Acronym

Employees of the non-profit industry like to joke that there is a non-profit for everything. And indeed, there is: from the cremators trade association to a local community theatre organization to a college Alumni association to the well-known Make-a-Wish foundation, a non-profit exists for everything. The public, and oftentimes we professionals, find few commonalities between the overwhelming varieties of associations. The answer is simple. Trade associations, charities, colleges and other non-profits are bound by one common purpose – to serve our constituents.

How non-profits meet the needs of our constituents has evolved to provide networking, advocacy and education. Non-profits initially form to connect individuals. For instance the Americas’ SAP User Group formed so that SAP users could discuss challenges and best practices and the Edgewater Community Council began so that residents could form relationships and build community. Eventually the members form a grassroots network and require another form of service: advocacy. Who associations influence is based on their market; some examples include the local alderman, a vendor company or a board of directors. Advocacy success (and sometimes lack thereof) creates additional constituent responsibilities; associations must provide training to prepare members to meet the new standards. Throughout every evolution, association employees’ role is to facilitate programs to meet these three forms of service.

We now sit on the brink of the fourth evolution. The public demands that organizations implement corporate sustainability programs in order to positively influence their environment, online communities form quickly around shared interests and compete with associations for members, and multiple generations in the workplace require programming tailored to suite their unique needs. We must meet member needs and ensure we act in the interest of member values.

Our opportunity is to determine how the values evolution will impact how our association serves. To do this, we must first verify that our companies’ mission and value remain pertinent to constituents and then ensure the mission and values drive programming.

As employees of the industry, we must develop a means for the non-profit sector to lead the values evolution. Associations are the most well versed organizations in offering our stakeholders value-driven benefits. By leading society, we will build respect for our profession, fine-tune our networking, advocacy and education services and pave the way for the eventual fifth evolution.