Background
Initial discussions about a community database in Houston begun in early 2007 have come to fruition with HAA entering into partnership with TRG Marketing in October 2008 for the creation and maintenance of the Arts Database Management Program (ADMP). To date, HAA has been successful at garnering the involvement of 44 organizations in Houston, and several more are in the process of enrolling. The database currently has over 1,000,000 names and is quickly becoming one of the largest databases of its kind in the nation. Click here to see a current list of Houston organizations participating in the Arts Database Management Project (ADMP). Recognizing HAA as the principal arts funding agency in the region, C&E partnered with HAA and brokered partial funding from Wells Fargo. HAA serves as the lead agency for Houston's ADMP.

• Create Easy Ways to Exchange Lists: Exchanging lists of active patrons is the cheapest and most effective way to augment one's pool of prospective patrons. Cooperative databases frequently establish protocols for list exchange that ensure efficient exchange of names.
• Share List Hygiene Expense: List hygiene, address correction, and merge purging of patron databases are necessary to mount effective direct marketing campaigns. Cooperative database participants share in the expenses for this hygiene, allowing each organization to save significant money. Additionally, the USPS is changing their regulations as of November 2008 to require an NCOA be done no less than 95 days prior to a bulk automated mailing in order to take advantage of discounts and this new rule does extend to nonprofit organizations. In light of impending cost increases a community co-op can help offset some of the new expenses.
• Research and Analysis: The cooperative database can be used as a research tool to learn more about arts and cultural attendees and their behaviors within the market. Analysis can be performed to obtain descriptive information about patrons (i.e. demographics and psychographics) or information about how attendees interact within and between each participating organization. Ultimately, participating organizations can use this information to learn how best to market to specific constituent groups in order to maximize sales and reduce marketing expenses.

TRG is the nation's leading provider of data management and consulting services in support of community cooperative database initiatives. TRG currently operates many of the largest and most successful community cooperative databases in the U.S. For more information about this powerful marketing tool, please visit contact Richard Graber, Programs & Services Director at richard@haatx.com or 713-527-9330. Click below to download the sign-up form: Houston ADMP sign-up form.pdf This program is supported in part by: