The 4 Most Important Lessons From The 2026 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

Marketing General Incorporated has just released its 18th annual Benchmarking Report on the state of not-for-profits; I have read it from cover to cover and have the skinny for you on the four most important things you need to know from this year’s report. 

If you are unfamiliar with Marketing General Incorporated, they have run a massive survey every year since 2009 to work out the trends in renewal rates, member demographics, and successful membership marketing approaches for non-profits. For the past three years, I’ve dug into these reports to find the most important information you need to know. This can sometimes mean translating findings from 50,000-member Canadian medical associations into practical tactics for a 500-member car club in Wagga Wagga. I’ve spent a long morning drinking an unhealthy amount of coffee and digging through the data, so without any further ado, let's get into exactly what we can learn from this.  

What We Will Cover

• Declining Membership Growth: We will break down the latest data to examine exactly how membership growth is slowing across the industry.
• Targeting Younger Demographics: We will discuss why shifting your focus to Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z is absolutely vital for future-proofing your organisation.
• Effective Renewal Strategies: We will outline the most successful methods for retaining your members, including offering flexible payment options and strategic grace periods.
• The Rise of AI: We will explore how artificial intelligence is quickly becoming the go-to tool for streamlining administrative tasks and saving valuable resources.

1. Membership Growth Is Still Slowing Across The Board

Over the 2025/26 financial year, membership growth decreased for the third consecutive year, falling to its lowest point since the pandemic. Mind you, I’m not talking April 2020, where everyone had been home for a month baking sourdough and joining whatever online community they could find. No, I’m saying growth rates are at their lowest since the dark days of late 2021, when we’d all been locked inside forever, and were becoming odd and unwholesome. 

Overall Membership Numbers

Only 38% of associations experienced growth during the 2025/26 financial year, down from last year's industry standard of 45%. As an interesting comparison, 50.57% of clubs and associations that used Member Jungle experienced growth over the 2025/26 financial year. For more on how Member Jungle customers stacked up against the industry standard, read Membership Growth Over The 2025/26 Financial Year.

Average Membership Growth & Loss

The organisations that saw growth over the last financial year grew an average of 8%, the same as last year. The organisations that experienced loss stayed steady with an average loss of 5%, the same as last year. 

Membership Renewal Rates

Membership renewal rates were also down slightly, with the average renewal rate dropping from 84% to 82%, and the renewal rate for first-year members dropping from 74% to 72%. 

Non-Profit Membership Growth 2025/26 Summary 

It may be due to the cost-of-living crisis and a possible global recession on its way, but times are getting leaner for membership organisations across the board. We certainly aren’t at panic stations yet, far from it, but it’s a good time to start really refining how you get and keep members. More on that soon. 

2. Younger Generations Are The Key To More Members

I need you to look at this graph of which generations members belong to and how that has changed over the past decade.  

As you can see, over the past decade, the number of Baby Boomers (62-80) in membership organisations has dropped steadily from 39% in 2017 to 24% in 2026. This trend is highly unlikely to change as the generation ages and eventually reaches the stage the Silent Generation is currently at. 

Over the same period, Gen Y (30-45) and Gen Z (14-29) have seen significant growth. The number of Gen Z members in clubs has nearly tripled, rising from 4% to 11.5% over the past decade. Gen Y (Millennials) has grown to make up a quarter of all members, making them the second-largest group. Gen X (46-61) is currently the largest cohort and holds steady at just under a third of all members; however, as the eldest Gen Xers are a handful of years away from retirement age, we can expect that number to begin climbing soon. 

The point is that Gen X and Gen Y are the generations you really need to focus on right now. Obviously, don’t throw the Baby Boomer out with the bathwater; you just need to start catering more heavily to the younger, more tech-savvy generations. Gen X and Gen Y got desktop computers and laptops, respectively, in their teen years and have built entire careers using technology; they expect and are highly capable with digital systems. 

To properly cater to them, you need to ensure your club is using slick, modern platforms. Preferably, you should utilise a single, intuitive platform rather than a Frankenstein's monster cobbled together from different systems. The younger generations are used to slick all-in-one systems and lack patience for piecemeal workarounds. This unified approach will serve your committee well in the long run; Gen Z are true digital natives and will simply not engage with manual administration or disjointed digital tools. 

To find out more about how to appeal to younger members, check out Why You Should Focus On Attracting Younger Members To Your Club Or Association. 

3. Membership Renewals: What Works & What Doesn’t

As I mentioned earlier, the overall renewal rate is down to 82%, with the renewal rate for first-year members similarly dropping down to 72%. However, there is a lot more to cover when it comes to membership renewals and how organisations keep their members around, so let's dive in. 

