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Association Member Value
By
Ed Rigsbee, CSP Does
a professional or trade association exist to serve its members, to serve
the profession or industry, or does it exist to perpetuate itself? Sure,
you you’re your answer based on your experiences. Unfortunately
though, I have come to believe that there are simply too many people
involved in association leadership today that believe in the latter.
Many of these leaders do not consciously realize they do believe that
the reason for an association is to perpetuate itself. Yet, their
actions in this area speak so loudly that few listen to their patter. I
recently visited the web site of the American Association of Association
Executives and searched “member value” but what I found was more
directed to the organizational side. My lack of finding information
specific to “member value” strengthens my assertion. Sure I found
great information on subjects like: Identifying program goals and
setting realistic expectations, identifying and defining the needs of
the target audience, developing program structure, building a budget and
cross-selling and up-selling additional programs and services. While
these topics are all great tactics, what about the overarching strategy
for an association? What about quantifying the real dollar value a
member receives from holding membership in an association? This is an
area that I have discovered many association leaders are missing the
point. There are a few people left that join their trade or professional
association because it is the right thing to do in supporting their
industry. But, at corporate belt tightening continues, many are
re-evaluating the value of such memberships. Call
me crazy, but I believe that a professional or trade association exists
exclusively for the betterment of its members. Associations like these
are really industry-wide strategic alliances. And, for strategic
alliances to succeed, all involved must receive reasonable value for
resource (time and money) commitment to the alliance. In associations,
staff members receive value—it’s called a paycheck. Volunteer
leaders receive value through exposure and having the ability to forward
their particular agendas. But, what about the “rank and file”
members—where’s their value? If
you are interested in this topic of member value, you’re in luck.
Over the past several months, I have conducted my Association Member
Value Process for a number of trade associations and societies of
association executives. The results might be helpful to you in
benchmarking the value your association delivers to its members. In
visiting seven societies of association executives from October 2003
through May 2004 and conducting the process: On the average, association
executives received 19X return on investment dollar from their
membership. Average yearly membership and meeting participation
cost—$914. The average yearly real-dollar value received—$17,390. This
year, in visiting the national conventions of four trade associations
from February through May 2004 and conducting the member value process,
the average yearly member return on investment was 12 X. The average
yearly membership and meeting participation cost—$2,250. The average
yearly real-dollar value received—$27,800. Association paid
staff and volunteer leaders must continually question the yearly
sustainable real-dollar value their members are receiving rather than
just see members as an ATM (automatic teller machine). Without the
members, there is no association. Please visit www.rigsbee.com/ma26.htm to read about Rigsbee’s Association Member Value Process. #
# # Ed Rigsbee, CSP is the
author of PartnerShift, Developing
Strategic Alliances and The Art of Partnering. Rigsbee has over 1,000 published articles to
his credit and is a regular keynote presenter at corporate and trade
association conferences across North America. He can be reached at
800-839-1520, ed@rigsbee.com, or
visit www.rigsbee.com. |
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