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Resilient Associations: Reducing Costs and Building Sustainable Revenue Through Smarter Systems
By Membes | 9 December 2025
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The 2025 State of the Association Sector Report from New Zealand Society of Association Executives (NZSAE) revealed a stark reality: nearly half of New Zealand’s associations could operate for only 3–12 months on their current reserves. For boards and executives committed to long-term stability, this is a call to action.
NZSAE Executive Director Brett Jeffery, CAE, has outlined some key actions associations need to take to strengthen sector resilience.
Alongside these actions, the role of smarter systems and the right technology cannot be understated - on both sides of the balance sheet. Modern, integrated platforms reduce operating costs through automation and unlock new revenue streams through added capability to deliver more value to members.
A smarter investment from the outset
Upgrading or replacing legacy technology can feel costly but so is relying on systems that no longer work.
Understanding the differences between a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution and a custom-built system is critical when modernising your tech stack.
Choosing a SaaS platform like Membes Association Management System (AMS) reduces the financial burden from day one and into the future with:
- No large upfront development costs: You pay an affordable monthly fee for a system already built, refined, and continually updated specifically for associations.
- No ongoing upgrade costs: Feature improvements, security enhancements, and updates are included as part of your subscription.
- No expensive rebuild every 4–5 years: SaaS continues to evolve and improve, removing replacement cycles altogether.
Reduce your operating costs: Efficiency through automation
Manual processes and disconnected systems increase overheads, administrative effort, risk and errors:
- Repeating the same tasks manually across multiple tools
- Inaccurate data and duplicate records, no single source of truth
- Excel workarounds that expose member data and increase the risk of breaches.
Membes AMS eliminates these issues by unifying your core operations in one secure platform. Your member database, website, finance, events, communications, education, marketing, and reporting all run from a single source of truth.
The result?
Time saved, costs reduced, and more ways to grow.
With everything connected, time-consuming tasks are automated and changes flow instantly across the entire system:
- Members can join and renew online - often leading to higher renewal rates
- Members can update their own profile – improving accuracy, reducing admin and giving members added convenience and autonomy
- Event registrations, reminders, payments and communications are automated – enabling more events with less effort
- Comprehensive reporting takes minutes, not hours – improving insight and strategy
- Training enrolments, payments, course delivery, and completion tracking are automated - making it easier to monetise education and accreditation
- Data stays securely within one system or flows only via secure APIs
- AI-powered assistance improves speed, quality and consistency of responses to member enquiries, while lowering workload.
Operational savings in practice
“I’m hearing my staff say ‘wow, it took me 30 seconds to do something that used to take half an hour’”.
Brook Durling, CEO, Australian Institute of Conveyancers WA Division (AICWA)
“Membes has saved us approximately 1.5-2 FTE staff.”
Braden Clark, Kaiwhakahaere Chief Executive, ANZASW
“The integration with other systems such as Xero and Stripe has relieved a huge amount of admin work.”
Medico-Legal Society of Queensland (MLSQ)
“Automated membership renewal processes were previously taking 4-5 hours, now they’re faster - and result in higher renewal rates”
Megan Ogier, The Association Specialists
“One year since implementing Membes, we have the highest membership numbers ever and record national webinar attendance”
Lactation Consultants of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ).
“The Event Management feature simplifies processes which means we can host more events.”
Jagvir Singh, LEAD Professional Development Association Incorporated
Grow your association with services your members value
Research consistently shows that members of professional associations value career development and training above most other benefits when deciding to join or renew.
With a financial imperative to diversify non-dues revenue, this is an obvious and high impact opportunity.
Membes AMS offers rich functionality to support training, accreditation and professional standards programs. And with out-of-the-box integration with Intuto LMS, associations can build a scalable, profitable learning offering quickly and affordably.
Monetize expertise and create a new revenue stream.
Intuto LMS is an easy-to-use online learning platform, designed to help associations create and deliver professional, on-demand learning experiences without heavy development costs.
It allows you to transform existing content (PowerPoints, PDFs, webinars, or paper-based assessments) into professional, engaging online courses with:
- Video
- Voiceovers
- Interactive exercises
- Quizzes
- Downloadable resources.
If time or resourcing is tight, Intuto’s experienced Learning and Development (L&D) team can build the courses for you. And for associations that want to offer online learning but are unsure where to begin, Intuto offers advice to clarify goals and plot a roadmap.
Intuto also supports associations with:
- Migrating content to your new LMS
- Setting up sales processes
- Onboarding and training
- Ongoing support.
Once integrated with your AMS, student access to courses is seamless. engagement and completions can be tracked at a glance, compliance-ready reports can be generated instantly, and certificates, reminders and continuing education credits can all be automated.
100% of associations using Intuto experienced an increase in member engagement.
New on-demand learning programs in practice
“With the help of Intuto we upgraded our professional development program. We can now expand our offerings to meet future needs….”
New Zealand Speech-language Therapists Association (NZSTA)
“At Whānau Āwhina Plunket we had a large, dispersed team. We now have consistent scalability with large, organization-wide rollouts and 800–1,300+ new users in busy months.”
Whānau Āwhina Plunket
“Since partnering with Intuto, significant time savings have been achieved through automation, there’s been a lift in learner engagement. More courses completed. Higher satisfaction scores.”
New Zealand Red Cross – First Aid Training
Intuto has a wealth of information available to associations looking to start or scale their on-demand learning program. Visit the website or download the Online Education Programme Development Roadmap here.
4 Ways Associations Can Build Financial Sustainability
- Automate routine tasks – Save staff time, reduce errors, and redirect effort to strategy and service.
- Consolidate your systems – One secure platform means lower overheads.
- Monetise your knowledge – Turn webinars, conferences, and expertise into on-demand paid courses and certifications that generate revenue around the clock
- Invest in scalable tools – Choose SaaS solutions that grow with you, without the heavy development costs.
As Brett Jeffery CAE of NZSAE reminded the sector, this is not about panic—it’s about preparation. And, treating financial sustainability as the strategic priority it truly is.
Membes and Intuto help associations modernise their operations, deliver greater member value, boost revenue and build a more sustainable financial future.
Follow the links to get in touch to find out more or arrange a demo with Membes and Intuto, experts in association software.
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