It feels like a generation ago, but in late 2019 the emerging COVID-19 virus was hardly a blip on Americans’ radar. A much bigger concern was that a recession was looming. A decade-long bull market couldn’t be sustainable, right?
We never got to find out whether that was true in a “normal” environment—the economic challenges that arrived were largely unique to the virus. But while we’re exactly not back to normal three years later, in many ways we’re back where we started, keeping an eye on a potential looming recession and thinking about how to address it.
For associations that have had to dip into reserves, lost members and sacrificed meeting revenue in the past three years, the prospect of a recession at this moment is especially unwelcome news. But the strategies that associations can use to address them largely haven’t changed. Indeed, I had the good (or bad, depending) timing of writing about recession preparations back in late 2019, and much of the advice association leaders provided back then still applies: build up reserves, develop non-dues revenue streams, look at your dues structure and redouble your engagement with members so they understand the value they get from your association.
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