our services
Research that gets to the
Real answer
We work with associations facing hard questions about membership and revenue. We find answers by talking directly to the people who have them. No assumptions, no recycled insights, no over-reliance on ‘friendly’ members, and no data points that lack meaning.
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First-year Member Experience Sprint
An honest assessment of what’s working in your first-year member experience and concrete opportunities to turn new members into decades-long champions
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Membership Reboot
Designing and conducting a repeatable science-backed learning plan that unearths blockers to growth and identifies concrete opportunities
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Organizational Intelligence Audit
A diagnostic of where your organization or association’s customers learning activities and data strategy need more traction, and a concrete roadmap to fix it
First-Year Member Experience Sprint
focused, fast-turnaround research engagement designed to understand your newest members before you lose them. Five to eight in-depth interviews or one 90-minute focus group — enough to surface what's working, what isn't, and what first-year members actually think of your organization.
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You want to understand what drew first-year members to your association and whether their early experience is living up to it.
You're concerned about early drop-off but don't need a full research engagement to get answers.
You want real member feedback quickly and without a large budget commitment.
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We conduct five to eight in-depth interviews or one 90-minute focus group with first-year members, exploring what attracted them to the organization, what they've participated in, what they've skipped, and how their experience could be improved.
You receive a concise findings report with clear takeaways your team can act on immediately.
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The First-Year Member Sprint is designed to move fast. Most engagements wrap up in three to four weeks from kickoff to final report. It's the shortest path from question to answer we offer.
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Starting at $6,000.
membership reBOOT
When membership is flat or declining, the reasons are often not evident and don’t always align with what leadership believes. We get to the root of what's going on by talking directly to your members, especially the ones you rarely hear from.
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Your membership numbers are flat or declining and you're not sure why
You've tried internal surveys or town halls but feel like you're not getting the full picture
You need clear, honest findings, not more data that raises more questions
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Custom research plan and recruitment strategy
Moderated in-depth interviews and/or focus groups
Report of findings with specific, actionable recommendations
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Starting at ~6 weeks depending on size of your membership. We’ll give you a clear timeline before we begin so there are no surprises.
Organizational Intelligence AUDIT
Sometimes you have the research. What you need is someone to help you figure out what to do with it, or to think through a membership or revenue challenge before committing to a full research engagement.
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You're an association leader wrestling with a strategic question about membership, revenue, or relevance and want a thought partner who knows the research.
You may have existing data or findings that haven't translated into a clear direction.
Or you're early in a problem and want to think it through before investing in a full study.
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Tailored to what you need — from a single working session to an ongoing advisory relationship
We bring research expertise, association sector knowledge, and direct honest input with no agenda other than helping you find the right path forward
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Flexible by design. Some clients need one focused session; others want a longer-term thinking partner. We'll scope it together based on where you are and what you need.
frequently asked questions
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Yes, and it can be a useful starting point! Survey data can identify where problems may live, but qualitative tells us why, and therefore helps orgs design solutions that may stand a chance of working. We can use learnings from survey results to design sharper conversations.
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Fewer than most people expect. Qualitative research isn't about statistical sample sizes but about reaching the point where the same themes keep surfacing across conversations. In practice, that happens somewhere between eight and fifteen interviews, depending on how varied your membership is. We design each sample to be representative.
A well-recruited set of 12 will tell you more than a poorly recruited group of 50.
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Member listening sessions, like a town hall, a board check-in, or a casual call, tend to produce polite, surface-level responses. People say what feels safe.
An in-depth interview is designed specifically to get past that. We use open-ended questions, deliberate probing, and a neutral third-party dynamic that makes it easier for members to say what they actually think.
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We start with a kickoff conversation to understand your question, your context, and what you already know. From there we design the research — who to recruit, what to ask, and what format makes sense. We handle all recruiting and scheduling, conduct the interviews or focus groups, analyze the findings, and deliver a plain-language report with clear recommendations.
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You can and should from time to time! But you won't hear the same things. When members talk directly to their association, they self-censor. They're polite. They don't want to seem ungrateful or critical to someone who might recognize their name next year at the annual meeting. As an independent third party, we consistently hear things members would never say to the association directly.
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If you're not sure whether we're the right match, book a call. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit. If we are not, we have trusted colleagues we can refer you to.
work with
Golden Torch Insights
If your association is facing hard questions about membership or revenue, let's talk.