Looking Forward Survey
The Association Laboratory Looking Forward® survey is the industry’s leading source of sector research on associations. They are accessing insights from hundreds of associations across more than 20 professional and industry sectors. Using the most recent, relevant, and customizable data to inform your decisions is critical in a dynamic and uncertain environment.
Since 2012, Association Laboratory has been researching the factors influencing association members and the implications of these factors on the association business model.
The Association Laboratory Research Alliance® produces a family of sector studies under the Looking Forward® banner critical to association sector thought leadership.
- Looking Forward® Impact – This global environmental scan of the association strategy environment identifies the factors with the most significant impact on association members.
- Looking Forward® Challenges – This study looks at the challenges that the changing environment creates for association strategy.
- Looking Forward® Solutions – This study assess more than 135 different strategies and solutions and identifies the ones that association leaders believe are important to success, given the changes in the member environment.
Not sure how to get started with those conversations? We are providing you with a discussion guide and high-level Executive Summary for each of the three parts of the Looking Forward® studies.
Access Looking Forward Discussion Guides to Lead the Conversation
Each Executive Summary includes an overview of the data, a sample agenda, sample worksheets, and instructions on programming a virtual discussion with your volunteer leaders or staff team.
Download the Executive Summaries for each study by clicking on the appropriate Looking Forward segment below:
Looking Forward 2026 Executive Summary and Discussion Guide
Looking Forward Content Briefs
Looking Forward Trend 6: Current Association Governance was Built for a Different World
Every generation of association leaders inherits a governance system that was designed by the generation before it.
Most of the time, that system works well enough. Board meetings happen. Elections occur. Committees meet. Budgets are approved. Volunteers move through leadership pathways and eventually rotate off the board.
The problem is that governance systems rarely evolve as quickly as the environment around them.
As a result, many associations are trying to navigate a world of accelerating technological change, shifting professional identities, workforce disruption, economic uncertainty, and changing member expectations, all while relying on governance structures built for a much slower era.
This is not a criticism of past leaders. Most governance systems were designed rationally for the conditions that existed when they were created.
The challenge is that many of those conditions no longer exist.
The question facing association leaders today is not whether their governance structure complies with the bylaws or fulfills its legal obligations.
The more important question a CEO and Board of Directors should be asking is whether their current governance system helps the association make better decisions in an increasingly uncertain environment.
For many associations, the answer is becoming less clear.
Looking Forward Past Content Briefs
Looking Forward Methodology
All of the surveys in the Looking Forward® family are distributed as online surveys, accessible on a computer or mobile device. Survey links are distributed broadly throughout the association community via multiple channels, including the Association Laboratory Research Alliance, ASAE Collaborate, Association Laboratory’s contact database, and social media such as LinkedIn.