Sequence Consulting

Helping associations grow faster with smarter strategies for membership, engagement, and non-dues revenue. Trusted by leading associations nationwide.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Only 11% of association executives believe they offer a very compelling value proposition. A misunderstanding of member needs may be the status quo, but it doesn’t have to be! Read our new blog post for our full value proposition playbook here: https://t.co/gYF1LTKc2L

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Partner packages tend to expire the day the conference ends. Corporate partners are trying to buy relevance inside a community that trusts you all year.

Piece from our cofounder and chief strategy officer on @ASAEcenter:
https://t.co/8IuWU9xdcg

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

When members say they don't have time to engage, they're often telling you the offering isn't valuable enough to make time for.

Time is a signal of perceived value.

The real work goes into positioning.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Most association staffs are built to run what already exists. The board approves a strategy that needs new work, and nobody subtracts anything.

Our co-founder Chris Vaughan calls it a structural problem, not a people problem. The fix is redesign: what stops, and who owns what.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

A pattern we see across associations: prospects don't join organizations they've never heard of.

Awareness has to come before dues, benefits, and the join page itself. Growth starts much earlier than that.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

A chatbot doesn't know what your members are figuring out in real time, in their actual jobs, this week.

Your members do. And the only place that knowledge gets shared is inside the community you've built.

The real AI moat is interpretation, not information.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

From Sequence co-founder Chris Vaughan, writing for @ASAEcenter: your annual meeting is your largest investment and your most visible touchpoint with members.

He makes the case for measuring it as a membership product: https://t.co/vNejOFE4uF

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Trade associations keep 82% of first-year members. Professional societies keep 61%.

The riskiest moment in membership is year one.

There are 5 more numbers boards should see are in our 2027 Association Trends report: https://t.co/R7NhtkZ9WT

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Last year we told association leaders 2026 was an execution problem. The data now says otherwise. Growth fell from 47% to 38% in two years, and membership has become optional.

Our forecast report: https://t.co/R7NhtkZ9WT

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

We watch associations audit their bylaws every year and never audit what membership feels like from the outside.

The documents are fine
The experience they produce is where things break, because no one with authority has walked through the door as a stranger.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

The associations we watch carry programs they should have ended long ago. Few ever stop them.

Courage isn't the blocker.

Most lack a filter, so they cut program by program, and every cut becomes a negotiation with a loser. Set the criteria before the politics get personal.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Accumulation is the one risk most associations don't fully appreciate. New initiatives get added, but committees and meetings rarely go away.

From our Co-Founder Chris Vaughan, PhD on @ASAEcenter:
https://t.co/kogWx41KHN

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

This is research every board should read. Association Laboratory argues the pressure on associations is structural, not cyclical. Stable membership hides the risk: retention reflects past value, not future fit. We think it's the conversation of the year.

https://t.co/QykXtN3S1f

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Chris Vaughan, our co-founder, joined #NonprofitRadio, the #1 podcast for nonprofit professionals, to talk donor retention.

The sector keeps fewer than half its donors each year, and the fixes in this episode fit teams of any size.

Full episode → https://t.co/lbmIJ4CfLH

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Lots of associations feel confident right now because they're comparing today to 2020. But 2020 was a false floor. Stability after a crisis isn't the same as real progress.

The question we keep posing to boards: compared to what?

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

Every association takes on the character of the profession it serves.
A room of nurses is risk-averse. A room of advertisers leaps without a plan.

Both approaches can serve the work.
Both can stall it as well.

The real goal is to figure out which one drives your decisions.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

AI for content and customer service is now standard across associations. We treat that as table stakes. The high-value plays start with the data and expertise only your organization holds.

The real test is where AI can do work no one else's tools can.

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

One question shifts every association boardroom conversation:
"What if we do nothing?"

Project membership, dues, and retention forward without intervention, and the status quo stops looking safe. It starts to look like a slow leak.

"No change" is rarely a low-risk path

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

AI is hitting junior roles first. The orgs cutting that work are quietly removing the path to middle management as well. The 18-month efficiency win today won't look great in 2031.

If you're taking this approach, then where will your next executive director come from?

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

An interesting take in Forbes on the "AI will replace us" trope: five human skills AI can't replace, applied to association leadership.

Architects out-perform caretakers on ethical judgment, empathy, creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability.

https://t.co/v79tSUwmUj

[Sequence Consulting @SequenceSays]

From the 2026 ASAE State of Associations report:

51.6% of associations added new programs last year, and only 19.1% retired any.

Starting a program is easy.
Stopping one is the discipline most association calendars never build in.