What Satisfying Member Needs Means Now

March 16, 2026 By Mark Athitakis

In this article:

From the statehouse to the convention center, members want real wins and evidence that joining will help them get ahead.

What have you done for me lately?

In 2026, that question is top-of-mind for association members—which means it’s a top concern for association leaders. Sweeping changes at federal agencies have made the lives of many professionals uncertain, as have ever-shifting tariff rates. Today’s association members are looking for practical solutions to their more pressing problems—and confidence that the association is equipped to provide them.

“In the past, members joined because they wanted to belong to something, because it’s the right thing to do, or it’s what professionals in their space did—and that is just not true anymore,” says Chris Vaughan, chief strategy officer at Sequence Consulting. “They don’t want to belong to something; they want to become something. Help me get the job, help me get the promotion, make me more visible, get me promoted.”

To that end, associations today are as much active problem-solvers as they are conveners or trainers. At the Tennessee Society of CPAs, that’s meant a strong focus on the serious pipeline problem facing the accounting industry. Enrollment in accounting programs has declined, which results in fewer people sitting for the CPA exam, even while the need for tax preparation, audits, and other accounting tasks has grown. In 2025, TSCPA scored a win on that front, drafting legislation that added an additional pathway to licensure for the CPA, reducing the total hours required and expanding interstate mobility of the credential.

That was last year’s victory, but it came after an extensive effort to recognize CPAs’ workforce challenges. A task force studied research, convened members, and developed an action plan that led to the legislation. “The thing that I’m proud of is that during that task-force process, we invited representatives from the state, from the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, to participate,” says TSCPA President and CEO Kara Fitzgerald. “That helped them to really understand the issues the accounting profession was facing. So, once we got to the point of our board of directors approving that we would move forward with legislation to add an additional pathway, we had the support of state leaders.”

TSCPA is also addressing the pipeline issue by putting its members in front of future professionals—who are getting younger and younger. In 2021, the association created the Student Outreach, Advancement and Recruitment (SOAR) Partner Program, through which members visit schools to promote the profession. Initially the focus was on colleges, but research has encouraged TSCPA to adjust.

“There’s been a lot of research that has pointed to young people making career decisions as early as middle school,” Fitzgerald says. “That was kind of an eye opener for us, because we’ve always had student outreach, but it had been focused at the college level. So, we decided we needed to start much sooner, because when students get to college, their mind is made up.”

Always-on Meeting and Training

Because member needs have become more immediate and practical, the format and goals of association meetings have had to change as well. Trusting that members will wait until the annual meeting to meet their education and career goals is misguided, Vaughan says. “The members are not looking for that annual spike of experience. They’re looking for an arc of experience across the year. That event may be a part of it, but what happens after your flagship event?”

That shift is driven partly by members, who may be looking for a solution that responds to a new policy change at a federal agency. It’s also being driven by sponsors who are looking for a bigger footprint with their target audience. “They don’t want to be in front of your members for two days once a year—they want to be in front of your members 365 days a year, providing value and content and engagement,” Vaughan says.

TSCPA, for its part, has made a substantial shift to online education to respond to that urgency. “We had previously hosted over 200 in-person events a year, and now we host between 15 and 20 in-person events, most of those being conferences,” Fitzgerald says. Though TSCPA hosts some livestreamed events, most of its CPE education is based on prerecorded education modules. That has lowered costs while preserving revenue and maintaining quality, she says.

Got a Minute?

According to research by Momentive Software, members want quick-hit professional development options, but associations are lax about providing them. The report found a 35-point gap between members who want short professional-development videos and associations that provide them. Similarly, there’s a 41-point gap between members who want recommended learning paths and associations with those types of offerings.

“Association professionals are still missing what their members want most—career advancement support,” the report says. “While nearly half of members say job opportunities and career development are ‘very important,’ fewer than one in four association pros recognize this priority.”

Getting comfortable with the shift in education formats means that TSCPA can update training to respond to whatever hot topic members are engaged with, such as AI. “We’re increasing the base of technology education that we provide, while talking to a lot of young professionals who might be fearful of the impact of AI,” Fitzgerald says. “Some aspects of tax returns can be automated, and there are components of audits that can be automated. But the real value of the CPA comes in advising and consulting. We’re in the process of evaluating how we can better serve small firms and provide resources that are specific to them, that maybe they don’t have access to otherwise.”

Looking ahead, Vaughan says associations should consider breaking their meetings and education programming into chunks that make the most sense for members, especially those looking for quick answers.

“They’re saying, ‘I want a local event that’s closer to me. I want a specialty event for people in my role, or only for people who have my job,’” he says. “’I want the sessions to be available online. I want to be able to sign up for mentoring around a topic that I learned about. I want the learning track that I started to extend across the year into a series, or perhaps a microcertification.’ Then the main event becomes one experience in a series of experiences that add up to member value.”

Mark Athitakis

Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel.