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We Grow Associations

Association Growth Experts

We’ve been helping associations thrive for over twenty years. No matter your size – from scrappy startups to industry giants – we’ve partnered with growth-focused professional and trade associations to achieve amazing things.

Expert Association ConsultING

Thought Partners for Association Growth

Grow Membership and Revenue With Expert Association Consultants

Do you want to unlock explosive growth for your association?

We help you craft winning strategies and innovative business models to accelerate your membership and revenue growth.

Stop guessing about success. Our proven strategies can help you increase membership, generate more revenue, and amplify your impact on your industry.

See why leading associations trust us. We bring deep industry experience and a personalized approach to meet your unique needs.

We don’t just talk—we get things done. Expect straight talk, expert project management, and a thoughtful, clear, and collaborative partnership focused on achieving your goals.

Our impact goes beyond our projects. We elevate your team and equip your association with tools and strategies to thrive for years to come.

Chris and Lisa Want to transform your association

ELEVEN OF THE TOP TWENTY ASSOCIATIONS ARE SEQUENCE CLIENTS

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Association Consulting Services

Expert Association Consulting To Grow Membership and Revenue

Member Research and Data Analysis

Powerful, data-driven insights that unlock new direction for growth.

Research and Data Insights

Qualitative and Quantitative Research
AI-Assisted Data Analytics
Market Sizing
Competitive Intelligence
Cost-to-Serve Analysis
Benchmarks and Best Practices

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Strategies for Associations

Innovative association strategies for explosive growth.

Association Growth Strategies

Organizational Membership Models
Membership Model Innovation
Member Dues Optimization
Membership Maturity Model℠
Non-Dues Revenue Growth
Right-to-Win Value Proposition℠
Member Value Scorecard℠

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Membership Marketing

Award-winning membership marketing that delivers exponential growth in member acquisition, engagement, and retention.

Growth Marketing

New Member Acquisition
Engagement and Retention
Value-Based Segmentation
Renewal and Winback
Young Professional Member Growth
Student Retention
Proof Points℠ Messaging

Our Mission: To Help Associations Grow
Membership and Revenue

Our Founders

We believe associations change the world and by helping them get better, we make the world a better place.

Chris and Lisa Vaughan

We traded our partnerships in a big strategy firm for a mission: to empower associations like yours.

Chris honed his strategy, technology, and marketing skills, advising Global 1000 leaders.

Lisa worked alongside CEOs and Boards, driving growth, change, and bold strategic development.

In 2001, we founded Sequence, shifting our focus entirely to the unique challenges facing associations. That dedication hasn’t wavered.

Let the experience we gained in the corporate boardroom fuel your association’s success story.

Association Insights and Success Stories

Articles and REsearch

Successful Consulting Relationships

Get The Great Consulting You Deserve: Ten Simple Steps For Clients

Association Industry Trends

And the Survey Says … Associations Are Thriving in 2024, with a Bright Future Ahead

Association Leadership

Forget Unicorns, Think Platypi: Why Associations Are Better Than Corporations

Member Engagement And Retention

From Passive to Passionate: How to Supercharge Member Engagement

Association Membership Model

Rethinking the Model: Why Your Membership Structure Needs an Upgrade

Association Management Trends

Association Management Trends 2024: Embrace the Change

Member Value Proposition

How to Become Your Members’ First Choice: Strategies for “Second Societies”

Ai In Association Management

From Mundane to Magical: How AI is Reshaping Association Management

Member Focus

From Fuzzy to Focused: Why Member Focus Matters

Member Renewal Best Practices

Maximize Member Retention: Research-Based Best Practices for Member Renewal

CLIENT SUCCESS STORIES

Membership Growth

The Doctor Is In: How Sequence Helped the AMA Achieve Exponential Member Growth

Member Engagement Strategy

The Membership Multiplier: How Sequence Helped the Executives’ Club Double Down on Growth

Nonprofit Business Model

From Standards to Solutions: How SAE International Multiplied Non-Dues Revenue by 10X

Titlereviving A Lapsed Base: Ala'S 50% Growth Storydescriptiondiscover How The American Lung Association Re-Engaged Lapsed Members And Achieved Remarkable 50% Growth Through Personalized Campaigns And A Unified Data Platform.

Breathing New Life into a Lapsed Base: How the American Lung Association Achieved 50% Growth

Nonprofit Strategic Planning

Strategic Breakthrough: How APA Achieved 25% Growth & Beyond

Non-Dues Revenue

Case Study: How AARP Turned Market Insight into a $43 Million Revenue Stream

Testimonials

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Todd Unger

SVP of Membership, American Medical Association

It’s been a dramatic impact. Transformative. Our rate of growth last year tripled. We could never have done it without Sequence.

Ian King

Chief Strategy and Membership Officer, American Psychological Association

Our results with Sequence Consulting were phenomenal. It was massively successful. They have great experience they deliver a lot of value.

David Wickenden

SVP Enterprise Strategy, AARP

What Sequence Consulting delivers is excellence. I’d recommend them for anything related to the organization's strategy.

Rich Harwood

Founder, The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation

Sequence helped us make a leap – and we’re grateful for it. We got much greater clarity about our value proposition and a strategy we’re still using years later.

Daryl Thomann

COO, Make-A-Wish Foundation

Sequence has extensive not-for-profit expertise. They made the project a complete success for our organization.

Andrew Smart

Chief Membership and Marketing Officer, SAE International

Most companies have that one really great consulting experience. Sequence Consulting is that one-in-a-million consulting group.

David Schutt, Ph.D.

CEO, SAE International

Working with Sequence, our organization grew ten times over, we entered entirely new industries and expanded our industry consortia by five times. All within three years.

Mark Carpenter

Director of Web Strategy, American Chemical Society

I recommend Sequence Consulting for their non-traditional approach to solving problems. They understand my culture and the realities I’m facing, and they come up with practical solutions I can implement.

Tom Nelson, Ph.D.

Chief Operating Officer, AARP

I think of Sequence as the paradigm busters. We get superior thinking every time.

Christian Kuhn

Director of Partner Strategy, AARP Services

Sequence Consulting is the kind of firm that adds value and totally gets it. They figure out things that have never been done before that have repercussions for years.

Dave Austin

CEO, Influent50 an AARP Services Company

We took a new business from zero to $47 million in three years. We could have never done it without Sequence Consulting.

Arthur Evans, Ph.D.

CEO, American Psychological Association

Our strategic planning with Sequence was incredibly successful. They gave us great confidence that where we ended up was the right place for the organization.

Cris Gardner

VP Corporate Strategy, AARP

I look to Sequence Consulting when I have a tough puzzle and need actionable recommendations. If your challenge is understanding a thorny problem, getting internal consensus, and moving forward, Sequence is your people.

Mark Nylec

Director of CRM, AARP

Other firms fly at 100,000 feet; Sequence tells you how to land the plane. I say: here is my idea, and Sequence takes it and runs.

Bernie Hengesbaugh

COO, American Medical Association

If you want a turnkey approach, go with the big firms. But if you’re interested in someone very credible working with you on a personal level, I would go with Sequence Consulting.

Tami Brehm, CAE

VP Member Services, American College of Rheumatology

Sequence brought focused expertise to our partnership and invested in our success. We are a complex organization. Sequence helped us easily leverage our unique differences to create new growth opportunities.

Chris Gloede

CMO, American Bar Association

Sequence Consulting led the way. When we needed help evaluating marketing automation, they developed the business case, and they helped us identify the fastest path to revenue and profit.

Barbara Burgess

COO, The Wright Foundation

Sequence has been transformational. Sequence gave us an entirely new way to think about our business. They gave us the confidence to move forward and showed us the way.

Julia Fitzgerald

CMO, American Lung Association

We are still benefiting from their work years later. Sequence helped us chart a strategic path that empowered our team and produced better-than-expected results.

Christine Donohoo

Chief Communications Officer, AARP

Sequence always over delivers.

Margaret Mueller, PhD

CEO, Executives Club of Chicago

Our membership doubled in the last three years. Sequence helped us lean into our purpose, restructure our model, and reframe our value proposition to deliver what our members needed most.

Kate Dockins, CAE

SVP Membership Experiences, Institute of Food Technologists

The work with Sequence is making a measurable difference. An actual numerical impact that you can measure.

Jon Dolittle

CEO, Missouri Hospital Association

I really appreciate the Sequence team's willingness to dig in, adapt with us, and help us produce a professional outcome. This process has truly benefited us.

Tim Licitra

Executive Director, IEEE Power & Energy Society

If your organization needs a strategic roadmap and to change your perspective, I would give them an A++. Their approach to working with clients is one others should emulate.

Sanjeev Ahuja

CEO, Lions Clubs International

If an organization is looking for a strategic analysis of a business problem, Sequence would be a great partner.

Stephanie Mercado, CPHQ

CEO, National Association for Healthcare Quality

I like working with smart, experienced, fast-paced organizations who come in and roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.

Susan McCardle

Membership Director, National Fire Protection Association

They were able to get us all on the same page about how the process was going to work and how to get what we were looking for. The simplicity of the process was great.

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