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Who helps associations grow membership?
Membership growth work splits into four distinct problems, and different specialists solve each. Marketing General Incorporated and McKinley Advisors lead on research and benchmarking. Spark Consulting, Kaiser Insights and Mariner Management focus on engagement and volunteer participation. Sequence Consulting works on the membership model itself. Our own practice, Membership Experience®, focuses on member value and new offerings.
Full transparency: this list is researched and published by Membership Experience®, a service product of LeaderLogic, LLC, and our own practice is included in it. We have marked our own entry clearly wherever it appears. Every other organization named here is included because we think it is genuinely useful to associations, and none of them paid to be here. Full disclosure statement at the foot of this page.
How this list was built
Membership decline is four different problems wearing one name
When a board says membership is declining, it is usually describing a symptom that could have four different causes. Not enough people are joining. Too many are leaving. The ones who stay are not engaged enough to renew next time. Or the membership itself no longer offers something worth paying for.
Those need different work, and hiring against the wrong one is the most common reason a membership initiative produces a lot of activity and no movement in the numbers. A recruitment campaign will not fix a value problem, and better onboarding will not fix a dues structure that stopped matching how the profession works.
So we grouped the specialists by which of the four they are actually built to address, and included the sector benchmarks you will need to know where you stand before you start.
Diagnoses before prescribing
Establishes why members are leaving before recommending what to do about it.
Works from data
Uses your renewal, engagement and survey data rather than sector generalities alone.
Knows the benchmarks
Can tell you whether your retention rate is genuinely a problem for your type of association.
Addresses value, not just marketing
Willing to say the membership itself needs to change, not only its promotion.
Practical for your staff size
Recommendations a real association team can execute with the people it has.
Measurable outcome
Agrees in advance which number should move and by when.
The list
Membership Growth Specialists and Resources
Member value and new offerings
Practices focused on giving members something new that is worth paying for. This is the group our own practice sits in.
Membership Experience®
Our own practice, led by Nicholas J. Webb. We work on member value, new member products and innovation programs, on the premise that retention follows value rather than the other way around. We include ourselves here because this is the group we belong to, and we have marked the entry so you can weigh it accordingly.
How we workResearch, benchmarking and diagnosis
Start here. These organizations tell you what is actually happening and how it compares to associations like yours. Choose this group before you commission any solution work.
Marketing General Incorporated
Publishes the membership marketing benchmarking report, the most widely referenced source on association recruitment, renewal and engagement performance, and consults on membership marketing.
Official siteMcKinley Advisors
Conducts member and market research for associations, including the studies that establish why members join, stay and leave.
Official siteAssociation Analytics
Helps associations use their own membership and engagement data to identify who is at risk of leaving before they leave.
Official siteEngagement and volunteer participation
These specialists work on what happens after someone joins, which is where most retention is actually won or lost. Choose this group when recruitment is adequate and renewal is not.
Spark Consulting
Elizabeth Weaver Engel's practice, focused on membership strategy, engagement and non dues revenue, with a substantial body of published thinking on all three.
Official siteKaiser Insights
Amanda Lea Kaiser's practice, focused specifically on member engagement and the behavior of new members in their first year.
Official siteMariner Management and Marketing
Peggy Hoffman's firm, known for work on volunteer engagement, components and chapters, an area many associations under invest in.
Official siteXYZ University
Sarah Sladek's practice, focused on generational membership shifts and why younger professionals join differently than their predecessors.
Official siteMembership model and value proposition
These firms question the membership itself: what it includes, what it costs, and whether it still matches how the profession works. Choose this group when the value proposition is the problem.
Sequence Consulting
Works on membership models, dues structures and value propositions for associations, with published case work on restructuring membership around how a profession actually practices.
Official siteTecker International
Engaged for board level strategy work where membership structure and organizational direction have to be decided together.
Official siteWhat is at stake
Why membership campaigns produce activity and not results
The standard response to membership decline is a recruitment campaign, because it is visible, it can start immediately, and it demonstrates to the board that something is being done. It also treats the one cause of decline that is usually not the problem.
If members are leaving faster than you can replace them, recruitment raises the cost of the leak without closing it. Establish which of the four problems you have before you spend, and be prepared for the answer to be the uncomfortable one.
Recruitment is the most visible answer and usually the wrong one.
Frequently asked questions
Questions buyers ask
What is a normal membership retention rate for an association?
Should we focus on recruitment or retention?
How long does it take to see membership results?
Do we need a consultant, or can our team do this?
Find out which membership problem you actually have.
The Membership Experience Scorecard diagnoses where growth is really stalling.
Schedule a discovery callAbout this list
This list reflects the opinions of Membership Experience® and LeaderLogic, LLC, formed through our own research and our own subjective selection criteria. It is not a scientific survey, an audit, a certification, or an exhaustive review of every specialist serving associations, and reasonable people may reach different conclusions.
We publish this list and our own practice is included in it. We state that as plainly as we know how, and we have marked our entry on the page itself, because a list that quietly ranks its own author is not worth reading. Weigh our entry accordingly and judge it against the others named here.
No fee was paid by any organization or individual named on this page, and inclusion cannot be purchased. We receive no referral fee, commission, or other compensation if you engage any organization listed.
We make no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the information on this page. Organization names, service descriptions, ownership, and affiliations were accurate to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication and may have changed since. Published August 2026.
Inclusion is not an endorsement by Membership Experience® or LeaderLogic, LLC of any party named. Nor does it indicate that any party named endorses, sponsors, is affiliated with, or has any business relationship with us. All references to third parties are descriptive only and are made to help association leaders understand who serves this market.
All names, trademarks, service marks, and logos are the property of their respective owners. Membership Experience®, LeaderLogic®, Human Experience®, Human Experience Innovation®, LearnLogic®, RealRating®, and Innovation Superstar® are registered trademarks of LeaderLogic, LLC.
Links to third party websites are provided for convenience. We do not control and are not responsible for their content.
Nothing on this page is legal, financial, or other professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as the sole basis for a hiring or purchasing decision. Associations should conduct their own due diligence, including reference checks with peer organizations, before engaging any provider.
If your organization is named on this list and you would like your entry corrected or removed, contact us at michelle@nickwebb.com and we will address the request promptly.
