How to Build a Dashboard to Track Membership Statistics

When we asked association staff what are the most significant data challenges that they face, 48% of respondents told us that “Inadequate membership dashboard and reporting tools” represented a top problem.

Yet, perhaps there is no more important step that you can take to improve your membership program this year than establishing a clear and consistent dashboard to keep track of your association’s recruitment, new member conversion, and renewal efforts.

So I thought it would be appropriate to share a dashboard that we put together several years ago and recommend to our clients (pictured here using sample data).

The membership dashboard includes the most important items that drive the growth or possible decline of an association’s membership. Here is the description of each of the rows in the dashboard.

1. Membership Change % (Year over Year Percentage Change in Total Counts)
   1. Current Member Total (By Month)
   2. Membership the same month in the previous year
2. New Members Change % (Year over Year Percentage Change in New Member Counts)
   1. Current Year New Members (By Month)
   2. New Members the same month in the previous year
3. New Members Conversion % (Converting (Renewing) New Members / Eligible to Convert (Renew) New Members)
   1. Total first year members who actually renewed (By Month)
   2. Total first year members eligible to renew
4. Year Two and Subsequent Renewals (Y2+) % (Y2+ Renewing Members / Y2+ Members Eligible to Renew)
   1. Y2+ members who actually do renew (By Month)
   2. Y2+ renewal members eligible to renew
5. Total Renewal % (Renewing Members / Members Eligible to Renew)
   1. Total members who actually do renew (By Month)
   2. Total members eligible to renew
      

I have found that these are the key statistics to monitor for most membership organizations. They highlight where things are going well and where you might need to focus additional attention.

If you would like more information on how to calculate renewal rates, please use this link.  And if you would like an Excel spreadsheet of this dashboard, feel free to reach out to me and I would be happy to email you a copy.