2000: The Year in Review.

A look at some of the accomplishments that defined ASAE's year and enabled the organization to better serve its members.

The year 2000, with its sundry millennium scares and historical significance, proved an appropriate time for ASAE to implement a long-range strategic plan and introduce new processes and programming that will meet the current and future needs of its members.

A constantly changing business environment demanded that ASAE become a more flexible and responsive organization that not only addresses today's issues, but anticipates tomorrow's possibilities.

ASAE President and CEO Michael S. Olson, CAE, offered a glimpse of the future in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., last December, pointing out the association industry's impact on society and the new challenges and opportunities presented by its transition into a global marketplace.

"Today, though associations have broadened their activities to meet the demands of society, their missions have remained virtually the same--to impact society by uniting behind their common goals and values," Olson said. "Since their inception in the mid-1700s, associations have been responding to many of the pressing economic and social concerns confronting our country and the world today. In the same way, the future holds both great potential and complex challenges, which can only be realized and addressed collectively."

ASAE's core ideology--"to advance the value of voluntary associations to society and to support the professionalism of the individuals who lead them"-hasn't changed. But through a variety of strategic alliances, new programs and services, and organizational adjustments, ASAE took steps this year to help its members meet these future challenges and their great potential to advance our society.

No ordinary plan

ASAE's Board of Directors unanimously adopted a new long-range plan for the organization during ASAE's Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego in August 1999. The decision culminated a yearlong planning process launched by 1998-1999 ASAE Chairman Robert J. Dolibois, CAE, executive vice president of the American Nursery and Landscape Association, Washington, D.C.

The strategic plan described ASAE's core purpose and called for the board to shift from a deliberative planning process to one that is more fluid and allows the association greater flexibility in responding to member needs.

"In the future, ASAE will not be able to be all things to all people, but it must be different things to different people as the plan evolves to meet the needs of a constantly changing environment," Dolibois said. "Underlying this plan is the adoption of an ongoing process of planning and thinking strategically, designed to ensure relevance of direction and action over time."

In San Diego, Dolibois was succeeded as chairman of ASAE by George D. Kirkland, CAE, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. Kirkland became the first bureau CEO to hold the top elected leadership post at ASAE, and promptly channeled his more than 28 years of experience in association management and destination promotion into identifying eight key initiatives that would benefit ASAE and its members.

A chairman's report

Kirkland concluded his term as chairman at ASAE's 80th Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, and shared with the ASAE Executive Committee a report card grading the association's progress in meeting his eight initiatives.

Initiative 1: Implement ASAE's new strategic process. ASAE must build new partnerships between volunteers and staff to achieve the desired outcomes of the strategic plan. ASAE's board used the new strategic governance model to deliberate and act on several key issues facing the association. The issues were ASAE's future relationship with allied societies of association executives; section structure and knowledge access; brand strategy; and governance.

A staff committee issued periodic reports communicating the progress on both existing ASAE products and services and the initiatives that were included in the plan. Both the initiatives and the existing products and services were assigned to a staff leader and prioritized. Those activities that ranked "high to complete in the next year or "to complete and sustain that level in the next year" formed the basis of the FY2001 business plan and budget.

Initiative 2: Enhance the profession's image. ASAE's public relations staff identified and targeted audiences that have not traditionally recognized the vital role associations play in advancing America's communities. ASAE's involvement in a wide range of public policy issues and its work in showcasing the value of associations received coverage this year in a variety of publications.

The Career Headquarters section of ASAE's Web site was featured as one of Forbes Best of the Web, found at www.forbesbest.com and in Forbes magazine. According to Forbes, 300 Web sites in 1995 were devoted to careers. Today, there are nearly 3,000. The Best of the Web staff reviewed 5,000 Web sites and identified ASAE's Career Headquarters as one of the best.

Initiative 3: Research an international structure for the ASAE Foundation. The foundation took a huge step toward transitioning into a more international entity when the boards of the ASAE Foundation and the Canadian Society of Association Executives agreed to enter a strategic alliance and conduct joint industry research in future years.

The foundation's international initiative task force surveyed all 15 national societies of association executives within the Global Forum of Societies of Association Executives and has received responses and interest in possible collaboration from the Zimbabwe Society of Association Executives, the Federation of Swiss Association Executives, and the European Society of Association Executives.

Initiative 4: Explore governance issues. During the past year, ASAE staff and nominating committee members devoted much energy to aligning ASAE's governance structures in order to track the association's strategic objectives as well as attract a more diverse representation of members to key governance roles.

The ASAE International Committee has been merged into the International Section, the Education Committee has been eliminated, and the Professional Development staff and section council will manage ASAE's education and training initiatives. Also, the Exhibitors Advisory Committee and Associate Advisory Committee merged into a single Associate Alliance, which will create new communication opportunities and partnership initiatives.

Initiative 5: Reach out to CEOs of the nation's largest associations. A task force of volunteers and staff was established to consider how to recruit CEOs of large associations and determine how technology, programs, and services can retain existing CEO members. As a result of the task force's deliberations, five CEOs from the "Top 25" most wanted list compiled by ASAE have joined as members. Many of the recruitment and retention techniques identified during this effort will continue throughout the next fiscal year.

Initiative 6: Create a signature event. Kirkland asked that ASAE explore the feasibility of creating a signature fundraising event to raise $1 million for the Associations Advance America Fund, which allows ASAE to have an active and visible presence before elected leaders. With the support and hard work of its 55-member steering committee, ASAE hosted the first-ever Summit Awards Dinner on September 19, 2000, at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the association community's volunteer efforts. Platinum sponsors for the event were the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and United Airlines. Wyndham International sponsored entertainment for the evening by Cirque du Soleil.

The fundraising dinner, which will support ASAE's AAA Fund, honored four winners of the association's prestigious Summit Award. (The remaining four winners received recognition at ASAE Orlando 2000.) Key administration and congressional leaders had an opportunity to hear about the work being done every day by associations in areas like community service, standard setting, education, skills training, business, and social innovation and citizenship.

Initiative 7: Recruit future leaders. ASAE's staff, executive committee, and nominating committee devoted significant energy to introducing more diversity into ASAE's governance. The 2000-2001 board represents a strong balance of local, state, and national associations, gender and racial diversity, and members of both professional and trade organizations.

Initiative 8: Promote the job shadow program. ASAE continues to participate in monthly meetings of the Groundhog Job Shadow Coalition, which includes America's Promise, Junior Achievement, and School to Work.

The goal of the program is to create 100,000 student job-shadowing experiences through associations and their members. Monster.com, a co-sponsor of Groundhog Job Shadow Day 2000, provided a virtual job-shadow site on the Internet that allowed students to log on and see what professionals in various industries do in an average day. Monster.com is the title sponsor for the 2001 program, and ASAE staff will recruit professionals to take part in this online job-shadow effort.

Taking action

The association community continued to be heard by the public, lawmakers, the courts, and the administration on a wide range of public policy issues, and ASAE remains committed to serving as a bridge between elected officials and voters.

In addition to lending their voice on issues that affect the livelihood of their members and the nonprofit community in general, associations served as information clearinghouses for the media, legislators, and regulatory agencies, as well as the general public.

The year 2000 brought resolution to some pre-existing legislative concerns, and several new challenges that called for the association community's collective involvement.

The lobby-tax saga. ASAE's five-year legal push to repeal or invalidate a 1993 law that removed the tax deduction for association lobbying expenditures came to an end this spring when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the association's constitutional arguments.

As is customary when the Supreme Court reviews petitions, no reason was given for denying ASAE's appeal. Lower court rulings in the case, however, seemed to circumvent the constitutional arguments ASAE presented, and in at least one case, offered unrealistic suggestions for side-stepping the burden.

Olson called the decision "disappointing, but given the small percentage of petitions actually accepted each year, not entirely unexpected.

"Although ASAE's suit did not succeed in overturning the tax, we will take some measure of solace in knowing that ASAE, its volunteer leaders, and a very supportive membership exhausted every possible legal remedy and saw this issue through to its end."

On the legislative front, ASAE continued to support legislation that would repeal the tax as it applies to lobbying at the state level, and strongly backed the Vermont Society of Association Executives' successful legal challenge to a lobby tax implemented to help finance state political campaigns.

United by common cause. ASAE and a strong grassroots network demonstrated how quickly they could mobilize and unite behind a common cause when Congress addressed the issue of campaign disclosure earlier this year.

Specifically, lawmakers were interested in closing a loophole in the tax laws that required minimum accountability from Section 527 political organizations. The debate expanded to include the possibility of additional disclosures for associations already subject to such provisions.

ASAE took a strong stand against increased disclosure for the association community, particularly any proposal that would have required an association to make public all or some of its membership list. Disclosure, while beneficial for ensuring public trust, is already mandated for associations and their related political action committees.

The industry's stand was validated when legislation was approved that increased disclosure by Section 527 organizations but called for no additional or unreasonable requirements for associations.

A recurring threat. ASAE once again led a major effort in opposition to a Clinton administration budget proposal to tax the investment income of 501(c)(6) trade and professional associations.

The plan--identical to one proposed and defeated in 1999--would have taxed all income from interest, dividends, rents, royalties, and capital gains exceeding $10,000 received by an association. The plan would have been devastating to the association community, forcing organizations to scale back important jobs-training, standard-setting, and safety programs in order to pay the tax bill.

A "Dear Colleague" letter signed by 34 of 37 members of the committee was sent to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-TX) and Ranking Minority Member Charles Rangel (D-NY) on March 9, 2000, opposing this provision. On February 29, ASAE delivered an open letter to Congress, signed by more than 2,200 association executives from all 50 states, opposing this tax. ASAE also submitted Olson's written testimony opposing the tax provision to the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee.

Open access

ASAE debuted a new business model on July 1 that enables members to freely access the association's entire body of knowledge, regardless of professional-interest section membership.

ASAE began restructuring its information delivery systems shortly after the ASAE board voted to eliminate section membership dues. Members now continue to select a primary section when joining ASAE, but can affiliate with as many other sections as they like for one fee. The objective was to remove any barrier that might prevent association executives from obtaining the tools they need to effectively manage their organizations.

The change came after ASAE "recognized that multiple-section membership had at times proven less than user friendly," Olson said. "As the needs of our members change, we at ASAE have committed to more of an open-door philosophy with regard to information access. We want to do everything we can to help advance the association management profession, and we believe this will prove to be a monumental step in that direction."

The open-access model was well received by ASAE members. "In my more than two decades as an active member, I consider this to be the biggest sea change I've witnessed at ASAE," said John Cox, CAE, executive director of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Arlington, Virginia. "The society is really going from a siloed, strictly structured organization to a totally 'open access' knowledge broker, where all members can access the world's biggest treasure trove of association management information."

Member benefits

New membership features introduced to improve the way ASAE communicates information to members include the redesigned ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT, an endeavor in partnership with The Magazine Group, Washington, D.C., that culminated with the launch in May; Ask ASAE, an online repository of answers to frequently asked questions; open participation in section listserver discussions; monthly, interactive virtual seminars that present hot topics to association executives; and access to complete newsletter archives for all professional-interest areas.

Web site members can also make meeting site selections and post online meeting RFPs (with Find-A-Site, powered by PlanSoft) and settle on a speaker for an upcoming meeting (with Book-A-Speaker, powered by SpeakersDirect.com). In addition, ASAE is piloting an online tool called My Team, powered by MyAssociation.com, which facilitates the work of ASAE committees, councils, and teams by offering project management, document sharing, and communication tools.

Perhaps not so evident to members are the preparations for the conversion of ASAE's membership database to a new system called CGI. The array of tools available on this new software will improve staffs ability to provide first-rate customer service.

Global ventures

In his National Press Club speech, Olson referenced a "global association revolution" already taking place, in which nonprofit management has become a $1.1 trillion industry worldwide and association executives everywhere are confronting many of the same transitional challenges.

ASAE has encouraged international collaboration and has enjoyed some invaluable exchanges with societies of association executives in other countries.

