Associations need a steady stream of revenue to continue providing the benefits they offer to their members. Membership dues are essential to your association’s day-to-day operations and activities. However, finding nondues revenue opportunities is key to ensuring your sustainability and long-term financial success. It also opens up more opportunities for your association and your members. Here's a look at three impactful nondues revenue ideas for your association to consider implementing.

1. Secure Corporate Sponsors

Partnering with a company leads to a mutually beneficial relationship; this means that you both succeed. When searching for a sponsor, look for a company with similar values to your association. This could mean you share goals, values, or even have overlap in your audience.

Finding a good match for your association is important. It increases your chances of that sponsor being open to supporting your association again in the future.

Associations benefit from corporate sponsorships by receiving funds or in-kind donations (noncash donations) or services. This is to help your association further its mission and cut down on expenses. Corporate sponsorships can go a long way toward supporting an event or project from your association.

At the same time, corporate sponsors enjoy boosted visibility and increased brand recognition. Featuring company logos and branding on event materials and member communications helps them. They get a boost to their reputation for their dedication to improving the community.

If done well, this should be a true partnership, with both parties gaining something valuable from the sponsorship.

2. Offer Educational and Professional Resources

Benefits related to furthering education and boosting careers are a big draw for many members. Consider providing exclusive educational resources and opportunities for additional registration costs.

Running events is a great way to offer many different types of resources and opportunities to members. It’s also a great way to earn nondues revenue. Make sure your event runs smoothly by employing comprehensive event software.

When deciding what type of resources to offer, you should consider your association, your mission, and the community you serve. Think about your audience. Who are they? What do they want? What member benefits would be the most useful to them?

This will be different for every association. Here is a list of potential resources and opportunities your association could offer:

• Conferences
• Guest speaker events
• Workshops
• Webinars
• Certifications
• Networking opportunities
• Job boards

Associations can send out surveys or use their membership management software to identify which educational opportunities their members would be most interested in.

3. Sell Branded Merchandise

Another effective nondues revenue idea is selling branded merchandise for members to buy online. This is a wonderful way to connect with your members and build a stronger sense of community among them.

You can set up an online payment service to process payments on merch sales. This makes it much more convenient both for your association and for your members.

Again, think about your members and what they would be most interested in. For instance, if your association has a focus on nature and the outdoors, hats and sunglasses are great ideas. If there’s a focus on writing or education, notebooks are a great option. Branch out and offer multiple products.

Here are some branded merchandise ideas for your association:

• T-shirts
• Sunglasses
• Hats
• Notebooks
• Mugs
• Water bottles
• Tote bags

This nondues revenue idea has an added benefit. It provides extra marketing for your association and increases your brand awareness. A member wearing a t-shirt with your association’s name and logo welcomes questions and conversations about your association.

Incorporating nondues revenue into your association’s overall strategy is a great way to add diversity to your association’s portfolio. It gives you more options on how you can use that extra revenue in the future.