2025-26 NACMA Membership Survey, 210 respondents
Roughly half of our members have not discovered the Online Library, even though it holds brand guides, job descriptions, and other operating tools. That means a lot of value is already built but not being used.
Run a 30-day awareness push. Pin a Slack post, feature one asset in each Gameplan email, and give it a one-slide shoutout at the next Convention general session.
The open-ended feedback in Slack and the reasons people skip mentorship are the richest signal in the whole survey. I read every response and grouped them into the themes below so we have somewhere concrete to start.
For Slack, focus on awareness and giving new members a way in. For mentorship, tackle time and awareness first, and clean up the past bad experiences so people trust the program again.
Community and networking benefits dominate member value. Print products like the magazine fall well behind. Keeping weak products at current levels slowly drags down how valuable the membership feels.
For each low-ranked benefit, decide whether to relaunch it in a new format, sunset it cleanly, or fold it into a stronger channel. Then reinvest that time and budget into the community and network products members already love.
Most members are satisfied with each pillar, but very few are very satisfied. About one in three sits in the middle of the 0-10 scale. That loyal but uninspired group is where renewal risk lives.
Deliver one standout upgrade per pillar and directly ask the 7-8 group what would move their score to a 9 or 10.
Most members plan to attend, but money is the main reason for those who say no. The 'not sure' group is the most impressionable.
Pitch a group package to AD offices, open early-bird pricing, and set aside a small scholarship pool specifically for the 'not sure' group. Ask what the "Other" reasons are
Members clearly want leadership, career growth, sales and fundraising, and networking programming. DEI and mental health matter, but they rank lower as headline topics.
Build the 2026 calendar around the top four topics. Keep DEI and mental health on the schedule, but as supporting tracks rather than headliners.