Renewal Reminder Methods

It will come as no surprise that emails are still the king of renewal reminders, with 96% of organisations using them to remind members to renew. What may surprise you, as it certainly surprised me, is that this is down from 100% last year. Likewise, how effective organisations found it also decreased slightly. The story was the same for mail, which last year was the second-most-used method for renewal reminders. This year, its overall use and rated effectiveness both decreased, with only 51% of organisations now sending letters. 

On the other hand, staff members of the club or association calling members to remind them of their renewals rose to 55% over the last year, making it the second-most-common method. The rated effectiveness of calling members also grew, with a third of organisations saying it was their most useful method of reminding people about renewals. 

According to the report, membership organisations with higher-than-average growth and renewal rates were more likely to use phone calls to remind members to renew.

For more details on calling members for renewals, peep Are You Calling Your Members For Membership Renewals?

Renewal Options

Many membership organisations use extra incentives to help get members to renew, including: 

• Automatic credit card payments 
• Paying in instalments
• lifetime memberships
• Early renewal discounts 
• Renewal gifts

In fact, only 15% of membership organisations offered no extra renewal options. Offering flexible payments, and automated credit card payments are positively linked to higher renewal rates. 

Renewal Grace Period

More than half of organisations offer a grace period of between one and three months for lapsed memberships before removing a member from the system. Currently, 21% of organisations offer no grace period; however, associations with an above-average renewal rate are much more likely to offer a two-to-three-month grace period, while organisations with a below-average renewal rate are more likely to offer no grace period. 

The moral is that grace periods, within reason, are key to achieving high renewal rates. 

Membership Dues 

Half of all surveyed membership organisations raised their dues in the 2025/26 financial year. Moreover, 29% of organisations now raise their dues annually, up 5% from the previous year. 

Just like last year's report, the Benchmarking Report has said: “Increasing dues annually is positively correlated with renewal rates exceeding 80%”. I will say what I said last year, too: correlation is not causation. I’d be willing to bet it's not the rising dues that are driving good renewal rates; rather, the increased revenue enables these organisations to implement better member services, which, in turn, drive higher renewal rates. In short, don’t just jack up the price; leave everything else untouched and assume everyone will renew better than ever.  

4. Artificial Intelligence Usage Continues To Grow

The number of membership organisations that are actively using AI to streamline their operations continues to grow. 23% of organisations are now using AI, a 5% increase from last year. A further 28% are in the process of implementing an AI system or are still trying to pick the correct one. 

Creating content, communicating with members, personalising communications, and data analysis are the main ways people are currently using to help run their organisations. Organisations using AI are currently reporting increased productivity, faster content creation and cost savings.  

The Benchmarking Report states that higher renewal rates and increased new-member acquisition are “positively correlated” with AI use. 

For a look at Member Jungle’s new in-built AI assistant designed to do exactly this, have a look at the Jungle Vision Guide Your Membership Management AI Assistant.

Also, I’d strongly recommend checking out Being Human: Authentic Connections Are Key To Success in 2026 & Beyond. A guide I, a self-proclaimed hater of AI, wrote on getting the effectiveness of AI tools without sacrificing all the good human parts of your organisation. 

Summary Of The 2026 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report: What Your Organisation Needs To Do

We’ve covered a lot of ground today, so let’s go over the most important things you should take away from this article. 

• Membership growth is slowing: New member acquisition and membership renewals are slowing across the board, as leaner financial times are causing people to tighten their budgets. 
• I cannot find a way to write this without it sounding either like a sales pitch or a lie, but membership growth for Member Jungle customers bucked the trend and actually improved, with 50% of customers seeing growth, up 1% from last year and 12% from the industry standard. 
• Target Gen X, Y, and Z: The younger, more tech-savvy generations are growing in number, with Baby Boomers now only the third-largest generation. Targeting younger generations with smooth, modern systems will reduce the friction that keeps more young members from joining.
• Offer flexible renewal options: Membership organisations that offer flexible renewal options, automated debits, and the option to pay membership in instalments saw better renewal rates. 
• Offer two-to-three-month renewal grace periods: Organisations that allow members to go two or three months without renewing before deactivating their memberships saw higher renewal rates. 
• Use AI: membership organisations that use artificial intelligence are reporting better member growth and retention, as well as time and money saved. However, please make sure not to let the AI strip your organisation of the personal touch.  

If you do all this, you will be setting your organisation and members up for a long and happy future. 

Where To From Here?

I really hope you found that useful, and it gave you some great insights into how you can help your membership organisation. You can find the full report and all of its fantastic information on the Marketing General Incorporated website. If you want to have a look at how the numbers from Member Jungle customers compare to the industry averages, check out Membership Growth Over The 2025/26 Financial Year.

To learn more about Member Jungle’s new AI assistant, have a read of Jungle Vision Guide Your Membership Management AI Assistant.