Boundless Learning™ Survey Reveals Needs Gap in Education Among Associations and Member Organizations Globally

ORLANDO, Fla. (April 24, 2025) – Boundless Learning™, a leader in digital learning solutions, has published the results of a wide-ranging survey looking at the challenges, opportunities, and priorities of industry and professional associations, member organizations, and trade unions that offer education programs.

Key takeaways:

• Boundless Learning surveyed 208 leaders from associations and member organizations about their education programs and technology needs.
• Top challenges include member engagement, high costs, and producing quality content.
• Most organizations (57%) use basic to mid-range learning platforms, but 44% want advanced features like AI recommendations.
• Half of respondents view AI as a crucial tool for meeting training needs.
• Budget constraints (48%) and complex implementations (36%) are major barriers to education goals.
• Education programs strongly boost member retention (83%), revenue (81%), and membership growth (80%).

Results from the survey, “2025 Education & Technology Survey: Future-Proofing Association Learning,” indicate that despite organizational investments in education programs and technology to support achieving learning goals, there is a strong need for a single, unifying platform with advanced technology and features across the board. Top leadership from the 208 responding leaders at these organizations also identified member engagement, high costs, and production of quality content as the top challenges in offering education programs.

While most organizations (57%) report using a basic to mid-range learning management suite that offers some digital tools, nearly half (44%) want advanced options, such as AI-driven content recommendations or gamification features.

“These results point to the struggle we know exists for organizations that use a variety of platforms to create quality education offerings,” said Andrea Marcinkus, Ph.D., Director of Research and Insights at Boundless Learning. “Professional associations are at the forefront of lifelong learning. Our Learning Experience Suite enables them to stay ahead by offering modern, data-driven education programs and helps them unlock new revenue streams, increase member engagement, and deliver high-value learning experiences at scale. By integrating seamlessly with existing systems, we empower organizations to modernize their education offerings while fostering stronger member communities.”

Insights gleaned from the in-depth survey include:

• 50% see AI as a crucial advanced feature necessary to address training needs.
• 48% say budget constraints are an obstacle to achieving education goals.
• 36% report complex implementations present barriers to successful programs.
• 28% agree that limited technology resources also create challenges to building a strong program.
• 83% report that education programs help boost member retention, with respondents also crediting these programs for revenue generation (81%) and for membership growth (80%).

“The challenge of balancing the reality of budget constraints with the need for enhanced technology and capabilities is noteworthy, and the data matches what we have seen in practice with existing users,” Marcinkus said. “Boundless Learning is uniquely positioned to address these challenges, and our scalable offerings help reduce cost, streamline operations, and enhance the quality of content.”