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Many associations rely on the profit and loss statement presented at board meetings to assess their financial health. But strong leadership means looking beyond the bottom line. Are your financial results aligned with your strategic plan? Are you actively reinvesting in your operations and your members?
It's an exciting time to explore how we can grow wiser and stronger, opening up new possibilities for our association.
For most membership-based associations, the primary revenue stream is membership subscriptions (also known as membership dues in the USA). However, high-performing associations take it a step further by offering services that members need and are willing to pay for.
Think:
Case in Point: One AES client launched a Benchmarking Program for small businesses. By forming peer groups of non-competing members, they created a space for sharing marketing strategies, tech tools, and industry insights. This not only generated revenue, but it also set new benchmarks for knowledge sharing in their sector.
Rising costs? Remember, collaboration could be your secret weapon, empowering you to overcome financial challenges.
AES recently worked with two associations in the same sector that were running separate annual conferences. By joining forces and co-hosting a single event, they:
Many sponsors found greater value in supporting one larger, high-impact event—and new exhibitors came on board whose budgets previously couldn't stretch to attend two.
A renewal invoice is not a request for last year's money. It is a request to pay for next year's benefits. The moment a member — individual or corporate — opens that invoice, they make a decision: renew, or walk.
If your association is thinking about a rebrand because the colours look dated or a Board member doesn't like the typeface, stop. That's not the question worth asking. The real question is harder: does your organisation still represent the sector it claims to lead?
A website project is a governance decision with a technology component, not the other way round. The associations that get it right are the ones that invest in discovery, requirements, and contract scrutiny before a single pixel is designed. The ones that get it wrong skip straight to the demo, fall for the referral, and find out about ownership, integration, and total cost when it is too late to do anything but pay.
How we help membership based, not-for-profit associations now and into the future.
