Associations Report Jump in New Members, Renewals, and Total Membership Counts

Membership organizations reported a triple play in membership numbers in the soon to be released 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report.

From this year’s survey, which included 650 participating associations, the major indicators of membership health – total membership, new members acquired, and membership renewals – all showed substantial improvements from the previous year’s benchmarking report.

A total of 49% of respondents said that they had recorded an overall increase in members over the previous twelve months. This is a substantial jump over the 36% who reported membership growth the previous year (see chart).

Growth in new member recruitment appears to be a big driver in membership growth.  Of responding association executives, 57% report the acquisition of new members increased over the past year.  These results are significantly better compared to both 2010 and 2009.

Finally, the survey results also highlight that membership renewals had a more positive outcome this past year with 32% of respondents saying that they have had an increase in overall renewal rates.

The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report will be released on August 6th with full results being provided to survey participants.