02/24/2021

Develop Partnerships to Expand Impact

The importance of collaboration to successful association initiatives

The pandemic has pushed association staffs to do more with less—to advocate for, communicate to, and educate their members while under pressure to transform their traditional sources of engagement and revenue. It might also provide the opportunity for leaders to work together and work differently on shared needs and challenges.

Impact Every Day, the ASAE Research Foundation’s forthcoming report on the role of associations in society, collected diverse evidence of associations’ positive impact. A surprising reveal, though, was the importance of partnerships and collaboration to successful association initiatives. The report suggests that collaboration is key to transformative thinking, and it provides a collection of case studies that illustrate varied approaches to impactful partnerships.

Collaborate to Transform

For the study, researchers interviewed leaders from business, education, government, and other fields for their perspectives on associations. When they were asked for recommendations to improve the value of associations to their fields, greater collaboration among organizations was at the top of the list. Participants noted that such collaborations would strengthen the association sector but also enable associations “to identify and promote areas of ‘synergies’ across industries.” They expressed particular interest in how organizations might foster exchanges with thought leaders outside their specific fields and industries to tackle shared challenges.

Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE's Center for Association Leadership.