Naylor Association Solutions and Association Adviser just dropped their 2026 Association Benchmarking Report. It's a useful gut check for anyone still measuring engagement by how many emails went out this month. Based on 665 responses from senior association staff and board members across North America, the data says the quiet part out loud: Associations are busier, louder, and more automated than ever.

But busy is not the same thing as effective.

More Channels. Higher Expectations.

High-frequency engagement climbed across nearly every channel this year. Video use jumped 21.3 points, events 17.4, print 15.7. Email, website, and email newsletters are still doing the heavy lifting, each rated "very" or "extremely" valuable by 80% or more by respondents. Fine. Predictable.

The real tell is what's bubbling to the surface. Online buyers' guides, SMS, AI tools, and association apps all posted double-digit gains in perceived value, and platform-specific planning. Treating each channel as its own strategy, rather than copy-pasting one message everywhere, rose nearly 8 points. Verdict: the one-size-fits-all blast is dying, and members can tell the difference between an association that's talking at them and one that's talking to them.

AI Adoption Tripled

The share of associations using AI-powered communication tools "frequently" or "daily" jumped from 12.5% to 33.5% in a single year. The share using no AI at all got cut in half, from 42.3% to 21.0%. We aren't in early-adopter territory anymore. Associations still treating AI as a someday project are quietly falling behind those already using it for content, personalization, and engagement analysis.

Here's the catch nobody's bragging about: "leveraging data to make strategic decisions" rocketed from the sixth most common use of AI technologies in 2025 to number three this year. Everyone's collecting more data. Only 43.7% can actually act on it automatically. The rest are hoarding reports and dashboards nobody has time to read.

Non-Dues Revenue Is Still the Main Headache

For four years running, generating non-dues revenue remains the top challenge for associations, cited by 51.9% of respondents. That's down from 61.0%, but it's still the thing keeping finance committees up at night. The bigger shift is where associations are hunting for that revenue. Sponsorship sales slid from 29.7% to 25.3% of the mix. Job posting sales nearly tripled, from 3.6% to 10.0%. Advertising and partner programs grew too.

Over a quarter of associations admit that their sponsorship and advertising opportunities are fragmented, and a similar share say they simply can't prove ROI for sponsors. The problem was never a lack of revenue streams. The reality is that many associations still rely on their traditional methods of selling sponsorship: one-off opportunities, unbundled, and unmeasured.

Staffing Got Better

For the first time in years, more associations report their staffing as "just right" (52.2%, up from 44.7%) than "understaffed" (35.1%, down from a rough 51.3%). Outsourcing also got smarter. Associations have more than doubled their use of outsourced association management, education and training, and email marketing.

The next area of focus is becoming clearer. Data and strategy remains the most understaffed function in the survey, at 38.5%, suggesting that many associations are beginning to move beyond filling execution gaps and toward strengthening the insight and planning behind the work.

The Real Story: Reach

Every section of this report says some version of the same thing: reach is no longer the problem. Most associations are already across multiple channels. What still needs to be addressed is the translation layer. Turning all that noise into something a member notices, a board trusts, and makes a sponsor actually renews.

That is where the work gets more interesting. More channels create more opportunities to reach people, but growth depends on how well those efforts connect to the organization's data, capacity, and revenue priorities.

That's the work we do every day with our client associations: helping leaders connect engagement, staffing, data, and revenue decisions so each one supports the broader direction of the organization.

If these challenges are showing up in your planning or board conversations, let's talk.

Read the full 2026 Association Benchmarking Report at https://content.naylor.com/BenchmarkingReport26.html