A truly relevant association is the governing authority in its industry.\u202fIt’s\u202fthe body that shapes policy,\u202fsets\u202fthe legislative agenda, defines the certifications and standards that practitioners are held to.\u202fIt’s\u202fthe organization that legislators, regulators, and industry leaders call when they need the industry’s voice in the room.<\/p>\n
At its core, relevance is about advocacy working on behalf of members to create a favorable operating environment, reduce friction, protect their interests, and shape the conditions by which they do business. If your association\u202fisn’t\u202fdoing that, then it\u2019s a service provider. And service providers are replaceable.<\/p>\n
This distinction matters more now than at any point in recent memory. Recent research<\/a> from Association\u202fLaboratory found that joining an association is increasingly perceived by many members as\u202fan option, not a necessity. ASAE’s own research found that only 11% of associations<\/a> describe their value proposition as “very compelling.”\u202fThat’s\u202fa relevance crisis hiding behind decent membership numbers. Being well-known won’t\u202fsave you.<\/p>\n Relevance is in the eye of the beholders, but association leaders are prone to consider the wrong beholders. The most important signal comes from the most active, most influential association member practitioners\u2014the ones shaping the profession, the executives deciding whether to send their people to the conference or invest in the certification. If those people are disengaging, that is a five-alarm fire regardless of what overall membership numbers look like.<\/p>\n If companies and professionals in the field do not feel compelled to join, that is a\u202frelevance\u202fverdict. Associations rarely study non-members with\u202fthe rigor applied to their members, which means they are missing the most honest feedback available to them.\u202fIf legislators and agency officials are calling the association when they need industry input, that is a relevance signal. If they are going to individual\u202fcompanies or other bodies instead, that is a gap that should concern association leadership deeply.\u202fFinally, if the association’s certifications and standards are being built into university curricula, relevance is penetrating the next generation of the profession.<\/p>\n To make the point concrete, let\u2019s put core association functions to the relevance test: <\/span><\/p>\n The associations that\u202ffail to\u202fdistinguish themselves are usually trying to compete on the same terms as their for-profit competitors. The ones that win have stopped competing and started\u202fconvening.\u202fRelevance places an association at the center of the goals of its members, of industry players, and of political and regulatory decision makers because no one else does what it can. If the relevant association were to disappear, everyone would miss you. <\/span><\/p>\nWho Judges Relevance? <\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n
Functional Relevance <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Now You See Me <\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n
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