Is AI Adoption Stalling in the Membership Sector?

While artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries, the global membership sector appears to be hitting the brakes. Interest remains high, and experimentation is widespread, but formal strategies, scaled deployment, and measurable impact? That’s where momentum is slowing.

So, is AI adoption stalling? If we’re talking about structured, strategic, and embedded use of AI in associations, professional bodies, and similar organisations, the answer is, increasingly, yes.

🚧 Experimentation Without Strategy

A recent industry report noted that most associations are still dabbling with AI, testing tools like chatbots or content summarisation, but not yet embedding AI in their core operations. A 2025 benchmark study found:

• 85% of nonprofits and associations are exploring AI,

• Yet only 24% have a formal AI strategy,

• And most have just 1–2 staff overseeing AI decisions, if any at all.

That’s a recipe for stalled progress, i.e., enthusiasm without the infrastructure to make it stick.

🧱 What’s Holding Us Back?

Several structural challenges are making it difficult for AI to take root:

1. Strategy gaps: Many organisations are stuck in pilot mode, with little planning for how AI aligns with mission, member value, or operational goals.

   
   

2. Resource constraints: Smaller organisations, who make up the majority of the sector, struggle with budget and skills, meaning AI often sits in the “nice to have” column.

   
   

3. Scaling friction: Even when tools show promise, they rarely move beyond isolated experiments.

   
   

4. Cultural caution: Membership bodies, often risk-averse, can be slow to embrace tools still seen as unproven or opaque.

📉 Behind the Corporate Curve

While enterprise adoption of AI is accelerating, with more than 75% of global firms using AI in at least one function, the membership sector is falling behind. Without coordinated strategy or investment, we risk losing out on productivity, insights, and member engagement opportunities.

🧭 So What Now?

We don’t lack interest. We lack intention. To move forward, the membership sector must:

• Develop formal AI roadmaps tied to clear goals and member needs,

• Build capability, not just experiment with tools,

• Learn from early wins like using AI to support member enquiries, personalise communications, or automate routine tasks,

• And, crucially, work together: shared frameworks, case studies, and cross-sector pilots can help us all advance faster.

✅ The Opportunity is Still Ours

AI isn’t just a tech trend, it’s a set of tools that, used well, can help membership organisations deliver more value, more efficiently, and with greater insight. But only if we move beyond the novelty phase.

Adoption hasn’t stopped; but without a course correction, it may well stall.

Are you using AI meaningfully in your association? Or are you still stuck in the experimentation phase? I’d love to hear how you’re approaching this, and what support your organisation needs to move forward.