Executive Summary
Central Indiana Cage Bird Club (CICBC) is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to educating their members and the general public on the keeping, conservation and stewardship of exotic birds.

Several other clubs offer educational opportunities to members and the public at large in addition to bird fairs being offered 1 to 3 times each year. There are many stores and breeders in the area that do offer some education on the care and breeding of exotic birds, but they do not offer the in-depth lectures from subject matter experts as CICBC. Ongoing efforts are in place to continue to improve the quality and integrity of the club’s educational programs.

CICBC is able to make contributions to rescues both local and national, and avian medical research funding. This is done through a series of successful bird fairs and managed through the board of directors with membership input and approval. CICBC donated more than $10,000.00 for fiscal year 2011 to worthy organizations. None of the other clubs are as generous as CICBC providing donations to local and national organizations. CICBC’s closest caged bird club competitors are in northern Indiana, Chicago and Cincinnati. The nature of the organization is to educate its members and the general public regarding the general welfare and keeping of exotic birds; therefore there is no real competitiveness regarding an online presence. Bird Fever is the only competition for CICBC’s bird fairs; however, CICBC is the actual threat to Bird Fever due to cutting out the middle person between breeder or supplier and the bird fair customer, which allows the customer to purchase bird toys, food and birds at a cost lower than they are able to find at Bird Fever or any other local pet shop or supply company.

CICBC is faced with major challenges for the year 2012 and beyond. These include the uncertainties brought on by high unemployment rates which limit discretionary spending, price of rent and other operating costs of the club, such as speaker fees. The Board of Directors and members continue to look for ways to provide quality, low cost bird fairs, increase membership and work toward providing quality experience in the most effective and efficient manner possible with optimism for the future of this exceptional organization.

Situation Analysis
The need for bird clubs is validated by information provided by members and the public at large. The educational opportunities for bird lovers across all avian species are greatly appreciated as noted by personal conversations, phone calls, emails and letters to the club secretary and other officers of the club. To meet this need, CICBC offers one meeting per month with a schedule of varied topics from presentations on predators, to visits at area zoo’s and conservation camps. The monthly meetings also serve as a social outlet for club members and the ability to bring in their birds for socializing as well as “bragging” about their beloved pets.

The online environment provides a resource for people to learn about the club and its offerings in addition to some information about different species of birds. Online also provides information about upcoming events, but does not discuss the benefits of those donations to the recipient organizations.

Market Summary
CICBC provides valuable social and educational experiences for the exotic bird fancier. CICBC visits schools, nursing homes, and expo events throughout the Indianapolis metro area which allows members to be able to take their bird on a social outing. The experience allows school children an opportunity to experience exotic species that they may not have otherwise had opportunity to experience, in addition to the sheer excitement seen at nursing homes and area expos.

SWOT Analysis
The following outlines the most significant strengths and weaknesses internal to CICBC, and the opportunities and threats that exist in their environment. The objective is to leverage the strengths to take advantage of the opportunities the market presents, develop those areas that are weaknesses, and devise contingency plans to address threats if those should become a reality.

Strengths
The following outlines key strengths of the organization: * Club Reputation – CICBC is the only club in the Indianapolis metro area and is neither highly regarded nor regarded poorly. * Donor Base – CICBC has developed a stable membership and loyal bird fair customers in addition to private donations. * Facilities Relationships - We depend on access to Marion County Fairgrounds for monthly meetings and 2 bird fairs each year and we hold 1 bird fair at the Knights of Columbus. Close relationships and reciprocal maintenance agreements with these facilities are an invaluable asset to the organization. * The Internet - Our website, www.centralindianacagebirdclub.com, promises to be a significant technological solution for CICBC in the area of new and renewal memberships, bird fair vendor registration, communication, and information delivery. The website has demonstrated the ability to provide more extensive and current information at reduced costs, such as printed materials.
Weaknesses
* Facilities - Our need for temperature controlled and accessible facilities is an ongoing need. This is one of the most urgent challenges facing CICBC. This essential component is threatened from several aspects. Increasing age and health of membership and the need for vendors to have temperature controlled environments for the baby chicks, is an issue. * Donations – While the club generally has increased the amount of money raised each year, most of the proceeds come from the 3 bird fairs that are held each year. The club accepts donations from private individuals, which has been on the rise during the last 3 years, but the amount received is miniscule in comparison to the bird fairs proceeds. * Aging Membership - The CICBC membership’s average age is 63. There seems to be disconnection between the current members and attracting younger members. The club will need to brainstorm ideas to get to a younger audience.

Opportunities
CICBC does not have any competitors in the metropolitan area. There are numerous organizations and corporations who could be approached to sponsor bird fairs, booths at bird fairs, advertising in the club newsletter and website. CICBC must continue to demonstrate that it successfully offers a meaningful experience to participants, with short and long-term benefits, in a manner that effectively meets community need. The following summarizes potential opportunities: * Community Education – CICBC must continue to tell its story to the communities that it serves. This message is one that reinforces the philosophy and the purpose for its existence. A well-informed community may effectively ensure facilities are available for use based on reasonable expectations and costs. * Marketing – The club has recently developed a marketing position to handle advertising, community awareness/publicity, develop much needed relationships with area retailers. The club has had challenges with the position in the recent past, but the relationship building has begun with great success. * Bird Fairs – Generate the majority of revenue for the club
Threats
The major challenges CICBC currently face include the following: * Donations - The impact of people feeling a connectedness to a worthy organization is a bleak proposition at this time due to the economy. Other bird clubs have made a community connection and developed relationships with other organizations in order to garner more of the donation market than CICBC has. * Membership – The membership continues to draw middle aged members; however the members’ attendance at meetings and their continued membership drops at the time of annual renewal. The club board will need to determine why members do not remain active.

