Associations
Deliver Value, But They Don’t Know How Much
By Ed Rigsbee, CSP
(Word count 486)
Trade
associations and professional societies are wonderful industry or
profession collaborations and deliver high value to their members. After
a decade and a half, speaking at association and society conventions and
board meetings, I can safely make the above statement. And I believe I
can also safely say that most society and association staff and
volunteer leadership do not have a clue as to the real dollar value
their organization delivers to its members.
Are
you an association volunteer leader? If so, tell me quickly the yearly
sustainable real-dollar value you receive from your yearly investment of
time and money? Can you do it? Most likely you cannot. If you are an
association staff member, tell me the average yearly return on
investment (ROI) your members receive. Can you do it? Most likely you
cannot.
Demonstrating
Value
While
associations and societies have traditionally created plenty of value
for their members, they have done quite a poor job of demonstrating the
value that they deliver. For years, it did not matter. Why? Through the
1980s, people still joined their trade association or professional
society simply because it was the thing to do. Most of those wonderful
people have either retired or died off.
Today,
younger persons ask themselves, “What’s in it for me?” and
unfortunately, organizations don’t have the answers. For several years
now, I have been conducting my Member Value Process for
associations and societies—they can answer my above questions of
yearly sustainable real-dollar value received and ROI.
For
about half a decade I have been talking to my association audiences
about a 1999 study conducted by the American Society of Association
Executives on why members do not retain their membership. My personal
synthesizing of the data leads me to believe that over 75% of the
members surveyed that did not renew their membership selected not to do
so because they did not believe they were receiving enough value for
their membership investment.
Association
Member ROI
While
no two associations are the same, I have listed below a few common line
items of member benefits that should help you to have a better
understanding as to the real-dollar amounts that organization members
have assigned during my sessions. Remember, these “cumulative specific value information
”
numbers are the yearly sustainable dollar-value amounts.
1.
Training & Education
–Range:
$500 to $4,000
–Average:
$1,857
2.
Industry Specific Research, Regulatory & Code
–Range:
$1,000 to $4,750
–Average:
$2,596
3.
Networking
–Range:
$200 to $10,000
–Average:
$4,029
4.
Professional Recognition, Image & Credibility
–Range:
$200 to $5,000
–Average:
$1,507
Telling
your members what it is that you do for them is important. Telling them
how much it is worth to them yearly is crucial for your success or that
of any other trade association or professional society.
Ed Rigsbee, CSP is the
author of PartnerShift, Developing
Strategic Alliances and The
Art of Partnering. Additionally, he has over 1,500 published articles to his
credit. Ed travels internationally to deliver strategic alliance keynotes
and workshops. When you need a professional speaker or workshop leader
on this topic, Ed can be reached at (805) 498-5720, ed@rigsbee.com or visit www.rigsbee.com
and www.GrowingYourAssociation.com
