MemberShift: Why Membership Declines & How to Bring Them Back

Welcome to the Membership IQ, where you go to get smart about membership. 

Decline in association membership made national headlines for the first time in 1994 - 30 years ago. In the past decade, this decline has accelerated. It’s now the norm for more than 60% of associations to be experiencing flat or declining membership. 

Unfortunately, despite increased awareness of the need for change, associations are struggling to evolve. Throw in a global pandemic and Gen Z entering the workforce, and norms are even more disrupted. 

Associations can no longer afford to sit still and be comfortable with the status quo - because it's not working.

Associations have to shift their thinking, which is why I'm so excited to announce my new book, MemberShift: Why Members Leave and The Strategies Proven to Bring Them Back. 

As I was researching this book, I realized that membership is not a strategic or operational priority within the majority of associations today. That is a harsh reality to face. How is that possible? 

You wouldn't walk into a healthcare office or bank and expect to receive professional assistance, only for them to say, “we don't know anything about that” - but it is happening inside membership organizations. 

Right now, it’s possible to be part of a membership organization and not know a whole lot about membership as a practice or strategy. That's something we need to shift.

We need to change the way we think about membership; because membership should be a priority strategically, operationally, and mission-wise. 

Membership should be everything within an association. 

Today, membership organizations typically contain a board of directors, chief executives, etc. Often, if there is a membership professional in that association, they are usually down at the bottom of the ladder. 

This doesn’t make sense in a membership organization where membership should be everything. 

What if all the departments in your association were responsible for membership? Whether it's membership benefits, return on investment, membership products, membership education, membership workforce training, etc. 

Imagine for a moment how different it would be if rather than a board of directors, you had a Board of Members. If rather than a CEO, you had a Chief Membership Officer. If it was all about membership - if all the focus was on the members and making the experience exceptional, would membership be declining? Would people be disengaging? No. 

We have to shift the way we're approaching membership. Membership needs to be the priority. Membership needs to come first. Membership needs to be everything. When we accept and understand that truth, associations won't be facing decline and disengagement. We will be observing exponential growth instead. 

In this episode of the Membership IQ Podcast I encourage membership organizations to carefully consider: 

• Are we focused on the right things? 

• Are we focused on the right people? 

• Is membership really, truly everything in our organization? 

If your answer is no to any of these questions, maybe that's why decline and disengagement are happening.

Focus on the members - put them first, and success will follow. 

Thanks for reading the Membership IQ! 

• If you’d like to listen to past and future episodes of the podcast, click here

• If you’d like to watch past and future episodes of the podcast, click here 

• If you want to learn more, you can purchase Sarah’s book MemberShift: Why Members Leave and The Strategies Proven to Bring Them Back here

• If you want to see more about what we do and browse our content on our new website, check out XYZ University.com