CICBC’s goal is to gain members in order to assure the survival of the club. The club holds three bird fairs each year and the proceeds are donated to organizations that provide rescue, conservation and research for exotic avian species. The club does not have an online store or the need for such due to having no merchandise for sale; however, the club would benefit from having a source for taking in general donations.

Online Competitor Assessment ofArea Clubs | Online Competitor / Store | Membership | # of Fairs per Year | Region Population | % Proceeds Donated Annually | Hoosier Bird Buddies Bird Club | 35 | 2 | 615,077Ft. Wayne MSA | 25% | Michiana Bird Society | 41 | 1 | 317,538South Bend/Mishawaka MSA | 25% | Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club, Inc. | 164 | 2 | 9,461,105Chicago MSA | 25% | Greater Cincinnati Bird Club | 58 | 1 | 2,214,954Cincinnati MSA | Unknown | Central Indiana Cage Bird Club | 87 | 3 | 2,080,782Indianapolis MSA | 85% |

Online Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses ofArea Clubs | Online Competitor / Store | Food Recipes | Online Newsletter | PayPal Membership(new and renewals) | Bird Species Specific Information | Social Networking | Online Donations | Hoosier Bird Buddies Bird Club | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | Michiana Bird Society | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club, Inc. | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Greater Cincinnati Bird Club | N | N | N | N | N | N | Central Indiana Cage Bird Club | N | N | N | N | Y | N |

Due to the nature of the CICBC’s business, online marketing has not been given the consideration that is essential to market their club. CICBC should endeavor to: 1. Promote their pictures and videos on You Tube through optimizing each media. 2. Linking their site from other sites, using key directories such as Yahoo and explore other paid directories and trade organizations. CICBC should also continue to reach out to other bird related sites and ask for reciprocal links. 3. CICBC has many subject matter experts who could write articles for others to use in newsletters and on their websites and in return, ask for a link to their website to be included for the use. 4. Ask visitors to bookmark the CICBC website. 5. During bird fairs and special speakers, send out a news release.

SEO should be considered to ensure that the club’s web presence remains high in the list of links for search engines which is searching for keywords about the club. CICBC should consider writing a descriptive title for every page that is consistent about the club and use enticing words that describe what is pertinent to the club, such as bird species, avian diseases, care of birds, etc…

The club should use Meta tags on their webpages describing succinctly what the contents of the pages are and also including keywords in the headers. In addition, the club has many images on their site and the use of Alt tags would be helpful for site-impaired individuals which will help with website ranking as well. Including keywords in a hyperlink will also help the search engine robots to find all of the pages in CICBC’s website

CICBC currently has a social networking presence through Facebook. The site is very interactive for all Facebook users and is a great place for members to interact with one another. CICBC has videos on You Tube and has explored opening a Chat Forum for members and non-members through their website. The club should consider Twitter and LinkedIn. A blog could also be used to help to offer insight into the club as long as the content remains relevant with expert content.

CICBC’s ability to manage relationships is one of the most important pieces to ensure people keep returning because they have had a great experience. If customer service is not the priority, members and vendors will not return. It is important for all members to realize that they too are representing the club in addition to the officers. It should be a priority for the club to provide customer relationship in-services for all members that “work” at the bird fairs to ensure that the vendors and customers receive the best customer care in the region or even nationally. The building of relationships must be viewed as a long-term investment due to the nature of how people are inundated with information. If the organization is able to build upon their current relationships and develop new relationships, then the club will benefit from customers for years to come.

It is obvious that CICBC would benefit greatly from having an online source, such as PayPal, for online donations in addition to allowing new and renewing members to easily join the club. Due to the club not having merchandise for sale, there really is no need at this time for other sources of E-commerce store front considerations such as E-bay, Yahoo, Craig’s List, Amazon, etc… If the club decides to begin selling merchandise, they would greatly benefit from sites such as those listed in order to take advantage of the many members and ease of use of these sites.

CICBC should determine the goals of the club’s international considerations and the limitations of targeted cultures. The club may benefit from using a language optimizer for international guests, which is an untapped market for donations. Global marketing of the club’s educational material should be considered for SEO considerations for their website to draw international guests.

There are many considerations to website development and the costs associated with it. That said the CICBC is a non-profit organization that uses the majority of the donations made going to organizations identified by the board of directors and the membership. There is little operating money left over year to year which does not permit the club to spend a lot of money on their website. The club spends approximately $60.00 per year on the following costs for their website: * Domain name * Web host * Web designer * Web software

Nearly all of the services are donated to the club by members and those interested in the conservation of exotic avian species. The membership is acutely aware of the potential to have to spend additional money on website maintenance in the event that a member does not desire to maintain the website and they have agreed to spend up to $500.00 annually on the cost to maintain their web presence.