Understanding Community Goals and the Purposes of Membership
Project Overview
Community Goals and the Purposes of Membership is a study designed to help cultural institutions understand the audience goals their organizations are uniquely positioned to support. The study is led by Museums as Progress (MaP) and FIVESEED. If your organization registers for this study, we ask that you send a survey to your member email list.
Objectives
Describe the fundamental goals of members within a discipline and region (e.g., Gardens in New England; Art museums in the Midwest)*
Uncover possibilities for new and enhanced member benefits and experiences
Fuel a cross-departmental project to design new and creative solutions to increase member participation
Eligibility
If you work at a nonprofit cultural institution in the United States with a membership program, you can participate in this study.
Project Leaders
Rosie Siemer is the founder and CEO of FIVESEED. Her work focuses on empathic research, choice architecture, and the future of membership.
Kyle Bowen is the founder of Museums as Progress, a research consultancy specializing in progress-space research for cultural organizations.
*Findings by discipline/geography/etc. will be available if there are enough participating organizations. If there are not enough responses from organizations of your type or region, we will provide analysis tailored to your institution.
Registration & Fee
Register your institution as a Museum Member to participate in this lab. When you register your organization, you are automatically eligible to participate in this study (and all others) at no additional cost. Your organization’s membership dues cover all costs, including incentives for study participants.
Steps and timeline
Once you’ve confirmed your participation as a Museum Member by paying for your membership, you’ll be invited to opt in to this study.
Our team will provide you with templates to email your members, inviting them to complete a survey. (We never ask you to share your members’ contact information.)
This study is being conducted on a rolling basis. Depending on when your museum registers, you’ll be invited to discuss findings in November or May (3 to 9 months after you send the survey to your members).*
You and your staff can follow updates on the project in the Progress Insights space in the MaP Community (also included with your Museum Membership).
*Findings are always presented within the first year you enroll, so long as you send the survey to your member base within 90 days of registering as a Museum Member. If you send the link to your members beyond the 90-day window, findings may not be available until after your first year in the Museum Membership program.
FAQ
Consider the following example: A museum surveyed its potential visitors in the San Diego market to identify the experiences audiences seek for leisure and education. The findings from this survey indicated that one of the primary jobs potential visitors are seeking to fulfill is to “Connect with my community.”
Our research found that potential visitors were less satisfied with the availability of options in San Diego that could support this particular goal, this represented an opportunity where the museum could differentiate itself in the marketplace. Further, the concept of connecting audiences to their community was strongly aligned with the museum’s mission. This important insight informed marketing messaging, exhibit design, and program development. In addition, insights from the JTBD study helped guide strategic decision-making around the museum’s new membership program, including opportunities to introduce community-impact benefits and community-focused member events.
This lab will bring similar insights to gardens and arboreta, focusing on membership. (For a closer look at this example, view this post.)
Participation in labs is included with Museum Membership. To make participation accessible to more organizations, the fee is based on organizations’ annual operating budgets.
Museum Membership offers additional benefits and can be renewed each year. However, if your organization prefers to only participate in a single lab, you can join for one year only.
We don’t ask you to share your mailing list with us. We will provide the information needed so that you can invite your members to participate in the survey.
No, not for this lab.
We will host briefings twice a year (May and November). These will also be recorded, and the recordings will be shared with participating organizations.
A written report will also be made available in 2025.
We’ll collect a maximum of 50 responses from your member base.
This is a mixed method semi-qualitative study that will leverage a combination of traditional survey questions paired with a voice survey to gain richer insights into specific goals members are seeking to accomplish in their lives.