of five stages. In each stage, the non-profit organization aims to build a relationship with the donor, educate them about the organization's mission and impact, and encourage them to contribute financially or in other ways.
- Identification
- Qualification
- Cultivation
- Solicitation
- Stewardship.
DONOR CULTIvation
Sales processes can and should easily be adapted to your nonprofit. The backbone of any successful fundraising operation is an understanding of the cultivation process and coming up with something that works for you. The largest difference between a sales pipeline and donor cycle is that a large portion of effort goes into retaining and re-engaging donors and eventually turning them into your advocates. For example the visualization above has both the generic markers of a sales pipeline but it has been reinvented into a circular process for a nonprofit to retain donors and inspire future cultivation.
1. Sales Funnel: Action. Although being focused solely on the sale or donation in the sales funnel is severely flawed, so is focusing solely on the relationship without making timely and thoughtful asks or engaging your donors to act.
2. Flywheel: Delight! Remember your donors give because they care, but have fun. Celebrate your achievements, contributions and the work you are able to do together through suburb customer service.
3. Donor Cycle: Just right. This should be your basis. The Donor Cycle encompasses concepts both from the flywheel and pipeline but is a specific to cultivating donors.
- Identification. Targeting your target audience.
- Qualification. Identifying your qualified prospects.
- Cultivation. Informing, engaging and inspiring your prospects.
- Solicitation. Making the ask.
- Acknowledgment. Recognition of your donors.
- Stewardship. Sharing impact.
- Empower. Provide tools for donors to share your mission.
1. Sales Funnel: Action. Although being focused solely on the sale or donation in the sales funnel is severely flawed, so is focusing solely on the relationship without making timely and thoughtful asks or engaging your donors to act.
2. Flywheel: Delight! Remember your donors give because they care, but have fun. Celebrate your achievements, contributions and the work you are able to do together through suburb customer service.
3. Donor Cycle: Just right. This should be your basis. The Donor Cycle encompasses concepts both from the flywheel and pipeline but is a specific to cultivating donors.
How do I create a donor cycle? You now may be saying, "thanks, this is great information" but I encourage you to take it a step further and act on this knowledge. "HubSpot is an app I came across several years ago when I was a first-time nonprofit director asking myself how can I grow our nonprofit organization with a limited budget." says our Member Center co-founder, "I was looking to quickly and efficiently document relationships and increase revenue with limited resources. This is when I found HubSpot. It is a completely free online software built for sales reps."
HubSpot's sales section has a built in sales pipeline called "Deals". These deals link with individual and company contacts, allow you to set financial goals, and keep track of your progress. You can have multiple deals and multiple pipelines, all of which are fully customizable. Below is an example sequence used for grants with some sample deals. Notice, each deal has a deadline to fit within the grant cycle. Values added to each deal helps track annual progress on the HubSpot dashboard.
Example of a HubSpot sales pipeline used for fundraising:
HubSpot's sales section has a built in sales pipeline called "Deals". These deals link with individual and company contacts, allow you to set financial goals, and keep track of your progress. You can have multiple deals and multiple pipelines, all of which are fully customizable. Below is an example sequence used for grants with some sample deals. Notice, each deal has a deadline to fit within the grant cycle. Values added to each deal helps track annual progress on the HubSpot dashboard.
Example of a HubSpot sales pipeline used for fundraising:
Member Center is an a HubSpot plug-in allowing you to affordably document subscriptions and memberships.
membership system for hubspotFor our Director, HubSpot fell short, because it did not provide the option to track and accept payment for membership. However, it was such a powerful tool to develop, track and maintain relationships (a core part of fundraising). That's where Member Center comes in. Find out how our co-founder continues to use the free version of HubSpot as a membership system with Member Center! |
And save 8+ hours a week!
