Industry report · First edition · 2026

The State of AI in Associations

How associations are using AI in the work that grows and keeps members, earns non-dues revenue and delivers value. Measured association by association, workflow by workflow, and compared with organizations in other industries.

PublisherStellis AI

ResearchClarity, from Stellis AI

Who answeredAssociation executives and staff

FieldworkJuly to October 2026

70%of the work associations call a priority is done by hand or not at all

26/100median readiness score, compared to 31 across all organizations in Clarity

25%of association leaders have named an executive owner for AI results

55%of associations name retention or renewal as the number they most want AI to move

Section 1

Summary

70% of the priority work associations rated is done by hand or not done, including the growth and revenue work they choose most often. Association leaders score a median of 26 on readiness, behind organizations in other industries.

Finding	What the figures measure
Most priority work is still done by hand. 70% of ratings are done by hand or not done; 30% show some automation, and very little is well covered.	Every workflow rating associations gave their priority work.
Growth and revenue come first. 77% of associations chose work to grow and keep members, and 64% chose non-dues revenue; few chose internal operations.	Share of associations choosing at least one workflow under each objective.
The most-chosen workflow has almost no working models yet. 59% of associations chose "identifying revenue opportunities the association isn't capturing yet", and under 10% of them report automating any part of it.	Share of associations choosing the workflow; how those choosing it rate it today.
Ownership is the gap to top scorers. 25% of association leaders have named an executive owner for AI results, against 70% of top scorers across industries.	Share of leaders with the practice in place.
Leaders expect real disruption in their members' field. 59% of association chief executives expect AI to put at least a tenth of the jobs in their members' field at risk within five years.	Leaders' own estimate, asked in Stellis working sessions.
What holds plans back is time and permission, not AI. Staff capacity (38%) and the board (33%) lead; only 9% of leaders mentioned AI at all.	Leaders' own words on what is holding back their plan, coded into themes.

Section 2

What leaders think is at stake

59% of association chief executives expect AI to put at least a tenth of the jobs in their members' field at risk within five years. 17% expect a quarter or more; 6% expect AI to add jobs.

Share of jobs in members' field that AI puts at risk within five years

Share of association chief executives giving each estimate

Association chief executives and senior leaders in Stellis Future Customer working sessions, July to October 2026, asked before the session began.

Section 3

Readiness across associations

Associations score a median of 26 on readiness, behind organizations in other industries, whose median is 31.

Median readiness score, by group

SPRINT readiness assessment, 0 to 100. Dashed line: all organizations in Clarity.

Where associations trail other industries

Share of leaders with each practice in place, associations against all organizations in Clarity. Selected practices.

AssociationsAll organizations

Associations: rounded to the nearest 5%. All organizations: every organization that completed a Clarity assessment in 2026, one response per organization, pooled and unnamed.

Leaders' own confidence agrees with the readiness score. Asked how confident they are that their association has a clear path forward on AI, chief executives give a median of 5 out of 10, and only 19% rate themselves 7 or higher.

Confidence in a clear path forward on AI

Share of association chief executives, by their rating from 0 to 10

Association chief executives and senior leaders in Stellis Future Customer working sessions, July to October 2026, asked before the session began. A different group from the Clarity readiness figures above.

Section 4

How the work is done today

70% of the work associations chose as priority is done by hand or not done. In the two objectives associations choose most, growing and keeping members and non-dues revenue, little of the work has any automation.

Where associations want AI to help

Share of associations choosing at least one workflow under each objective

How priority work is done, by objective

Share of the associations choosing each objective, by how they handle that work today

Not doneDone by handSome automation

Each association counts once per objective, by its typical rating there.

Section 5

Where associations report unserved work

The workflows associations choose most are mostly done by hand. For some, another association already reports automating part of the work; for others, including identifying revenue opportunities the association isn't capturing yet, almost none does yet.

The five workflows most often chosen, and how they are done

"Choosing it": share of all associations. The two columns after it: share of those choosing it

Section 6

By association size

Size changes what associations work on, not how ready they are. 85% of associations with up to 15 staff chose work to grow and keep members, compared to 60% of larger ones. Larger associations spread across more objectives, especially building for the future member (60% compared to 25%). Readiness scores and the share of work done by hand barely differ by size.

Where associations want AI to help, by staff size

Share of associations choosing at least one workflow under each objective

Up to 15 staff16 staff or more

Size is the staff count each association reported. Both groups are rounded to the nearest 5%. The six objectives most often chosen shown.

Section 7

What associations want AI to change, and what stands in the way

The metric associations most want AI to move

Share of associations naming each, by theme

Biggest obstacle to AI

Share of associations where a respondent named each

Retention is the number most associations want AI to move. 55% name retention or renewal, ahead of member growth (41%) and revenue (27%).

What leaders say is holding back their plan

Share of association chief executives naming each theme; one answer can name several

Association chief executives and senior leaders in Stellis Future Customer working sessions, asked at the close what is holding back their plan. Answers in their own words, coded into themes by Stellis. The five most common themes shown.

Almost no leader names AI as the barrier. Only 9% mentioned AI at all. The constraints are the ordinary ones of running an association: staff already at capacity (38%), the board's pace and permission (33%) and money (25%).

Section 8

What this means for your association

Five steps, in order

Name an owner for AI. It is the practice that most separates top scorers from everyone else.
Make use an expectation, and keep the learning going after the first training.
Start where others have a working model. For the workflows in Section 5 that another association already automates in part, learn from that model rather than design from scratch.
Put a number on standing still, tied to retention, the metric most associations already track.
Benchmark your own association. Clarity shows where you sit against these figures on the workflows you choose.

Section 9

Method

Who answeredExecutives and staff at associations that completed Clarity on the association taxonomy, July to October 2026. Most associations answered through their chief executive; some ran the survey across their staff. Results describe those associations and are directional; they do not represent all associations.

ReadinessReadiness figures come from leader assessments and are compared with organizations in other industries that completed Clarity.

Working sessionsThe job outlook, confidence and barrier figures come from association chief executives and senior leaders in Stellis Future Customer working sessions, July to October 2026, most at one August event. They are a different group from the Clarity respondents, and figures from the two are never combined. Job outlook and confidence were asked before the session began; barriers were asked at its close, in leaders' own words, and coded into themes by Stellis.

WorkflowsAssociations chose their priority workflows from a catalog of association work and rated how each is done today: not doing it, mostly manual, partly systematized, or well covered. "Done by hand" means mostly manual, and "some automation" means partly systematized or well covered.

Reporting rulesShares for groups of 20 or more are exact; groups of 3 to 19 are rounded to the nearest 5%; groups under 3 are not shown. No association or person is identified, and no counts are shown.

CountingEach association counts once in every workflow and objective figure, by its typical rating, however many people answered.

Not includedBudgets, staffing levels and revenue figures are not measured in this edition.