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05/04/2022

How Small Tweaks to Your Membership Structure Can Yield Big Results

A CEO shares strategies that worked well for her association

A question on many people’s minds, as evidenced by a popular thread on ASAE’s Collaborate network [ASAE member login required], is whether now is a good time to raise dues. An even better question might be: Do I even need to raise dues?

For instance, a membership restructure can raise revenue without the need to raise dues, which is one way to get past a thorny issue. Christine Gardner, executive director of the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education (Ohio CTE), noticed not a lot of teachers were joining the group, which she thought was odd because it represents career educators and has lots of teacher-focused benefits like professional development and special interest groups. However, Ohio CTE did have lots of members who were administrators.

After spending time thinking about it and talking to lots of people, a teacher finally told Gardner that when she looked at Ohio CTE’s membership category called “professional” she thought it only meant administrators. “They weren’t recognizing themselves on our membership application,” Gardner said.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.

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