How museums, zoos, and other admission-based nonprofits can position memberships within their year-end fundraising strategy.
Author: Kris Cole
If you work for a museum, zoo, aquarium, historic site, or other admission-based nonprofit, you’ve probably wrestled with this question: How do we promote memberships during our year-end fundraising campaign?
My answer? Carefully. And probably less than you think.
Having spent much of my career working in admission-based nonprofits, I’ve learned that memberships occupy an interesting space between earned revenue and philanthropy. We call our members supporters. We thank them for supporting our mission. We tell them their memberships make our work possible. All of that can be true, but it’s important to recognize that a membership purchase is not necessarily a philanthropic gift.
Membership Is Often a Transaction
For most admission-based organizations, people purchase memberships because they see value in the benefits: free admission for a year, guest passes, discounts on programs or merchandise, early registration for popular events, perhaps a few members-only experiences. Those can be compelling benefits, particularly for families who visit frequently.
At the center of the relationship, however, is often a transaction. The patron pays an annual fee and receives access and benefits in return. That’s earned revenue, and it’s an important part of your organization’s business model.
According to SMU DataArts’ National Trends 2025 report, arts and cultural organizations averaged approximately 59% contributed revenue and 40% earned revenue in 2024. While individual organizations vary considerably, the broader point is clear: admission-based nonprofits rely on multiple revenue streams to sustain their missions.
Don’t Compete With Your Year-End Appeal
For many nonprofits, the year-end campaign represents one of the most important individual fundraising opportunities of the year. It’s also a time when development and marketing teams are stretched thin.
So why spend November and December building an elaborate membership acquisition campaign that competes for the same staff time, marketing resources, and audience attention?
There are other seasons when membership value may be an easier sell. Spring and summer, for example, naturally lend themselves to messaging about family outings, vacation plans, summer camps, and repeat visits. That’s when you can lean into the financial and experiential benefits of membership. At year-end, the focus can shift toward generosity.
Give Memberships a Supporting Role
That doesn’t mean memberships should disappear from your holiday communications. Instead, consider positioning them as gifts.
A museum membership for grandparents who love bringing their grandchildren. A zoo membership for a young family. An aquarium membership for someone who loves marine life. In each case, you’re not asking someone to make a charitable contribution. You’re helping them give an experience that lasts beyond the holidays.
A well-placed gift membership promotion can complement your year-end fundraising campaign without competing with its central message. But your larger opportunity may already be sitting in your membership database.
Members Are Worth Cultivating
Members have demonstrated that they value your organization enough to invest in an ongoing membership. They visit, participate, bring friends and family, and have experiences that connect them to your mission. That’s a pretty compelling starting point for philanthropy.
But don’t assume that because someone purchased a membership, they understand why your organization also needs charitable contributions. They may genuinely believe their annual membership fee covers everything. Your job is to help them understand the difference.
Show members what admission and membership revenue make possible—and what philanthropy makes possible beyond that. Tell the stories of the students who experience your museum through subsidized field trips, the animals receiving specialized care, the historic artifacts preserved for future generations, or the community programs that remain accessible because someone chose to give.
Steward your members as people who already have a relationship with your mission, then invite them to deepen that relationship through a philanthropic gift. And when you make that invitation, be explicit: “Your membership gives you access. Your gift makes access possible for others.”
Membership and Giving Can Work Together
Membership growth and philanthropic fundraising are both important. They simply don’t need to be your organization’s primary focus at the same time.
This year-end season let your membership program support your fundraising strategy rather than compete with it. Promote gift memberships. Celebrate the people who already belong. Help them understand the impact of philanthropy, and invite them to become donors—not because they owe you something beyond their membership, but because you’ve given them a compelling reason to invest more deeply in the mission they already enjoy.
A member has purchased a relationship with your organization. Your opportunity is to help that relationship grow into something more.
