Membership is Our Strength…So, Shouldn’t We All be Members?
We are what you are
Membership is Our Strength...So Shouldn't We All be Members?
John K. Ramsey, CAE
Executive Director/CEO
Membership is Our Strength...So Shouldn't We All be Members?
(CEO Blog Vol. III)
I’m sure we have all heard in one variation or another that an association is only as strong as its membership. In my experience, that is a true statement. You can have a strong dedicated staff, a long list of programs and services, a great website, a nice headquarters building, etc. However, without dedicated members, an association is no more than another business where you can purchase something to help you do your job. Now you ask, ‘what does this have to do with the title of this blog?’
In other blog messages, I’ve shared some of my experiences meeting CEFPI members around the world. I’ll share with you an observation that I would like your feedback on. As a relative newcomer to CEFPI, I’ll also share some ideas I have on that observation and hope we can start some good dialog in this week’s blog.
CEFPI is a uniquely structured organization from a membership perspective. We offer school district officials (end users), suppliers, consultants, architects, and other industry partners a full equality that doesn’t exist in a great number of associations.
An observation that I have made in my tenure thus far is that I sometimes see industry representatives who are not CEFPI members (i.e. someone selling a product or service to a member of CEFPI) exhibiting or sponsoring an event at the international, region or chapter conference. We have also experienced a number of membership drops by companies that state they no longer wish to be a member of CEFPI but instead want to join just the chapter or region. My question to you is, should that industry representative and/or the company being represented, be a member of CEFPI in order to use a CEFPI conference as a networking tool for sales and marketing (i.e. sponsorship or exhibits)? My answer would be ‘I think they should’. Here’s why:
CEFPI is much more than a venue in which to sell and buy products and services. The association has name recognition and a brand that is widely recognized and respected within the educational facility industry. Countless hours of quality research, program modeling and development, and professional development have been put into CEFPI during its 87 year history. By who? MEMBERS. Not staff, not contractors, but Members. That is and always will be our strength as an organization.
On a daily basis, the collective intelligence of our membership works hard in creating strong networking opportunities for everyone involved in the school building industry. Therefore, those industry representatives who are selling products and services to you, the member, are reaping invaluable benefits that you have paid for – not just in dues payments, but in the human capital and that has made this organization the great association that it has become.
This year we are practicing what we preach with the programs being offered by the International Headquarters in that potential sponsors and exhibitors who are not members of CEFPI will be given a one year membership when they participate in an event. Of course their sponsorship rate and/or booth will cost a little more, but I firmly believe that if we show these companies the value of CEFPI – not just from a sales perspective, but from an organization dedicated to improving learning environments for children everywhere, we will turn an industry representative into an Industry Partner vested in improving the lives of children everywhere. So, what do you think?
John,
I agree 100% with your statement above. I believe that being a member of CEFPI is so much about the networking and the collective intelligence of our members. I found this out quickly as I started as a chapter member without a CEFPI membership. Very quickly I realized how much I was missing by not being a member, and I joined immediately. I like the idea of offering the 1 year membership to industry partners, etc., with their sponsorship or exhibit entry, as it will allow these folks to see the true value of CEFPI.
I also strongly believe that we need to continue to develop services, tools and research to continue to enhance the value of membership. Items such as the new blogs and the recently launched e tools work towards this goal. The membership is what makes CEFPI great, so giving back to the membership is crucial in not only attracting, but keeping members.
I applaud your efforts so far in improving the membership services and provisions. Thanks for the fresh perspective and point of view.
Irene
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I see this as a future goal of the organization but not something that is ready to be implemented at this time. Let me explain. The organization as it is today is not lacking in "industry partners" or consultants to the field. These people are passionate about the delivery of their service or product and usually committ fully to the organization by sponsoring, volunteering, paying for booths, paying for ads in publications, as well as paying for memberships. Other exhibitors may not be members but as an organization that is trying to provide all of the resources to its primary members - the practitioners - it is our duty to expose them to everything. These exhibitors also help to curtail the rising cost of membership for those who are full participants in the organization; if we implement a limitation on those who can participate we risk shutting out resources and funding that would benefit the members in other ways. The reason I see this implementation as a future item is that I think we are back to the issue at hand, which is to provide members invaluable services that help them to do the best job in creating future educational environments. Once we make the CEFPI brand stronger and recognizable at a local level, more school district administrators will understand the value and encourage their staff to participate. When the institutional membership level becomes 50 to 75 % of the overall membership we will find that we are getting waiting lists or turning away booth and ad revenue. At that time you can implement a requirement that they be members or that members get first dibs. We would hope that when they do become members they do not do it in name only, but become more involved at other levels like leadership, research, and other program development activities.
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