Earlier this year the 107ist board conducted a survey of our membership to help guide our decisions as a board as well as get a better sense of the priorities and demographic makeup of 107ist members.

As a member, you’re likely interested in the results as well. We’re sharing a brief overview below.

Methodology and Response:

A questionnaire was sent in January to all 2014 107ist members.  About 63% of members completed the survey, which is an excellent response rate in the non-profit survey field.

Demographics:

75% of respondents were male and 25% female with just over 45% falling between the ages of 18-34.  Oregon dominated geographically with 90% of respondents hailing from our great state, but we have members in nearly every state and as far flung as Kathmandu, Nepal.   Unsurprisingly the Timbers were the first choice as a favorite team:

Favorite Team	Percentage
Portland Timbers	91.0%
A team not based in Portland (e.g., another city's club, an EPL team, another international team, etc.)	3.4%
Portland Thorns	2.7%
U.S. Men's National Team	2.2%
A University of Portland team	.5%
U.S. Women’s National Team	.3%

Membership Priorities

One of primary goals in commissioning this survey was to receive feedback from members of their desired priorities for the organization. When asked to rank their reasons for being a 107ist member in order of importance respondents overwhelmingly chose gameday activities followed by charitable efforts.  Our spending and effort for 2014 will closely align with those priorities, as it has for the past 3 years.

Activity	1st Choice Percentage
To support the Timbers Army game day experience	63.2%
To support the 107ist charitable efforts	19.6%
To purchase Cascadia away day tickets and travel	11%
To purchase exclusive merch and swag	2.8%
To support the Rose City Riveters game day experience	2.4%
For partner discounts and specials	1.6%

Timbers Support

We first asked respondents about their Timbers attendance, viewing habits and ticket purchases.  Some key findings include:

107ist Members Are Financially Committed

• It was not a surprise that 107ist members attend a lot of Timbers matches.  However, their financial commitment to the club exceeded our expectations. Over 94% of participants attended at least one Timbers home match during the 2013 season and over half (54%) of members who live elsewhere in the U.S. traveled to a Timbers home match last year.  In all, 64% of 107ist members have season tickets.

Attending a Timbers match is a Family Affair

• Half of all season ticketing holding 107ist members who responded have 2 sets of season tickets in their household and 25% have 3 or more season tickets.

Timbers Army Dominates but West Side Strongly Represented

• The vast majority (73%) of 107ist members who responded have tickets in the Timbers Army/General Admission sections, while 24% of STHs sit on the West Side.

Thorns Support

We also asked about the Thorns and 107ist member’s activity with the club.  Over half of the respondents attended a Portland Thorns match in 2013 and nearly a third are Thorns season ticket holders.  While, participation in supporting the Thorns is lower than that for the Timbers it is certainly of significant interest to our members. It’s important to note the club is only it its second year. We expect interest to continue to grow.

Some key findings included:

• 51% of respondents attended a Portland Thorns home match in 2013
• 29% of 107ist members owned Thorns season tickets in 2013 or will own in 2014
• 66% of those season ticket holders stand with the Rose City Riveters

Communications

Having heard anecdotally that our members would like more effective communication from the board, we solicited feedback on how members prefer to access information.. Members overwhelmingly (88%) said they prefer to access information via email from us (with social media being the second choice) and that they’d like to receive information on a weekly basis.

Based on the survey results we have adopted several new communications strategies that you may have noticed.  The weekly “what you need to know” email is part of that.

In Conclusion

We would like to thank every member for taking the time to respond to this survey.  We would like to thank in particular 107ist member Amber Hayes who volunteered her time to draft and administer the survey.

We intend for this to become a regular survey in the coming years in order to help guide the 107ist board. In the meantime, feel free to contact the 107ist board and committees of volunteers via the contact forms on the website.