3 Ideas for When Your Association’s Revenue Goes Flat

You work hard to develop programs that deliver value for your members. But what do you do when your association’s revenue goes flat? It may be time to diversify your revenue stream beyond membership dues.

Here are three ideas to breathe new life into your association’s earnings:

Job boards

In our Member Loyalty Study, the Community Brands team found that job opportunities top the list as one of the most valued member benefits. Consider beefing up your job board software so you can not only attract more members and improve member retention, but also increase non-dues revenue. For example:

• Offer employers more sophisticated options that maximize exposure of their job postings to improve their return on investment and, in turn, your revenue
• Increase engagement and job views by recommending opportunities to job seekers based on their prior searches
• Automatically send jobs to interested, relevant job seekers via email

Online store

Another way to diversify your association’s revenue stream is to promote various products via an online store. For example, offer everything from branded merchandise and event registrations to donations and other non-dues items. At the same time, promote and manage membership dues within the convenience of the online store.

Deliver the offline learning experience online

Take the great content you already have pulled together for in-person events and extend it online to provide a convenient, affordable option that many of your members may be seeking. In turn, offering online learning experiences — whether they’re one-day seminars or multi-day conferences — provides your organization with perks. For example:

• Stretch your on-site content further by repurposing it online — through livestreaming your on-site event or offering it on-demand after the event
• Meet the needs of more of your members, offering an alternative to on-site events for those whose schedule, budget, learning preferences or other factors would prevent them from attending an in-person event

Learn how to generate more non-dues revenue for your organization while increasing membership renewals during this on-demand webinar: Don’t leave money on the table: 5 ways to exceed your revenue goals.