Attracting members to avocational nonprofit organisations

For avocational nonprofit organisations, ‘marketing’ means attracting and retaining members. Avocational organisations experiencing membership difficulties may offer a variety of explanations, the most frequent one being a purported shrinkage of leisure time for the average American. The 68 largest avocational nonprofit organisations in the USA were studied in an attempt to identify common factors associated with membership success, and to confirm or disprove commonly offered explanations for membership distress. Very few general attributes could be found; in most cases, an organisation's success or distress seem to stem from factors that are specific to that organisation. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications