Members do not own the association
Let’s be clear about something really important: the members don’t really own the association. The overwhelming majority of associations are structured as non-profit organizations and there can be neither individual nor group ownership of such entities. Non-profit organizations exist for the public good, and not for personal or private aggrandizement.
I think all association professionals should keep this in mind the next time they are asked to defer their day-to-day experience, marketplace insight and strategic judgment to the myopic decision-making of volunteers who, more and more, lack the time, energy and attention to properly attend to the business of their organizations. I am deeply concerned that if we continue to buy into the old saw that it is “the members’ association,” we will be complicit in driving our organizations down the pathways of extinction.
I’m not suggesting that the members don’t have a say or a critical role to play in what occurs within the organizations to which they belong. Not at all. The active involvement of members is crucial to long-term success. But just as important is the active and direct involvement of staff, partners and other stakeholders on a co-equal basis. Associations are not manufacturers of widgets, but creators of knowledge, experiences and context. These typically intangible resources cannot be effectively cultivated and nurtured in command-and-control hierarchies in which some lead and others follow. Instead, they demand highly diverse and collaborative environments in which leadership and followership are shared by all in equal measure.
No one owns the association, but everyone involved in its work takes ownership of its success or failure everyday. Our community is long overdue in recognizing this fundamental fact.
FIrst. most associations are “mutual benefit” organizations, promoting a “line of business” (IRS definition) that provide a quid pro quo to the member in programs and services (fee for service). “Public good?” For the donor-based groups, yes, but not for the typical membership association.
Please tell me how many associations, and which ones, have become extinct because of the theory described above? Jeesh, lighten up, author! The sky is not falling. We can all improve, but these dire predictions ring hollow.
If association leaders define the role their organizations play in our society exclusively in the language of the Internal Revenue Service, then we are in even more trouble than I first thought.
I have always resisted the idea that associations should be for-profit entities because of the important purposes they serve. But if we choose to operate our associations as private and untaxed mechanisms for the aggrandizement of a relative few, then perhaps society would be better served if tax-exempt status were withdrawn from all but the truly charitable and educational entities.
My argument is not a theory, but the expression of profound concern that we may defer too much to the questionable judgment of volunteer leaders who do not fully appreciate the challenges our organizations face. I see this problem quite frequently. While this issue may not exist in all organizations, the litany of common challenges espoused by association professionals always includes the inability to get boards and senior volunteers to see the big picture and make smart decisions in a time of genuine paradigm shift.
You may be content with incremental improvements, but I am not. We need radical transformation in our approaches to governance, leadership, collaboration and volunteer engagement, and that is precisely what I am advocating in this post.
[...] I am certain George is not the only CEO who is struggling with a volunteer leader of this kind. If you’re one of them, we hope you’ll share some of your experiences and solutions as comments to this post. (Feel free to disguise your identity if necessary.) It is imperative we recognize that volunteer myopia, intransigence and, as is in this case, the willful and self-centered disregard of others, costs our organizations a great deal. We can’t just chalk it up to the members owning the association or hope these situations will spontaneously improve anymore. The former is outdated thinking, and the latter is wishful thinking. Deep volunteer engagement at all levels of our organizations is a critical element of any strategy for association success, but it must be a productive form of engagement. And from the Board and its officers in particular, associations need engagement that energizes others, not demoralizes them. We need inspiration and foresight, not desperation and a misplaced obsession with minutiae. We need stewardship and leadership, not micro-management or, worse still, dictatorship. [...]