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03/16/2022

How Closing the Skills Gap Serves Associations

Now's the time to help members and boost non-dues revenue

Drastic changes in the workforce, exacerbated by the pandemic, have led to an expansive skills gap, which is a key business prospect for associations. The World Economic Forum's 2021 Upskilling for Shared Prosperityreport estimates that addressing the skills gap has the potential to boost the gross domestic product (GDP) up to $6.5 trillion by 2023.

"How our members sustain their businesses equals a huge business opportunity for associations to design the professional development programs now—quickly—in order to accelerate that learning for the fields that our members represent," said Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies CEO Debra BenAvram, FASAE, CAE. It's a pivotal time in the way associations must strategically approach their businesses.

As we all know, the Great Resignation is happening, and members are struggling to attract and retain talent. “This is a golden opportunity for associations,” BenAvram said. Associations have long been known for offering quality professional development programs and the need for them has never been more competitive than it is right now. For example, Marketing General Incorporated’s 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report found there was a 57 percent increase in members attending professional development programming.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.

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