We are all about automation and often here at Member Center, we like to talk to our users to share clever tricks to save you time. A recent favorite is a tip about automating your accounting. (This is where you imagine Bookeep.com entering the room with a cape.) Bookkeep.com If you know us, you know that we are Square lovers. We love how easy and versatile it is and it is what our membership system is ran on... However, what we do not love is its sometimes unpredictable link with Quickbooks. Most people accept this issue and hire a book keeper or train a staff member.... but not our nifty customers! In a recent conversation, we discovered Bookeep.com, an online app that automates this process. |
"My staff used to spend 8 hours a week overseeing our transactions, and we additionally paid a book keeper for an additional few hours a month to reconcile the accounts. Now we just have the expense of our book keeper and $40/month for Bookkeep.com. I estimate that I'm saving about $750 a month" - says our Member Center customer. This might not seem like much but this tip comes from a small arts nonprofit, so saving $750 and 8+ hours a week by automating accounting processes can really add up!
What does Bookkeep.com do?
What does Bookkeep.com do?
- Maps your sales, and fees from all your sales platforms to the right categories in QuickBooks or on Xero
- Capture and summarize all financial data from your sales channels.
- Bookkeep posts journal entries daily automatically (or as we like to say auto-MAGIC-ly)
- Gives you the ability to double check, make changes or make bulk edits when needed
- They match daily sales with your bank deposits to make reconciliation a breeze.
Member center AutomationHere at Member Center, we believe that automation can make a big difference for small businesses and nonprofits around the globe. It is for that reason that we built a membership system with fully automated renewal and payment emails on Hubspot, one of the leading CRM's in the world. |

What is a CRM? What is a reoccurring member? If you are new to memberships, we've got your back. Think of this as the cheat sheet you refer to before saying something embarrassing in front of an important crowd... and we have added tips along the way!
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Automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce manual processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, relationships, and related actions. Of course, our favorite automation tool is zapier.
AMS
AMS is an Association management system to support association operations.
Capital Campaign
A capital campaign is a large-scale effort conducted by a nonprofit organization in order to bring in a large injection of capital investment. (If you are a HubSpot user, may we suggest trying Fundraise Up? We are pretty big fans.)
Churn Rate
Churn is the term used when a member ends their subscription. The total number of churned members over a given period of time – when calculated as a percentage of how many members you started that period with – gives you your “churn rate”. So if, for example, you start August with 100 members, and 10 of those members leave during the month, then your churn rate is 10%. You want your churn rate to be below 10% at most. (PS: As fellow geeks, we totally loved this definition from Membership Geeks and give them full credit.)
CRM
A CRM is a customer relationship manager. (If your wondering what's makes this different than a donor management software, AMS, or membership system we did an entire blogpost about it, but spoiler the key is in the name)
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing.
Demographics
These are the statistic of your membership, including data on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, estimated wealth, type of employment, and member status, etc.
Donor Management
Donor management is the process of leveraging your donor data to build relationships with your supporters. A donor database, such as a CRM and donor management platform, is the best way to keep your donor data organized and nurture your relationships.
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Automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce manual processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, relationships, and related actions. Of course, our favorite automation tool is zapier.
AMS
AMS is an Association management system to support association operations.
Capital Campaign
A capital campaign is a large-scale effort conducted by a nonprofit organization in order to bring in a large injection of capital investment. (If you are a HubSpot user, may we suggest trying Fundraise Up? We are pretty big fans.)
Churn Rate
Churn is the term used when a member ends their subscription. The total number of churned members over a given period of time – when calculated as a percentage of how many members you started that period with – gives you your “churn rate”. So if, for example, you start August with 100 members, and 10 of those members leave during the month, then your churn rate is 10%. You want your churn rate to be below 10% at most. (PS: As fellow geeks, we totally loved this definition from Membership Geeks and give them full credit.)
CRM
A CRM is a customer relationship manager. (If your wondering what's makes this different than a donor management software, AMS, or membership system we did an entire blogpost about it, but spoiler the key is in the name)
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing.
Demographics
These are the statistic of your membership, including data on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, estimated wealth, type of employment, and member status, etc.
Donor Management
Donor management is the process of leveraging your donor data to build relationships with your supporters. A donor database, such as a CRM and donor management platform, is the best way to keep your donor data organized and nurture your relationships.

