State of Associations Quarterly: 2026 Q1

The first 2026 brief in the State of Associations Quarterly series looks at remote and hybrid staffing: how many association staffs work fully remote, hybrid, or fully in-office, and what predicts which model an association lands on. Cascadia Forest Products Council's four-person staff, remote-first since 2020 and run by Signe Thorvaldsen out of Tacoma, is one working example of a small association built around remote work from the start.

The brief compares staffing costs and hiring pools across the three models, looking at how a remote-first association's hiring radius extends beyond its own metro area and what that means for the applicant pool a small executive office can draw from. It also looks at payroll-tax and multistate compliance questions that come with remote staff working from a state other than headquarters, a growing concern as more associations hire beyond their home city.

Executive directors weighing a shift toward remote or hybrid staffing will find the clearest use for this brief in its comparison of the three staffing models across cost, hiring pool, and retention.

Published by NANA's research team as part of the brief series.