A new report based on interviews with more than two dozen association executives presses leaders to do more to organize and promote their educational offerings.

Where Mission and Margin Meet: How Association CEOs Think About Learning and Education, was published Monday by Tagoras, an educational consultancy. Based on interviews with 27 association leaders conducted this year, the report concludes that associations need to do more now that they face more competition from the corporate sector and stronger demands from learners.

“Many associations now run a patchwork of legacy programs without coherent pricing or clear logic behind how the programs interrelate,” the report said.

Jeff Cobb, Tagoras cofounder and coauthor of the report (with Celisa Steele), said too few associations recognize the value of education in their portfolio, and have an opportunity to better share its value. “They really need to be talking about learning more broadly,” he said. “Learning doesn’t just happen in the context of formal catalog offerings, but throughout the member experience. Every touch point you have with a member, whether as a volunteer or through advocacy efforts … it’s an opportunity for associations to take a lead on.”

Among the ways associations can better highlight their education options is to streamline their offerings and develop clearer learning “pathways” (learning sequences) and “signals” (certifications and credentials”) for members. Cutting through the confusion of education offerings and helping members understand their options and choose one that’s the best fit for their professional needs should be a priority, according to the report. “Pathways reduce choice overload, accelerate skill development, and create a shared understanding of competencies,” the report says. “Signals make learning visible and portable, strengthening market value for the learner.”

To best devise how to organize those pathways and signals, Cobb recommends that associations do something that he says happens too rarely: connect directly with employers to learn what expertise they need from professionals in the field.

“I think something that associations have traditionally not done well enough is forge deep, meaningful, ongoing relationships with employers and their sectors to understand what’s actually needed, what is going to be perceived as valuable,” Cobb said. “If you put together educational offerings or some form of credential, if you form those into pathways for people at different points of their careers or in different specialties, you have to ask if it’s actually going to be valued in the employment market. Because if it’s not, then you’re never going to get very far with it.”

The report also notes that association leaders are treading carefully around AI, looking for ways to gain benefits around efficiency without eroding trust in the association as a knowledge leader. 

“It’s a matter of being conscious about where your authority does lie and where your trust does lie,” Cobb said. “There’s definitely a need for organizations to be solid curators of reliable, data-driven, industry-specific information. Every organization needs to be thinking now about, how do we establish clearer ownership around that in the public sphere and in our own private instances of that for our members and our learners.”