Association executives are breathing a collective sigh of relief as restrictions lift and business travel makes a slow but steady recovery. Even so, many organizations returning to live events are finding sponsorship dollars aren’t following as closely as hoped. In fact, 55 percent of associations are in a worse financial position than last year, with 40 percent experiencing a decline in event revenue and 34 percent seeing a reduction in member dues, according to BKD’s 2022 State of the Nonprofit Sector Report.
As a result, many organizations are aggressively launching nondues revenue initiatives. But if associations are going to unlock sponsor wallets, they will need to entice sponsors back to the decision-making table through new initiatives that align with changing sponsor needs.
It may be easy to fall into the trap of rinsing and repeating the same sponsorship programs year after year, but it’s imperative to continually ensure they’re aligned as closely as possible with sponsors’ needs. Particularly given that marketing budgets are at the lowest levels in recent history, according to Gartner’s annual CMO Spend Survey 2021-2022.
Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE's Center for Association Leadership.