Drip Campaign
An email campaign that helps ensure engagement with members over a long period by sending a series of messages to their inboxes.
Engagement
The process of interacting with a member in order to produce ongoing value for that member.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses email to promote your business's products or services. Five types of emails include newsletter emails, lead nurturing emails., promotional emails, milestone emails and survey emails. Personally, we are big fan of mailchimp for most of our email marketing needs.
Event Management System
An event management system is a tool to help in the planning and managing large events such as conferences, trade shows, classes and parties. Hosting events is one of the most important things you can do to engage your members. Events connect donors to your mission and they can empower donors to give more money and invite their friends, family, and colleagues to do the same.
Exit Survey
A survey given to members as they leave the organization. This type of survey is important for improving future offerings.
Gated Content
Gated content is online materials, such as white papers, articles and videos, that require that users fill out information before they can access them. Gated content is often used to generate leads or add value to membership.
Onboarding
The process you have in place to help your new members acquire the knowledge and skills that they need in order to make the most of membership. This process also allows members to learn about your organization, its values and perks, while giving associations the opportunity to create a relationship with new members, and make a great first impression.
Member Directory
A member directory is a list of your organization's members, along with their basic contact information. Common data in an online member directory includes: Member name, email address, social media handles, geographic location, professional title and workplace, optional information such as academics, intersts, etc.
Member Journey
A member journey is your customer's experience with your organization. Five common stages of the member journey is awareness, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy. For nonprofits, this is often how your member moves through your donor cycle.
Retention
Member retention is the measure of how many of your members keep their membership active. The importance of member retention cannot be underestimated. Even a small 5% increase in membership retention can result in between a 25% and 95% increase in profits over time. We recommend your membership retention goal to be at least 75% or higher.
Segmentation
The process of grouping contacts based on common characteristics so organizations can market to each group effectively and appropriately.
Private Community
A forum or similar digital discussion hub where association members can engage with fellow members on issues relevant to their field or organization.
An email campaign that helps ensure engagement with members over a long period by sending a series of messages to their inboxes.
Engagement
The process of interacting with a member in order to produce ongoing value for that member.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses email to promote your business's products or services. Five types of emails include newsletter emails, lead nurturing emails., promotional emails, milestone emails and survey emails. Personally, we are big fan of mailchimp for most of our email marketing needs.
Event Management System
An event management system is a tool to help in the planning and managing large events such as conferences, trade shows, classes and parties. Hosting events is one of the most important things you can do to engage your members. Events connect donors to your mission and they can empower donors to give more money and invite their friends, family, and colleagues to do the same.
Exit Survey
A survey given to members as they leave the organization. This type of survey is important for improving future offerings.
Gated Content
Gated content is online materials, such as white papers, articles and videos, that require that users fill out information before they can access them. Gated content is often used to generate leads or add value to membership.
Onboarding
The process you have in place to help your new members acquire the knowledge and skills that they need in order to make the most of membership. This process also allows members to learn about your organization, its values and perks, while giving associations the opportunity to create a relationship with new members, and make a great first impression.
Member Directory
A member directory is a list of your organization's members, along with their basic contact information. Common data in an online member directory includes: Member name, email address, social media handles, geographic location, professional title and workplace, optional information such as academics, intersts, etc.
Member Journey
A member journey is your customer's experience with your organization. Five common stages of the member journey is awareness, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy. For nonprofits, this is often how your member moves through your donor cycle.
Retention
Member retention is the measure of how many of your members keep their membership active. The importance of member retention cannot be underestimated. Even a small 5% increase in membership retention can result in between a 25% and 95% increase in profits over time. We recommend your membership retention goal to be at least 75% or higher.
Segmentation
The process of grouping contacts based on common characteristics so organizations can market to each group effectively and appropriately.
Private Community
A forum or similar digital discussion hub where association members can engage with fellow members on issues relevant to their field or organization.
Member centerIf you are in the market for a membership system, consider Member Center. Built on the leading global CRM, HubSpot, Member Center was designed as a cost-effective membership system centered around building relationships with your members. |