Key Takeaways
Digital credentials transform member achievements into verifiable, shareable proof of value, helping associations improve engagement and retention.
The Naylor–Wauld combination addresses key association challenges by increasing member benefit visibility, strengthening brand awareness, and creating new non-dues revenue opportunities.
Automated credential issuance integrates with existing association workflows, reducing administrative effort while scaling certification, CPD, event, and membership recognition programs.
Naylor and Wauld Association
Associations are communicating with members more than ever before. Yet the data shows something uncomfortable sitting right underneath that effort. More communication is not the same as more perceived value. Digital credentials for associations are changing how that value gets seen, shared, and remembered.
What Naylor's Research Says About Digital Credentials for Associations
Naylor Association Solutions has served over 1,700 associations for more than 50 years. Their 2025 Association Benchmarking Report surveyed over 300 senior association professionals across North America. The top three challenges associations reported were generating non-dues revenue at 61%, communicating member benefits at 57%, and combating information overload at 52%. Associations are now connecting with members an average of 30 times per month across digital, print, social media, and video channels.
Thirty touchpoints a month. And still, over half say communicating member benefits remains a top challenge. The problem is not the volume of communication. It is the format. Telling members about value is not the same as giving them something that proves it. That gap is exactly where digital credentials for associations come in.
What Wauld Adds to the Naylor Ecosystem
Wauld is a digital credential platform built to design, issue, and verify credentials at scale. Every digital credential Wauld issues carries embedded metadata: the issuing organization, the qualification earned, and a tamper-proof verification link. It is built on Open Badges 3.0 by 1EdTech, the globally recognized credentialing standard trusted by employers worldwide. Members can share it on their LinkedIn profile, embed it in their email signature, and verify it via QR code instantly.
Where Naylor identifies the member value communication gap, Wauld closes it. Every program, event, certification, and milestone an association runs becomes a verifiable, shareable digital credential. That credential is not an email. It is not a PDF. It is proof that lives on a member's professional profile. And proof is what members actually keep, share, and think about at renewal time.
How Digital Credentials Strengthen Association Outcomes
Together, Naylor and Wauld address every layer of the member value problem associations face today.
Retention: A digital badge that expires at membership lapse gives members a visible, professional reason to renew. No renewal email achieves that.
Brand visibility: Every credential a member shares on LinkedIn puts your association logo in front of a new professional audience at zero marketing cost. Your credentialing program becomes a continuous brand channel.
Non-dues revenue: Certification programs tied to verifiable digital credentials become premium offerings. Generating non-dues revenue remains the top challenge for associations for the third consecutive year. Digital credentials give associations a new, scalable answer to that pressure.
CPD compliance: Continuing education tracking through digital credentials gives licensing boards tamper-proof, verifiable metadata. It replaces fragile PDF certificates with instantly auditable digital records.
Staff efficiency: Manual credential issuance costs over 33 staff hours per 1,000 credentials, perWauld's own time analysis. With Wauld automation viaZapier, the same 1,000 credentials take 25 minutes.
The Practical Integration
Wauld connects directly to existing association management workflows. Member data already in a Naylor AMS can trigger automated credential issuance immediately. Event registrations, course completions, membership renewals, and anniversaries all become credential triggers. The member receives their verifiable digital credential within minutes of the triggering event.
For non-profit associations, Wauld offers 50% off across all paid plans. Every credential issued is ISO 27001 certified, CPRA compliant, and built on Open Badges 3.0. The result is a credentialing program that carries your brand identity at every single touchpoint. Not a third-party platform. Your association, your credentials, your member relationships strengthened.
One Problem. Two Platforms. One Digital Credentialing Solution.
Naylor's research identifies what associations need to fix. Wauld gives association managers the digital credential infrastructure to fix it. Together they turn member activity into visible, verifiable, shareable professional achievement. And visible achievement is what makes members renew, refer, and stay engaged for years.
Every association has a unique workflow and a different definition of member achievement. At Wauld, we understand that no two credentialing programs look exactly the same. We provide hands-on guidance to help you build the right digital credentialing program. One that acknowledges, recognizes, and promotes member growth at every stage of the journey.
Naylor and Wauld: Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about how Naylor and Wauld work together to strengthen member value through digital credentials.
