Inside Outside Michiana: Give a Membership

Day 3: Give a Membership

We celebrated an early Christmas before family headed out for the month of the December this last weekend. Amongst the mostly homemade, consumable gifts, another perfect addition would have been a membership to a local nature spot. This helps the nature spot financially and also helps get your loved ones to these great places in our local area. While there are many wonderful places to visit nature in the area, I find other added benefits to memberships:

Discounts in the stores and to programs. It helps reduce costs if you go frequently. Usually, it costs our family the price of going 2 times to pay for a family membership.
Come and go as we please. We had an annual pass to Ox Bow County Park this year. I found we didn't have to plan on a long time at the park, we could just stop by when we were in the area. As I had already paid for the pass, I didn't mind going whenever we wanted, rather than planning on when I would pay the $2 gate fee which is in effect during certain times. We also had the State Parks pass. We made a point to visit as often as we could since we'd already "bought in". We live between Pokagon and Potato Creek state parks--great places to visit!
Joining others with similar interests, supporting a cause, and helping with research and preservation. With my Audubon Society membership, I keep up-to-date on what is going on, help keep the preserve maintained, and can support their efforts in birding in the area.
Newsletters and magazines. With the Audubon Society membership, I get a monthly magazine and newsletter. Most organizations have some type of newsletter they share with their members.
It's clutter free!
It helps our family connect to nature and our community.
Reciprocity--some memberships offer reciprocity in the form of discounts or free admission. We check for places we visit often to see what reciprocity is offered in that area. The membership is often paid for easily as we factor in where else we go with the membership.
Most memberships/donations to these organizations are tax-deductible!
It's great to spend TIME doing quality activities as a gift!