I’ve been sitting on this post for a few days and it’s admittedly not fully baked. Tossing it out there for discussion:
Everyone in the association community, myself included, seems to be chattering away about a single question: How associations can survive this economic downturn? Frankly, this is the wrong question. I think this misguided question is indicative of a pervasive misconception in the association community: That associations should be concerned first with self-preservation. That the continued survival of the association is the most important thing.
If you hold this belief, I think your mindset has been polluted by the corporate world. An association’s most important priority is the success of its members, not necessarily to perpetuate its (the association’s) existence.
Therefore, the question association leaders should be asking is: How can we help our members get past this economic downturn?
It’s widely accepted that associations are a lagging economic indicator. In other words, by the time economic hardships begin affecting association budgets, their members have been suffering financial issues for months. So now that our 2009 budgets are approved and ready to go, many of us are finally experiencing first hand the reality that our members have been facing for up to 18 months.
While many association stakeholders, our boards included, are tempted to scale back on programs and services because of light budgets, wise leaders should be advocating for increasing the value (and perhaps the number) of programs and services to help members get past this period and back on the road to economic success. In the short term, your members will rebound quicker. In the long run, your association will profit as well.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Ben, nice post. But why the gratuitous slap at “the corporate world”? (You said: “If you hold this belief, I think your mindset has been polluted by the corporate world.”)
No smart “corporate world” manager wants to see his or her company benefit at the expense of others. Good managers look for relationships that benefit both parties. For-profit organizations that have lasted for more than a century (think of pharmaceutical, for example) have always taken the position that they help themselves by helping their clients and customers. You’re saying that associations should do the same thing, and you’re right. But to imply that somehow this is unique to associations is simply wrong.
Wes,
I agree with you, but I think the point Ben is trying to make is that association leaders shouldn’t be buying into the mainstream hype. Instead they should be looking to serve their members which is the true meaning of their existence.
Ben I agree with you, at this point in our economy organizations (for profit or not) should be looking to improve the value of their core offerings. The things that are not essential, should be scaled back and the organizations strengths should be leveraged. I think this economic downturn is really serving as a reset of sorts, making organizations see their inefficiencies and forcing them to innovate in their core focuses.
Great post!
@Wes, hey, I admitted the post was only partly baked. The slap is gratuitous, but not unwarranted. In my view, associations need to be run less like businesses and more like associations. File that under painfully obvious.
I totally agree with you.
My sister is a member of the association I work for, and being with her and a bunch of her friends (also members) at our Convention last week totally underscored what you’re saying. It’s one thing if, as an association member, your employer pays your dues (although in this financial climate I’m sure professional group memberships will be something easily cut from budgets), but another if your dues come out of your own pocket. My sister and her friends talked about how much their memberships cost them, and then how much attending the convention set them back. They came with high hopes that were, unfortunately, dashed in several cases, and there was a lot of grumbling about how they’d never come to another meeting. Sure, this was just a handful of members, but what happens when it becomes more than a handful?
In the context of a situation like this, the economy definitely plays a big part. Whereas maybe some years members won’t have the best experience at a meeting, for instance, by the time the next year rolls around they may have forgiven and forgotten. But if money is an issue, negative impressions from past meetings might stick longer and have more of an impact on their decision attend.
If nothing else, we need to make sure that what we do offer members is the best it can be—now more than ever.
Hi Ben — Wanting to stay in business is not an evil. Members make economic decisions just like associations and corporations. As you wrote in the ASAE book, Membership Essentials, “For most members, it is no longer acceptable for the association to simply advance a cause or defeat forces that negatively affect its constituents. Today’s members expect a quantifiable return on their investment of dues dollars in addition to the association’s delivering on the mission. For every dollar they spend in dues, they demand at least a dollar’s worth of value in return. Membership dues have become a type of investment for today’s consumers, and the investments that yield lower returns are scrutinized or withdrawn entirely.”
Now I will say that the measure of one’s character is that at the same time we make logical economic decisions, it is wonderful and good that we can mold and shape those decisions by “loving our neighbor as ourself”.
The goal is to live with “and” instead of “or”. Tony
Ben,
I think that even though it was half-baked your post makes a great point. Now is the time for associations to really support their members and do what they can to provide even more targeted value.
I was at a Brown Bag in Old Town last week and an interesting idea came out that I wanted to throw out there. Sponsors, industry partners, corporate members, donors, etc. are always looking for ways to help an industry. Wouldn’t it be great if an association could reach out to these types of entities and ask them to give funds to support members who are unable to pay their dues because of economic hardship? Obviously some parameters would need to be set around who could receive assistance but I think it could be a win-win-win for the recipient, the supplier of the funds and the association.
To me, ideas like this, and the ability to put the right parties together to make an idea like this happen, are what make associations unique and even more valuable in times like today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
If an association places its members’ needs before its own, it will be more valuable to its members and, thus, more likely to have met its own needs.