Growing Your Association’s Non-Dues Revenue: The Basics
The idea that all or most of your association’s revenue should come from membership dues is an outdated, inaccurate assumption. According to ASAE, dues made up only 30% of total revenue for professional associations in 2016, a steep drop from 95.7% in 1953. But if your association isn’t experienced with managing multiple revenue streams (or has only just begun to experiment by selling merchandise or event tickets), diversifying your sources of revenue might seem like a large, complex undertaking.
Pursuing new sources of revenue doesn’t have to be complicated, and it’s key to the health of both your finances and membership base. Revenue diversification not only increases your total revenue but also ensures your association isn’t too reliant on a single income source. This means that if one source of income dwindles, you’ll have other, reliable revenue streams available to fill in the gaps.