---
title: "Data Point: Closing Time?"
id: "49901"
type: "post"
slug: "data-point-closing-time"
published_at: "2020-04-20T07:30:46+00:00"
modified_at: "2020-04-20T07:30:46+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/04/20/data-point-closing-time/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/04/20/data-point-closing-time.md"
excerpt: "A decision to close a chapter can be difficult, but it’s one that many associations are making."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Membership"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "chapters"
  - "Data Organization"
  - "Membership"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "Executive Team"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
---

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 » Data Point: Closing Time?

According to the [2019 Chapter Benchmarking Report (opens in a new tab)](https://marinermanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019_Chapter_Benchmarking_Report_Final.pdf)
 from Mariner Management and Billhighway, a sizable majority of respondents whose associations have chapters, 70 percent, said they closed a chapter recently. That’s a significant increase from three years earlier, when only 22 percent reported shutting a chapter down.

“When you get into the details of this data, respondents said that when they closed chapters, they often merged,” said Mariner Management President Peggy Hoffman, FASAE, CAE. “It’s a reorganization that I think is adaptive to the local level, and it shows that chapters are playing with traditional structures more.”

Of association respondents with chapters:

### 2019

**70 percent** Closed a Chapter

**34 percent** Added a New Chapter

### 2016

**22 percent** Closed a Chapter

**20 percent** Added a New Chapter

*Source: Mariner Management and Billhighway, [2019 Chapter Benchmarking Report (opens in a new tab)](https://marinermanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019_Chapter_Benchmarking_Report_Final.pdf)
, October 2019*

(StockSeller_ukr/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

[ASAE Staff](https://associationsnow.com/author/asae-staff/)

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 [#Data Organization](https://associationsnow.com/tag/data-organization/)
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