Acronym

First a quick note to readers--there's a lot of rich content in the "comments" sections of these posts. As one of the founders of Acronym, I am humbled at the level of dialog that this blog has inspired. I urge readers to dig deep into the comments. I like to think I'm interesting, and I know Lisa and all of our guest bloggers have some really cool things to say, but I'm amazed at what I learn from the comments of Acronym readers--that's where all the real smart stuff is.

To that point, I point to Virgil Carter's comment last week to one of my HR posts. Now, I disagree with the overall point Virgil makes, but his comment has perhaps changed the way I look at every single thing an association does. Here's what he wrote:

Non-profit associations generally have operations in two categories: 1) mission-oriented activities (many of these may not be revenue-producing and often are subsidized through their business operations and/or dues); 2) business operations activities(these are mission-oriented as well, but produce a net revenue margin, which goes to make the subsidized activities possible).

That's beautiful to me. From now on, when I'm proposing a new project or when I'm evaluating new proposals, the project has to be labeled in one of two ways. It has to be labeled (and evaluated) as either mission critical or organization building. Projects that are mission critical are being proposed because they are so important to the profession/industry/sector that they should be done whether or not the proposal is intended to generate a net gain for the organization. Organization building projects are designed to generate a net income (perhaps after an initial start up period), and while certainly mission enhancing, are not so critical that the organization should continue to do it if the expected income does not arrive.

As with all things, just because it is planned one way doesn't mean that it can't eventually jump categories. Perhaps after a few years the mission critical project doesn't seem to be have the same mission critical cache any more, and it is shifted to the organization building description, so it must either generate net income or be sunsetted. Likewise, it's possible for an organization building project to become mission critical continue even if it nets a loss.

Each year, the classification of each program, product, service, etc. should be reevaluated. These are the sorts of strategic decisions that I think associations have a hard time making, and, in turn, why so many programs, products, etc., that should be terminated never are.