New Economic Impact Study Shows Surprising Confidence Yet Signals Concerns for Association Community

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE STUDY:

* Overall, association members have a positive outlook on their jobs and feel their employment situation will not deteriorate in the coming year; only 8.4% of participants think their employment situation will worsen in the next year;
* As organizations seek to cut costs, employers might be less likely to pay for membership fees for staff, which might lead to a decline in association membership; members that don’t pay their own membership are the ones likely to affect associations’ bottom line;
* Association meetings, one of the main sources of income for associations, are likely to be more deeply affected if economic conditions worsen;
* Only 58% of association members who have attended a face-to-face meeting or an event last year indicate they have a high probability of doing so this year – primary markets are shrinking;
* They are willing to travel farther in 2009 but might skip the local meetings to save funds for the more distant events;
* Millennials, individuals born after 1977, will have to be convinced of the value of membership and are most likely to drop membership and event attendance. To be successful, we have to show them, and all members, how our associations help them in a down economy.