The first time I “e-met” Sarah Sladek, American best-selling author, association membership growth strategist and futurist, was when I attended the webinar of the Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) in June last year. I also wrote about it in my June 19, 2020 column entitled, “All-Star Cast on Association Membership.”
So it was a pleasant surprise when I received an email from Sarah a couple of weeks ago, inviting my organization, the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), to be one of the global partners of her “Save the Associations” initiative.
The initiative started out as a campaign to engage younger members, but has now morphed into something larger and more urgent than ever expected, especially during this pandemic.
Based on information from its website, membership decline among younger generations was first identified as a trend in 1994, and gained considerable momentum in 2016. As such, associations everywhere started to question their value propositions, relevance, and future. Some took a considerable revenue hit or were forced to close.
To help associations struggling to engage the next generation of members and survive, Sarah and team decided to ramp up their efforts. In April 2017, they filmed a video with a call to save and encourage associations to be more engaging with the younger generation.
The effort gained momentum over the years. Sarah released an e-book filled with case studies and best practices, and launched a web show featuring associations that were successfully engaging younger generations.
All the while, the challenges associations were facing were becoming increasingly difficult. Economic upheaval, social change, work force shifts, and advancements in technology were challenging associations and their members in unprecedented ways.
In 2020, when the global pandemic forced organizations to work remotely, associations were catapulted into a crisis response situation. Whether they were representing front-line workers, organizing efforts to help their communities, recovering from revenues lost to event cancellations, or trying to adapt to a remote and technology-reliant workplace, every association in every country has been disrupted.
For over 20 years, Sarah’s sole focus has been to save associations from untimely demise and position them to be relevant, sustainable, and engaging in the 21st century. Every industry and every community everywhere is made stronger by associations. Save the Associations is doing its share to make sure it thrives for generations to come. The PCAAE is, indeed, pleased and honored to be a part of this mission.
This article was published by the Business Mirror on April 16, 2021 and may not be reproduced without prior consent from the writer and Business Mirror.
The contributor, Octavio ‘Bobby’ Peralta, is concurrently the secretary general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) and President of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations (APFAO). The purpose of PCAAE – the “association of associations” – is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of ADFIAP, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), and the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). Email the author at: obp@adfiap.org for more details on PCAAE and on association governance and management.
Association Man 