Association CEOs: Young Professionals Are Where Your Membership Strategy Begins
The YPMI gives your membership team the insights they need to grow revenue, drive innovation, and show your board what matters to the next generation of members, all through one simple annual assessment.
Your Most At-Risk Segment and Your Greatest Growth Opportunity
Build a membership strategy for the next 10 years, not the last 10. The YPMI equips your team to prioritize young professional growth in ways that support long-term revenue and helps your board understand what matters most to the next generation of members.
Four Enabling Factors. One Clear Path to Growth.
The Young Professional Membership Index (YPMI) is built on four essential Enabling Factors—core capabilities your organization needs to engage today’s members and stay relevant tomorrow.
Grounded in extensive research, these factors highlight where your team is positioned for growth and where greater clarity, coordination, or investment may be needed to meet the expectations of emerging professionals.
Leadership Focus
When leadership commits to young professional growth, everything changes. Are your key leaders prioritizing this segment in ways that shape direction and action?
Culture of Value
Young professionals expect more than a roster of benefits—they’re looking for meaningful experiences. Is your organization equipped to design and deliver value that actually connects?
Strategic Alignment
Even great ideas can fail without alignment. Are your efforts to engage young professionals supported across teams, strategies, and priorities?
Experience Infrastructure
Big goals need real support. Do you have the structure and systems in place to deliver consistently strong experiences for young professionals?
See where you stand and what to do next
Start your annual YPMI assessment with a 10-minute organizational snapshot and get instant insight into:
- Where your organization is already strong in engaging young professionals
- Where challenges may be limiting retention or growth
- How your approach compares to peers and what high-performing organizations are doing differently
Three Simple Steps to Actionable Insights
1. See Where You Stand
Your Membership Leaders starts with a 10-minute Organizational Snapshot to immediately uncover the biggest opportunities for improving young professional engagement and retention. You’ll get clarity, direction, and momentum for your strategy.
2. Align Your Leaders
You can Invite up to five other leaders from your organization to complete their own quick 10-minute Organizational Snapshots. Each leader receives tailored insights based on their role, helping you quickly drive critical org-wide attention to the needs of young professionals.
3. Benchmark Your Performance
Use the Young Professional Metrics Tracker to capture key metrics and compare your organization’s engagement and retention performance against peers and industry leaders. You’ll clearly see what’s working in the field and what to focus on next.
What You Get
Growth Focus
Reveal where your greatest opportunities are with the next generation of members.
Bottom-Line Impact
Connect young professional engagement to long-term financial sustainability.
Board Insight
Equip your board with a clear view of what future members expect.
Innovation Readiness
Strengthen your ability to adapt and lead through change.
Strategic Clarity
Give your team a shared framework to prioritize and act with confidence.
FAQs
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the Young Professional Membership Index.
Still have questions?
Email us
- Use this button to send your Membership Leader an email with a recommendation to participate.
- They’ll receive a link to take the 10-minute Organizational Snapshot survey.
- Your Membership Leader will invite a small group of functional leaders—including a representative from the executive team—to complete a short 10-minute Organizational Snapshot tailored to each role. This helps ensure alignment and unlocks deeper insights for the full report.
- The Membership Leader will also submit a small set of membership data using the YPMI Metrics Tracker—unlocking personalized insights and benchmarking results for your organization.
- You’ll be looped in when the final report is ready to review with your team.
By supporting your team’s participation, you’ll gain:
- A clear view of how your organization is performing with its most at-risk and high-potential member segment
- Strategic benchmarks to help guide board conversations and long-term planning
- Tools to connect young professional engagement to retention, revenue, and future growth
- A shared framework to help your leadership team focus, align, and innovate around what matters most
There’s no need to gather data before getting started. After they complete the Organizational Snapshot and team invites, we’ll send your Membership Leader the Young Professional Metrics Tracker—a simple tool for submitting key Young Professional data.
It’s easy to complete, comes with clear instructions, and helps unlock the organization’s full YPMI results, including benchmarking insights.
There is no cost to participate in this high-value annual assessment.
At Highland we prioritize your privacy and are committed to protecting your organization’s data. We will not disclose your organization's unique data to others. Information presented in our National Index will always be aggregated or de-identified to protect your privacy.
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