Group Mergers: NCSAE Experience a Test
By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 8/8/2005
Mike Mortensson has a good attitude about the Northern California Network being absorbed by the American Society of Assn. Executives.
"We're pleased with it so far," said the past chair of the network, formerly known as the Northern California Society of Assn. Executives. "In about a month, we'll have more staff in place and will be offering more opportunities."
And that is what he and the other members of the San Francisco-based association were hoping for when they voted to dissolve their organization and become part of the larger ASAE. Although the circumstances were different, it was the second recent merger for ASAE, which last year merged with the Greater Washington Society of Assn. Executives.
Can other local associations benefit from such mergers, or should they be worried about their very existence?
Leaders of some state or local association groups are happy to remain independent, especially if they can avail themselves of ASAE's educational programs and services as needed. But ASAE President and CEO John Graham said he recognizes the anxiety the mergers create for some associations, and the fears — that ASAE might gobble them up too — have not been laid to rest.
The issue is how to cost-effectively meet the needs of associations that are not based in Washington, D.C., Graham said. "The NCSAE merger will help us understand that. We will find out what we don't know, and see what is viable. We'll use it as a model going forward. The model NCSAE had didn't work. We're exploring what will."
ASAE, with 23,000 members, already offers unaffiliated state and regional associations a smorgasbord of educational programs, services and networking opportunities — for a price. But now that the middleman, NCSAE, is gone, its 375 former members, mostly in the San Francisco Bay area, receive access to all ASAE has to offer for one membership fee.
In May, NCSAE members voted to legally dissolve as a corporation and approved the creation of the Northern California Network, which is managed by ASAE and the Center for Assn. Leadership. At the same time, the D.C.-based groups agreed to begin providing networking, volunteer opportunities and career services to association executives and businesses.
NCSAE's leadership approached ASAE with the proposal. The ASAE board went along, in part because of a recent study it commissioned that revealed ASAE members' desire to connect more directly with colleagues in their own communities.
"We looked at it as a demonstration project and a chance to see what we could learn by managing an allied society," Graham said. "It may prove to be better the way it was done before. It still remains to be seen if this model will mean increased efficiency."
On the negative side, ASAE is still a country away from NCSAE's membership, although ASAE is hiring a part-time administrator in San Francisco.
Both Graham and former GWSAE head Susan Sarfati, now president and CEO of the Center for Assn. Leadership, noted that Washington, D.C., is unique because of the plethora of associations headquartered there. Consequently, it's hard to draw parallels between the ASAE-GWSAE merger and what might happen with other local organizations.
Still, Graham predicted, the NCSAE arrangement could be a precursor of things to come. Or could it?
Linda Chreno, who until June was executive vice president of the Florida Society of Assn. Executives, called the NCSAE absorption "somewhat disconcerting," but not necessarily something to be afraid of. "That's not a word I'd use," she said.
Florida association executives and ASAE aren't interested in an alliance, Chreno said.
Before becoming executive director of the Assn. Societies Alliance, a new group comprised of state societies of association executives, Chreno said she tried to provide more member education, because ASAE wasn't meeting members' needs.
Chreno said she was surprised that ASAE would absorb NCSAE so soon after the merger with GWSAE.
Gary LaBranche, president and CEO of the Assn. Forum of Chicago, worked for ASAE for five years and has few fears about absorption by the larger group.
"It's never really been an issue of concern for us," he said, noting that 19 percent of the forum's members are also ASAE members. The group, older than ASAE, grew 28 percent last year and partners with ASAE as much as possible.
Graham said other associations should look at what NCSAE members eventually receive from the merger, and what they pay in dues.
"If someone else approached us regarding a merger, I'd say, 'Let's see what happens a year from now,'" he said.
Mortensson said the process is still unfolding. "It's too early to say if it will fit other state associations," he said, "but it'll be very beneficial for our members and a good opportunity for people in Northern California."
