What are current trends in the financial health and well-being of the business, industry, and trade associations, including tech councils and chambers of commerce, that can play various roles related to a state or regional innovation strategy? Association involvement can cover the full spectrum of helpfulness and harm as these communities may serve as allies, antagonists, assistants, advocates, or adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.
Challenges can also arise when any association becomes too aligned with either major political party or particular individual politicians. Alternately, that allegiance may be helpful if compatible with your approach to supporting innovation-driven growth.
Contributing to their value for regional innovation strategies, several financial factors can influence association health and well-being given that many/most rely to varying degrees on membership, service, and event revenues from other organizations and individuals in their field or discipline. An economic downturn can impact revenues from dues or sponsorships, for instance. The temporary shutdown of the airline industry after 9/11 played havoc on conference attendance. The sustained after-effects of the pandemic hit many associations on both membership and meeting revenues, as well as volunteering.
Technology may have positive and/or negative financial ramifications. Streaming and on-demand video services cut into live attendance but allow organizations to reach broader audiences. Generative AI and agentic AI can optimize service delivery but may already be cutting into the uniqueness of associations’ roles as curated clearinghouses of best practices and information.
To help the association industry and its partners understand the current lay of the land, ASAE, the American Society of Association Executives, has released its first-ever assessment of the state of the industry. They found that 38.5% of association leaders reported continuing losses across several revenue streams, including membership dues, meeting registrations, sponsorships, and exhibitors. Only 10% reported increases in overall revenue last year.
Unfortunately, nearly 45% of respondents expected 2026 to be harder than 2025.
Trade associations reported the highest share of improvement in their finances, but at 18.2% improving and 34.8% declining, the negative headwinds are significant within the segment.
Across all associations, meeting and membership revenues were down for 68.83% and 64.93%, respectively. Canadian and other international participation has dropped as a percentage of attendees, while ASAE found that overall attendance decreased for 41.6% of the survey respondents.
The report acknowledges that the IRS recognizes more than 60,500 organizations as associations across the country, and their missions, purposes, and approaches vary tremendously. As such, the survey results should not necessarily be applied to every type of association. SSTI suggests it may be worthwhile for state and regional innovation practitioners and champions to engage with their association partners to assess how organizational health trends might influence the design and delivery of their engagement in the innovation community going forward.
ASAE’s report, which includes data regarding steps associations are taking to cope with the environment in which they find themselves, is available for free here.