ASSOCIATIONS are at a critical crossroads as the baby-boomers for whom they were built are now retiring, leaving a void not just in terms of membership numbers, but the skills set needed to run these societies.
The world over, associations were formed with baby-boomers in mind and were run by committed volunteers from this age group. Now that they are leaving the workforce, “we either face change or death”, said Simon Pryor, CEO, The Mathematical Association of Victoria, Australia.
On the other hand, the knowledge of what younger people are looking for, which may draw them to join associations, is still wafer-thin.
Speaking to the Daily about this crossroads, Pryor said: “To begin with, there are fewer people who are committed to running associations – people who know how to run the board, how to handle volunteers, how to do the trade or represent the trade or profession (as a result of the baby-boomers retiring).
“At the same time, there is a need to understand what the younger people are looking for in support of their professions and the way they want to make a career for themselves or make their business. It’s a world where the jobs available today probably didn’t even exist three years ago, a vast change from my time, when it’s one employee, one job, one bank and your loyalty is rewarded. The world is changing so rapidly and the need to deliver the value and support now is what people need to understand.
“Those associations that stay focused on the baby-boomers generation are the ones which are at threat.”
Pryor gave an example of how associations needed a mindset change in order to stay relevant. “Today if I want to learn how to fly an aeroplane, I can google, watch a YouTube video, (attend) a webinar. Associations prided themselves in the ’80s and the ’90s as the repository of all knowledge about their industry and profession. No longer! Our capacity to access knowledge has just grown with the digital age.
“So what the association needs to do is to become the curator, to be able to tell members that, of all these websites which can tell you how to fly an aeroplane, these are the best. And it’s not necessarily the association’s website.”
Ryan Xia, financial controller of the Tenpin Bowling Association of Queensland, Australia, attests how difficult it is to get the younger generation to embrace bowling, despite membership fee of the association being a paltry A$20 (US$19) per year compared with A$400 upwards annually for sports like basketball.
Xia’s at IT&CM China to share knowledge as well as learn from peers like Pryor on how to survive a generational, cultural and economic gap.
He said: “We have a lack of volunteers, as these people who ‘give back’ do so because they love bowling. However, we don’t find the young people being as enthusiastic about bowling as other sports. Plus, the economy is not doing so well and volunteers are concentrating on running their own lives.”
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