Amidst economic uncertainty and day-to-day operational challenges, most small associations (61%) still predicted their new members enrollments would increase, and that revenue (56%) would follow in 2025. As you work to set goals and plans for your association’s future, understanding how other associations operate and their plans for 2025 can help you focus on key strategic areas for growth.
The Benchmark Report: Small-Staff Associations quantifies the state of associations with annual revenue of less than $5 million and examines trends impacting association operations in 2025.
Top Tech Trends for Associations
Digital Transformation
Small associations are resoundingly focusing on increasing membership (85%) and improving membership retention (83%) this year, however, these associations tend to overlook two key facets to increase member engagement and improve member experience: integrating new technology and driving member integration.
Despite most small associations understanding the importance of adopting new technology, nearly half of all associations (49%) said their current technology held them back.
Few association professionals say their organization has a digital council, formal digital transformation plan, or artificial intelligence policy.
Ill-suited technology limits the impact your association can make and dampers the effectiveness of your member engagement strategy. As your members look to your association for engagement, leadership, and guidance, how your technology affects the member experience is crucial.
Some common tech areas associations can focus on to improve member experience include:
Webcast/webinar tools – Deliver personalized, engaging webinars that provide valuable insights, foster networking, and keep members informed about key association updates.
- Online communities – Create a dedicated space for members to connect, exchange ideas, and engage in meaningful discussions that strengthen their sense of belonging.
- Event-related tools – Enhance your events with seamless tech solutions that improve member experiences, from easy registration to interactive participation.
- Association management software – Streamline member interactions, boost engagement, and gain insights into member needs with intuitive management tools.
- Customer relationship management software – Build stronger member relationships by delivering personalized communication, timely updates, and community-building opportunities.
Happier members lead to increased retention rates and even new member growth. However, digital transformation is not the only top association tech trend for 2025, improving efficiency is also key, and associations are doing that through artificial intelligence and automation.
Improving Efficiency: Exploring AI and Automation
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to take the tech world by storm. From automating administrative work to improving inefficiencies, AI continues to expand its reach and offers several features that can benefit associations. While most associations are not utilizing AI, the ones that do use AI for:
- Creating marketing materials (71%)
- Generating newsletters, emails, or social media posts (63%)
- Collecting and analyzing membership information (34%)
- Collecting and analyzing data from programs and events to help personalize the member experience (32%)
AI can decrease administrative work while assisting with things like brainstorming new fundraising ideas, writing content templates to thank supporters, and summarizing essential statistics in an easy-to-communicate format. While AI has great potential, AI tools are experimental and occasionally make mistakes. Always proofread and fact-check statements to confirm the tools are accurate.
AI holds great potential for associations to increase efficiency, and when paired with process automation, streamlines your association’s day-to-day operations.
Process automation manages repetitive tasks and processes in a user-defined order. From reducing manual entry to automating multi-level approval processes, these workflows optimize your organization and increase efficiency.
When you simplify and streamline your association’s day-to-day operations, it frees valuable staff time to focus more on attracting new members and creating a great member experience.
For example, AI can assist with website chatbots, analyze insights to create new initiatives to maximize member loyalty, and customize marketing materials to reach new members, saving all association pros valuable time and resources.
These free tools use AI and assist with process automation:
Free AI Marketing and Social Media Tools
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a complete social media management platform. Associations can connect and run all their accounts through Hootsuite, collecting vital analytical information. Hootsuite features OwlyWriter AI, which can generate captions and post ideas. You should personalize the posts to match your organization’s voice to ensure the most significant reach.
Canva
Canva is a creative asset generator. From infographics to GIFs and videos, Canva makes content creation simple. Associations can use Canva to create graphics for social media, member communications, flyers, and other internal and external communications. Canva has AI features to assist with photo editing and content creation.
Free AI Project Management Tools
Trello
Trello is project management software. From organizing tasks to managing projects and promoting team collaboration, Trello is a helpful tool for staying on top of tasks and increasing team efficiency.
Slack
Slack is a workplace messenger app that unites your workplace onto one platform and allows for individual, team, and group messaging. Associations can use Slack to unify and organize communication.
While these are just some of the free AI tools available for associations, becoming more efficient and better-utilizing professionals’ time are of the utmost importance in 2025.
Spending Smarter
The final tech trend of 2025 is cutting down technology costs and spending smarter as an association.
Associations often rely on multiple pieces of technology to handle operations.
Overlapping, disparate systems come with several vendors and different contracts with each piece of technology. The throughline of increasing efficiency and spending smarter is to condense multiple pieces of technology into cloud-based systems.
Cloud technology simplifies innovation, spurs improvement, and helps associations drive success. From identifying and reaching members to providing analytical insights into operations, how organizations use the cloud to capitalize on new opportunities is crucial to operating smarter as an association in 2025. Plus, cloud technology eliminates costs and the maintenance associated with installing and updating software.
When working to embrace digital transformation and increasing efficiency, a cloud-based platform accommodates all of that and cuts down on technology spending.