5
CHALLENGES AND GOALS
nd Goals
bership Structure
What are your organization’s biggest internal challenges to growing membership? Please select up to three responses.
Association
BIGGEST INTERNAL CHALLENGES TO GROWING MEMBERSHIP
Total (n = 687)
Individual (n = 305)
Trade (n = 203)
Combination (n = 179)
Difficulty in communicating value or benefits
38%
41%
31%
39%
ics of Your Association
Insufficient staff
35%
33%
40%
33%
Difficulty in proving ROI
25%
22%
28%
27%
Difficulty identifying/contacting prospects
22%
25%
22%
17%
m
Difficulty attracting and/or maintaining younger members
20%
27%
10%
20%
Membership too diverse, difficulty meeting needs of different segments
20%
15%
21%
27%
Insufficient budget
20%
19%
22%
20%
Inadequate association management database
18%
16%
19%
18%
Lack of a strategy or plan
16%
14%
17%
17%
Difficulty in converting student memberships to regular memberships
11%
17%
-
14%
Weak product or service offerings
11%
13%
8%
11%
Lack of marketing expertise
9%
7%
12%
8%
Lack of integration between national and chapters
7%
8%
5%
8%
Inadequate research to understand market
7%
8%
6%
7%
Misalignment of goals between board and executive staff
4%
3%
3%
4%
Other
6%
5%
9%
5%
y Association executives reiterate the same top challenges as in 2018: difficulty in communicating value or benefits (38%; up from 35% in 2018), insufficient staff (35%; same as in 2018), and difficulty in proving ROI (25%; up from 22% in 2018). Similar to 2018, trade and combination associations are challenged more by proving ROI to their members, while IMOs are more likely to struggle with attracting or maintaining younger members. Combination associations are equally likely to report that they struggle with meeting the needs of a heavily diverse membership as they do with proving ROI (27% each).
y Associations reporting increases in their one-year membership numbers are significantly more likely to struggle with difficulty in identifying/contacting prospects and with meeting the needs of a diverse membership. Associations reporting declines in their one-year and five-year membership totals, their new member numbers over the past year, and in their overall renewals struggle significantly more with attracting and/or maintaining younger members than associations with increases in the same areas. Associations reporting increases in members over the past five years are significantly continued on following page
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