What's Keeping You Awake At Night Part 1: AE's Riding Out the Current Economic Storm...But Bigger Clouds on the Horizon

As promised in last Wednesday's post, this is the first in a series of blogs sharing some of the juicier tidbits of wisdom I've gathered while interviewing a number of respected association executives from across Canada about what keeps them awake at night.

This first post is about what AE's are experiencing in the realm of membership

Membership growth has slowed or declined for many of the AE’s I spoke to.  There are a number of reasons for this with the economy, of course, topping the list.  While most are hopeful that things will even out again somewhat after the storm has passed, many feel strongly that their some of the membership challenges they are currently facing aren't going away any time soon.

Several of the AE's I spoke to relate decreasing membership levels to the increasingly elusive ‘value proposition.’ Until now, many association mandates have been to establish themselves as the ‘go to’ resource for their industry, trade or profession. With so many of these resources available through like organizations, on the internet and elsewhere, however, this is becoming extremely difficult for many associations to achieve. 

Industry consolidation is also having a significant impact on the industry/trade association execs I spoke to.   Because this is not a trend that is likely to reverse itself anytime in the near future, many of these associations are re-examining how they define membership and looking at how they can continue to be sustainable and provide relevance as this trend continues. In some cases, this will likely mean a change in the way membership fees are collected, with at least one individual moving to a model that charges membership as a percent of the revenue of each organization.

Several other associations are starting to look at adding new membership categories for related professions or affiliated trades and industries.  While a logical consideration for many associations, most AE’s recognize that there are inherent dangers in going down this path: Specifically, the biggest challenge is in trying (and usually failing) to become an association that is ‘all things to all people.’

How is membership changing in your association? How is your association evolving the way it provides value and meaning in the evolving NFP landscape?

Photo courtesy of Flickr's artolog