Karen’s Member Motivation Continuum

Membership MotivationAbove is Karen’s Member Motivation Continuum. Use it to explore your membership program. The Continuum identifies five different membership motivations. From left to right, member motivation moves from intrinsic, coming from inside the member, to extrinsic, coming from external motivation. The later includes the use of tools such as peer pressure and gifts. You members may be motivated by one or more of the motivations pictured.

Use the tool answers questions such as–

  • Why do most people join your current membership program?
  • Which, if any, motivation predominates?
  • Which motivations most closely aligns with overall income strategy?
  • How closely aligned are your membership packages with the motivations and your overall income strategy?
  • What would happen if you separate your annual appeal from your membership program? Would this create more income and more donors?


Karen Eber Davis