Last November, members of ASAE's Executive Committee held a historic dialogue in Beijing, China, with officials who oversee non-governmental organizations. As a result of the visit, ASAE established a working relationship with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Many of these Chinese officials participated in the Sixth World Congress of Association Executives, which was held in the United States for the first time in conjunction with ASAE Orlando 2000. Approximately 350 executives from more than 17 countries attended the one-day conference, which encourages high-level networking and exchange on issues affecting the global association management profession.

Earlier this year, ASAE and the European Society of Association Executives announced a strategic alliance whereby ESAE members can become members of ASAE and receive a benefits package with specialized products and services from both organizations. These benefits, still in development, will likely include local networking and professional development opportunities in Europe as well as state-of-the-art virtual products and services such as electronic newsletters, e-mail discussion forums, and members-only Web site access.

The ASAE Foundation's alliance with the Canadian Society of Association Executives calls for collaboration on several future projects, including the foundation's ongoing Futures Scan. Terms of the alliance include appointing one or two CSAE members to each foundation research initiative; joint funding of research projects in future years as resources become available; joint solicitation of CSAE donors for support in future research initiatives; assistance in identifying potential Canadian research partners; and collaboration on education and outreach programs to the Canadian association community.

Chris Vest is manager of media relations at ASAE, Washington, D.C. E-mail: [e-mail].

Foundation Surpasses Goal

The ASAE Foundation ended its yearlong "Partners for the Future" campaign in Orlando in August with a record $6.6 million in pledges that will be used to support future-focused research for the association community.

Support for the campaign came from all segments of the industry-hospitality, airlines, convention and visitors bureaus, business service companies, associations, and individual executives,

A $100,000 pledge from American Airlines and a $5,000 pledge from the New York Society of Association Executives took the campaign beyond the $6.6 million mark.

"It is especially noteworthy and highly gratifying that we have received such significant support from so many sectors of the industry," Olson said.

That support breaks down as follows:

* Associations and individuals have pledged nearly $1.4 million.

* Convention and visitors bureaus have pledged more than $1 million.

* Business services companies have pledged nearly $1 million.

* The hospitality community has pledged more than $3 million, including $300,000 from independent hotels.

What's Hot Among Callers

The telephone remains the primary way ASAE members contact Information Central, but e-mail inquiries have doubled sine last year, accounting for 30 percent of requests. The three hottest topics:

* Governance--volunteers boards, and committee structures.

* Finance and Administration--accounting, employment contracts, and compensation.

* Public policy--lobbying regulations, antitrust, and fundraising.

Bookstore Best-Sellers

Here are the top five books among ASAE members this year:

1. MILLENNIUM MEMBERSHIP: HOW TO ATTRACT AND KEEP MEMBERS IN THE NEW MARKET PLACE, by Mark Levin, CAE

2. OPERATING RATIO REPORT: 11th Edition

3. MODEL ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL POLICIES & PROCEDURES HANDBOOK: by Edward J McMillan, CAE

4. BUDGETING AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK: by Edward J. McMillan CAE

5. PRINCIPLES OF ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT: by Henry L. Ernstthal CAE and Bob Jones IV

ASAE Offerings

ASAE Services, Inc. ASAE's for-profit subsidiary, rolled out the following new programs this year.

* Selected The Principal Financial Group to implement a new retirement plan benefits program for associations. The package includes online administrative support and record-keeping services, a variety of investment options, and employer compliance tools.

* Partnered with Aon Worksite Solutions to offer new benefits to association employees. The U-Select program allows employees to select insurance products on an individual-needs basis. Products available include insurance benefits, such as life, disability, critical illness, and accident and legal services.

* Formed a strategic alliance with Aon Association Services and the Hartford Insurance Company to provide expanded Association Professional Liability Insurance to the association community. The insurance covers allegations of errors and omissions and improprieties against association professionals.

Breaking Records

The 6,331 attendees at this year's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, August 12-15, made it the most-attended meeting in the organization's history. The exposition included 550 vendors and 895 booths, the most ever for an ASAE conference