Great Objectives and Noble Thoughts

A group of futurists get together, see the world in the way it’ll look a generation from now and plan their footsteps to take their community to this future. That’s what I guess can most appropriately be called a “Center of Excellence”. Wisdom of sorts, power of intellect, and forces of unison… an Association is born.

The driving force has always been the same. That there are issues which are of common interest and if handled well, it will propel the community to a different level. That there is knowledge to spread and when we share what we know, we go unhindered.

Great objectives and noble thoughts. However, as the Association volunteers set out on that path, time and other resources become the most significant barrier to achieving its goal. The volunteers strive hard to strike the critical balance between the hygienic of their own professions and the motivator of philanthropy.

Why must we run an Association like we would run a company, or a business… isn’t this a non-profit organization?

In all earnestness, a non-profit organization is not about not earning money. It’s about not repatriating the earnings back to the stakeholders, as their earnings from this venture. The profit earned (and profit is not a dirty word) goes back to delivering what the Association promised in the first place… take the community to the next level of performance, reach out and reach beyond!

Effectiveness... Financial Momentum... Sustainability. Do these seem familiar terms in the Association world? How does the Association address these?

Successful Associations - A Preliminary Question!

Now, that was Jim Collins again.

This time writing a Foreword for a publication on what makes Associations successful. He goes like this: “Associations are the hidden glue of our society and economy…” Sounds interesting and I smile. I read on, “Like the mortar that holds the bricks of a building in place, associations go largely unnoticed, yet they do much to hold the structure together.”

My point of view Mr. Collins: that’s only part of the story and half the truth. My observations tell me that Associations are just as responsible in letting an industry stray into obscurity, and the only way it goes unnoticed is when it decides to do so, by doing nothing.

For some time now, all I talk is Associations, all I hear is Associations. I am more and more getting into the hugely successful and potent community that actually has the power to play.

The success of any company that I know is finally what shows in its balance sheet… I haven’t really heard of an organization walking paths of glory through its CSR activities, environment initiatives etc together with a red balance sheet. So clearly, it’s about how much money you make, the right methods that you employ to earn that money, supplemented by what you give back to the community. Understandably, that’s what a “for-profit” organization is supposed to do and therein lies its success.

It’s at this point that things suddenly start to get a little too complicated for the simple thought processes that I generally live by. How do you figure out success for a “non-profit” Association, Professional Society or a Special Interest Group? What makes one Association more successful than the other? And what is their success all about?

Any thoughts?