By Kathryn Deen, PAR

Major shifts are happening today in how leading associations and nonprofits are generating revenue and delivering value to members and partners. Here are some insights from PAR’s four newest Leadership Advisory Board members on what successful associations are doing differently and how you can keep up.

1. Moving from transactional relationships to real strategic partnerships
Leading associations focus less on transactions and more on developing meaningful partnerships. 

“At AIIM, we're co-creating value with partners through things like our AI readiness certificate courses, regional event series, and training partnerships in international markets,” says Amy Michalski, MBA, CIP, chief business development officer at Association for Intelligent Information Management.

She adds, “We're figuring out our core strengths and partnering strategically to extend our reach in ways our small team couldn't do alone.”

2. Recognizing that member value and partner value aren't separate things
Member value and partner value are not siloed by associations that have discovered their symbiotic relationship.

“When we deliver great experiences and outcomes for our members, that naturally creates value for sponsors and partners,” Michalski says. “It's about building an ecosystem where everyone wins, not just creating manufactured opportunities.”

3. Moving away from dues- and annual conference event-dependent models toward outcome-driven, service/solutions-based revenue
Rather than relying on one-off events for most of their revenue, many leading associations are monetizing skills and credentials (microcredentials tied to career impact), data and benchmarking products, and ongoing learning or community subscriptions.

“Traditional sponsorships are evolving into deeper ecosystem partnerships with shared value and measurable impact — for partners and associations,” says Veronica Diaz, PhD, CAE, senior director of professional learning and development at EDUCAUSE. “Across all of this, organizations are emphasizing continuous, online-first engagement (lower cost and risk), personalization (often AI-enabled), and clearer returns where members and partners increasingly pay for solutions, connections, and results — not just access or affiliation.”

In addition to offering more continuous, pathway-based learning tied to credentials and measurable outcomes, associations are also experiencing much more scrutiny of what’s truly distinctive and worth paying for in a market where content is everywhere.

“That’s pushing changes in business models (bundling/subscriptions — including toward AI-based just-in-time models), tighter portfolio discipline and pricing clarity, more reliance on partnerships and technology to scale, and a sharper focus on signal strength to employers — like proof of competence, not just participation,” says Jeff Cobb, a co-founder and managing director of Tagoras.

4. Listening deeply and taking smart risks
Today’s leading associations are continually soliciting feedback and rethinking and reimagining how they deliver value, and with that comes taking calculated risks.

“Our association has a highly engaged Vendor Advisory Committee whose role is to provide insight on events, exhibits, and sponsorships,” says Jennifer Troke, PhD, vice president of membership at The Association of Progressive Rental Organizations. “By intentionally listening to their concerns and ideas, we’ve been willing to test new approaches we hadn’t tried before.”

For instance, APRO piloted a Speed Dating Extravaganza last year that gave vendors face-to-face time with members.

“It was a clear success, translating into sales on the tradeshow floor and new revenue for our organization, but, even more importantly, it delivered tangible value to our members. We’ve learned that listening deeply — and being willing to take smart risks — creates real value, and that’s an approach we plan to continue together.”