Football fanatics have the Super Bowl and now the expanded college football playoffs.

Basketball fans have the Sweet Sixteen and the Final Four.

Golfers have the Masters and the U.S. Open.

Music and film lovers have the Grammys and the Oscars.

Well, for me, as an association geek who truly geeks out on membership statistics, the last few weeks have been my Super Bowl.

It was the release of Marketing General’s 18th Annual Membership Marketing Benchmark Report.

Thousands of associations provide valuable data each year that helps organizations measure their membership trends and gives them the knowledge they need to move the needle.

In my first role as CEO for the Association Executives of North Carolina, I relied heavily on the report, not only for my own association, but also for our association members who were looking to AENC to help them grow their memberships.

Today, as a consultant who specializes in membership, I look at the report through yet another lens. I am looking at the trends in membership and how I can position my practice to better help associations reduce friction in their Membership Flywheel.

Based on some of the statistics in this year’s report, I am a bit concerned.

The report revealed that the largest share of associations reporting declines has experienced losses exceeding 10%. More than half of hybrid associations have lost more than 10% of their members over the past five years.

The main reasons reported for membership declines are in the areas of value proposition and engagement.

When it comes to value proposition, which is one of the top reasons members do not renew, associations admitted through the report that they are not just struggling to explain the value to prospective members and lapsed members. They are even struggling to communicate the value to their own board members.

Is it any wonder, then, that 39% stated an inability to articulate the value proposition?

Over 40% of associations rated their value proposition as “somewhat compelling,” which is at least up from the 35% that reported the same in 2025.

Now let’s talk about engagement.

I found the most consistent and compelling finding across all sections of this report to be that engagement is the engine of everything when it comes to membership. Associations that engage members early, often, and meaningfully are significantly more likely to renew them, recruit through them, and grow because of them.

And as you can imagine, the reverse is equally true.

Associations that do not have consistent forms of engagement show decline with remarkable consistency.

While this is not exactly a new trend, the report revealed something that is extremely concerning.

The sense of community and professional belonging, at 29%, has become the third most common membership driver cited by association executives, surpassing access to specialized information, which fell to 8%, down significantly from 30% reported in 2025.

And yet, member engagement remains one of the most complex challenges associations face.

Time after time, associations with stronger renewal rates demonstrate more structured engagement. According to Marketing General, onboarding and first-year engagement programs are among the most common engagement strategies for newer members. For tenured members, volunteer requests, ongoing email series, and regular surveys are among the most common engagement strategies. The report also cited mobile app usage and young professional programs as some of the most promising spots for engagement growth.

At the end of the day, associations reporting membership growth have more than likely figured out a way to increase engagement across nearly every category, reinforcing that engagement and membership health are deeply interconnected.

They embrace technology, including AI, to extend the reach of small teams, and they approach membership as an organization-wide priority rather than a single department’s responsibility.

These are not extraordinary capabilities. They are disciplined practices.

And the gap between associations that have embraced them and those that have not is widening.

I have mentioned this in other posts, but I will continue to fly the flag of innovation in associations.

Associations have always frustrated me when it comes to innovation. I vividly remember getting into a disagreement with an association that refused to move to online registration for its conference and ditch the faxed-in registration forms.

Their reasoning?

They didn’t think people would feel comfortable putting their credit card information online.

Well, ask Jeff Bezos what he thinks about that argument.

The report revealed that associations continue to lag when it comes to innovation. Currently, 28% of associations describe their organization as extremely or very innovative, up from 23% reported in 2025. Most associations, however, consider themselves only moderately innovative at 47%, which is on par with the 46% reported in 2025.

So, I am sure it comes as no surprise that associations are not exactly chomping at the bit to embrace AI. Many are using reasons like lack of expertise or lack of bandwidth.

Yet associations that are embracing technology, including AI, are beginning to clearly separate themselves from those that are not.

There is some good news when it comes to renewals.

The share of associations achieving renewal increases beyond 5% has surged dramatically, as more organizations break past modest gains and into stronger growth territory.

One statistic regarding renewal was especially stunning to me, and it goes back to the fear of innovation: the acceptance of electronic funds transfer, or EFT. Only 18% of associations reported using EFT as a renewal method. Yet associations reporting higher overall and first-year member renewal rates more often offer EFT.

So, just to tie this all back together, let’s look at the top three reasons association members give for not renewing.

According to the report, the top reasons for not renewing include lack of engagement at 50%, employer does not pay dues at 29%, and lack of value at 29%.

These top reasons all come back to the association either not having a compelling value proposition or not being able to demonstrate it or clearly communicate it.

And as David Lee Roth famously said, “This ain’t rocket surgery.”

Associations are at a crossroads.