08/05/2025

Money Grows on Trees (If You Know Where to Look)

Revenue is about unlocking mission through margin

Suspend your disbelief for a moment.

What if I told you money grows on trees? Not metaphorically. Literally.

What if revenue wasn’t locked in board-approved line items or limited by historical dues structures? What if it was everywhere—disguised as trust, creativity, or alignment? What if the only thing keeping your organization from growing revenue wasn’t the economy, the staff capacity, or the market… but your mindset?

It’s time to stop asking “What can we afford?” and start asking “What’s possible?”

Scarcity Shrinks Vision. Abundance Expands It.

Too many associations operate from a place of scarcity: constrained budgets, flat renewals, “we tried that once” culture. We hoard resources, defer risk, and spend most of our energy maintaining what we have. We call it responsible. But it’s actually limiting.

Scarcity tells you to protect the pie. Abundance invites you to bake more pies.

This mindset shift doesn’t ignore financial realities—it reframes them. It challenges the assumption that revenue only comes in predictable forms: dues, sponsorships, events. And it unlocks a powerful truth: your greatest financial opportunities often come from places you haven’t explored yet.

The Hidden Cost of Playing Small

When we stay inside the traditional lanes of association revenue, we sacrifice more than dollars. We lose agility. We miss relevance. We reinforce outdated assumptions about what members value.

Alternative revenue isn’t a side hustle. It’s a core strategy for sustainability and growth.

• Why offer only annual sponsorships when you could monetize digital touchpoints year-round?
• Why rely solely on conferences when your content could power micro-certifications or licensing models?
• Why stop at “member benefits” when your expertise has market value far beyond your membership?

Revenue isn’t just about money. It’s about unlocking mission through margin.

Abundance Is a Practice

Adopting an abundance mindset isn’t about wishful thinking—it’s about disciplined creativity. It starts with one simple principle:

Value, when unlocked intentionally, creates revenue.

So, the real question is: what untapped value lives in your organization?

• Your data could be insight-as-a-service.
• Your community could be a matchmaking engine.
• Your brand trust could be the foundation for a new advisory offering.
• Your archives could become curated, monetized content.
• Your volunteers could be activated as micro-entrepreneurs or affiliate partners.

The point isn’t to try everything. It’s to start seeing everything as a possible seed.

You Can’t Grow What You Don’t Plant

One of the biggest myths in association life is that we need perfect clarity before we try something new. But innovation doesn’t demand certainty—it demands experimentation.

That means piloting a paid offering without years of focus groups. Testing a tiered-access model with just one cohort. Exploring partnerships that blend mission with monetization.

You can’t grow fruit from an idea still stuck in a Google Doc. You need to plant it.

The Most Valuable Currency Is Trust

Here’s where abundance gets real: members and stakeholders will fund what they trust. If you’ve built credibility, clarity, and connection—you’ve built the soil. New revenue models don’t feel like a stretch. They feel like an evolution.

Associations are sitting on powerful forms of capital: social, intellectual, relational. When activated with intention, they generate actual capital.

The best part? Every new revenue stream you cultivate frees you to take bigger risks, serve more people, and deepen impact.

Stop Asking What You Can Charge. Ask What You Can Create.

Too many alternative revenue conversations start with: What else can we charge for? That’s the wrong question.

Start with: What else can we create that’s worth paying for?

If you flip the lens, the answers become clearer—and more aligned with your mission. Because at the end of the day, abundance isn’t about squeezing more dollars from your members. It’s about discovering and delivering more value to your community—and letting revenue follow.

At the OSAP annual conference, we dug into specific strategies associations are using to diversify their revenue—without abandoning their core. The groundwork begins now. Look at your assets differently. Measure success differently. And believe—truly believe—that money does grow on trees.

You just have to know what to plant.

^{Avi S. Olitzky is the president and principal consultant of Olitzky Consulting Group, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He can be reached at avi@olitzkyconsulting.com.}