As recently reported in the JCR Weekly, the NCRA Board of Directors has approved a motion for a dues adjustment, set to take effect in 2026. The proposed increases are modest: $30 for Registered and Participating members, $15 for Participating or Registered International members, $18 for Associate members, and $15 for Associate International members. Importantly, dues for Students and Retired members will remain unchanged. If approved, this would be the first adjustment since 2019.
“In today’s challenging economic climate, we are all working hard to keep up with inflation — and NCRA is no exception,” said NCRA Secretary-Treasurer Stacey M. Potenza, CRC, a captioner and corporate accessibility subject matter expert from McKinney, Texas.
“To ensure NCRA’s long-term sustainability and its ability to provide the services our members rely on — including professional development, advocacy, and meaningful events like Conference and Boot Camp — a dues adjustment is essential. Rising costs have made it more challenging than ever to maintain the level of support our members expect and deserve,” Potenza explained.
A 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report found that 52 percent of professional associations raised dues last year, up from 47 percent in 2023 and 30 percent in 2022 — a trend reflecting the financial pressures many organizations are facing.
“The Board heard you loud and clear when the $50 dues adjustment proposed in 2024 was rejected. We’ve listened, adjusted, and reduced the request to $30 for registered members — a 10 percent increase versus nearly 17 percent a year ago,” Potenza noted. “We’ve already trimmed nearly $1 million from the 2025 budget, after cutting almost $400,000 in 2024 and $200,000 in 2023. There’s no more fat to trim without significantly impacting the services our members rely on.”
According to Potenza, to help defray costs, NCRA’s Board of Directors approved the following measures in 2024 for 2025:
- A reduction in the number of pages of the JCR print magazine
- The elimination of the Firm Owners’ Focus held at Conference
- Consolidating the Association’s footprint to include a better use of time, expenses, and space by holding sessions on Thursday afternoon at Conference rather than Sunday mornings.
However, despite these cost-cutting measures, the cost of doing business keeps rising. Potenza noted that the International Monetary Fund reported at the start of this year that nonfuel commodity prices are expected to increase by 2.5 percent in 2025, due to upward revisions to food and beverage prices.
“We understand that times are tough and asking for more is never easy. But without this adjustment, we face the difficult reality of cutting vital services that benefit our members and the future of our profession,” Potenza said. “This is your Association — your support matters. Please consider voting yes on this measure at the Annual Business Meeting on July 24.”
Under NCRA’s Constitution and Bylaws, dues adjustments require a majority vote by the membership. The proposed adjustment will be discussed during the Annual Business Meeting at the 2025 NCRA Conference & Expo, taking place July 24–26 in Minneapolis, Minn., with voting to follow the meeting.
Members are encouraged to review a detailed PowerPoint presentation explaining what their dues support and why this adjustment is necessary to maintain NCRA’s fiscal health and member programs.
Find more information on the 2026 dues adjustment proposal
Voting on the 2026 dues adjustment proposal will begin within two hours of the Annual Business Meeting taking place on July 24 in conjunction with the 2025 NCRA Conference & Expo.
Learn more about the proposal.
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