--- title: "Friday Buzz: What It Costs to Serve a Member" id: "41499" type: "post" slug: "friday-buzz-what-it-costs-to-serve-a-member" published_at: "2018-02-09T22:27:34+00:00" modified_at: "2026-11-09T16:06:46+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/02/09/friday-buzz-what-it-costs-to-serve-a-member/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/02/09/friday-buzz-what-it-costs-to-serve-a-member.md" excerpt: "An associations veteran discusses the best way to calculate how much it costs to provide services to members. Also: Are your meeting attendees at risk of burning out?" taxonomy_category: - "Membership" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "cost analysis" - "Member Services" - "Membership" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Friday Buzz: What It Costs to Serve a Member What does it cost to serve your members? Tony Rossell, senior vice president of Marketing General Incorporated and author of the *Membership Marketing Blog*, says that if you calculate by taking your organization’s total budget and dividing it by the number of members, [you’re doing it wrong (opens in a new tab)](http://membershipmarketing.blogspot.com/2018/02/calculating-cost-to-serve-member.html) . This method risks assigning too much cost to servicing members, Rossell says in a new post. He points to one real-world example in which his client determined that it cost his organization $300 per year to serve a member, but annual membership dues were only $79. Rossell says the best method is based on incremental servicing costs. “The incremental cost is simply made up of the variable costs that the association would incur to serve an estimated number of additional members,” he writes. “These variable costs might be as simple as printing and mailing additional magazines and renewal notices.” He goes on to discuss the pros and cons of the incremental-service cost calculation and what it means to find the “real” cost to serve a member. ### The Stress of Meetings https://twitter.com/meetingsnet/status/962011989147922434 **Earlier this week,** we [asked whether your most engaged employees](https://associationsnow.com/2018/02/monday-buzz-quest-engagement-leading-burnout/) are also your most burned-out. But burnout isn’t exclusive to staff; it can also affect your meeting attendees. A study from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence found that of more than 1,000 U.S. employees surveyed, one in five are both highly engaged and highly stressed. A recent *MeetingsNet* blog post considers what [these findings mean for meetings (opens in a new tab)](http://www.meetingsnet.com/event-design-ideas/are-you-inadvertently-burning-out-your-attendees) . Meeting planners are always looking for ways to increase attendee activity and engagement, but you may be stressing out some attendees by demanding too much. To counteract this, “be kind and include lots of ‘white space’ where people can take some time to absorb, relax, zone out, and center themselves,” Sue Pelletier writes. ### Other Links of Note **Do you do training?** *Beth’s Blog* extols the virtue of hands-on [interactive learning activities (opens in a new tab)](http://www.bethkanter.org/shared-future/) . **Here’s an interesting update for community managers** with active Facebook pages. The social giant is testing a [downvote feature for comments (opens in a new tab)](https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/8/16993564/facebook-downvote-button-test-confirmed-public-post-comment-moderation) , reports *The Verge*. **Is your digital content slow to load?** *eMarketer* says “slow-loading content remains one of [the industry’s biggest scourges (opens in a new tab)](https://viewcontent2.emarketer.com/Content/half-of-u-s-users-stop-viewing-content-slow-to-load?ecid=NL1001) ” and turns users away. (Foryou13/iStock/Getty Images Plus) [Raegan Johnson](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/) Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/) Tags: [#cost analysis](https://associationsnow.com/tag/cost-analysis/) [#Member Services](https://associationsnow.com/tag/member-services/) [#Membership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/membership/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [ArticleWhat a Washington, DC, Mansion Knows About Membership That We Don’tSeptember 9, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/09/what-a-washington-dc-mansion-knows-about-membership-that-we-dont/) - [ArticleNew Consultant Collaboration Launches to Help Attendees Make Connections at ASAE26August 14, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/08/14/new-consultant-collaboration-launches-to-help-attendees-make-connections-at-asae26/) - [TemplateMembers onlyMember Onboarding ToolkitNovember 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/11/05/member-onboarding-toolkit/) - [ArticleFrictionless Onboarding: Nailing the First-Year WinsJune 8, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/06/08/frictionless-onboarding-nailing-the-first-year-wins/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2018%2F02%2F09%2Ffriday-buzz-what-it-costs-to-serve-a-member%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !