Why are you so concerned about what you call "membership-centric business models"?

The overwhelming majority of associations operate on “membership-centric business models,” which are business models that make the selling of memberships the centerpiece of value creation, delivery and capture. In these business models, the focus of organizational decision-making is always on membership sales and how to maximize them, and boards use membership metrics to evaluate the health of their organizations.

Among my concerns about membership-centric business models are 1) they focus almost entirely on optimizing one form of value, i.e., membership sales, to the exclusion of creating thicker forms of value that can help stakeholders solve their problems, meet their needs and achieve their outcomes, 2) they create unnecessary barriers to entry into meaningful value-based relationships with stakeholders for whom the membership relationship is not the right fit and 3) they typically require significant investments of human time, energy and attention for minimal return.