by Linda Owens, CAE, Owner and President
Are you a smaller non-profit that is spending lots of time and energy on anniversary dues billing each month? Switching to a calendar year dues cycle could save staff a lot of time!
Have you considered these benefits to moving to a calendar year dues cycle?
- Aligns your organization’s budget and activity year with the budget and activity years of your members.
- Smooths your organization’s cash flow throughout the budget year.
- Improves the accuracy of your organization’s budget since the dues revenue is typically received in the first three months of the year. If dues are not received as expected, then the organization has the remaining nine months of the year to reevaluate expenses.
- Saves staff time with handling dues billing once a year vs. twelve times throughout the year.
Once the decision is made, how do you notify your membership?
- Send an email or letter to each member notifying them of the change. Be sure to include an outline of how this decision will benefit the organization.
- Give your members
options on how to transition to the new dues cycle.
- A single payment: pay a pro-rated amount for the remainder of the current calendar year along with the annual dues for the next calendar year.
- Two payments: pay a pro-rated amount for the remainder of the current calendar year and be invoiced for the annual dues for the next calendar year.
A calendar year cycle has been more common among smaller non-profits while anniversary-based dues cycles are more common among individual membership organizations. Calendar year cycles tend to align with an organization’s fiscal year and are easier for a small staff to manage since billing takes place during a specified span of time vs. all year, freeing the staff to focus on other management tasks. Are you interested in learning more about what IMI can do for your non-profit? Email me at linda@imiae.com for more information.