Association of Information Technology Professionals - Capitol Chapter
It appears we have two related problems to address:
1. Many members do not believe they are getting adequate value for their dues.
Membership is down to 3,600 from 40,000 a few years ago. Would all those people have left if they thought the dues were a good value proposition?
First of all, recognize that in the "40,000" member days, you had to be a manager of a DP related department to be a "real" member--vendors were only "associate members" and acadamians were few and far between (unless they could somehow pass the "DP related manager" test. And most all of us had our dues paid by our employer. "Those people" are mostly retired or dead now--and the people who came after them don't have large mainframe shops
with big budgets that will support their companies paying their dues--because they haven't tried to sell them on the educational value of AITP--when us old coggers were doing the DPMA thing, it was almost as much a social club for managers as it was an educational thing--although we all learned a great deal by participating--perhaps more than even we realized at the time!!
2. Some chapters do not believe that national is providing adequate value for the portion of the dues they keep.
Key word here is "keep"--take a lot of money to run a national organization Check out any other association that is structured the way we are(member based) and then we look pretty darn good in terms of our overhead--and the thing that people conveniently forget is that some of the overhead costs of running an association remain relatively static even when the membership drops from the often mentioned "40,000" to 10,000 to 3,600. That is why all member based organizations from the Elks, Lions, Jaycees, etc (to poor old AITP) are hurting as we weather the storm of lagging memberships--too few members to spread that overhead cost across. Should we just give up and throw in the towel? I say HELL NO!!!
On the word "keep", the Association doesn't "keep" any dues that a region or chapter decides to charge their members--never has. In fact, they provide all the overhead costs of billing the member on behalf of the chapter or region and the added costs of all the accounting and the costs of sending the money (100% intact) back to the "taxing" body(chapter or region). How do we reduce that cost to national? The quick and slick way would be to only have one billing cycle instead of 12(monthly) but here is where the answer gets more complicated than the question. At last count , almost 70% (based on last survey) of our members still get their dues paid by their organization, and because they all have different fiscal/budget years, going to a strictly calendar year would cause great heartburn for many of our members--again, one size doesn't fit all. A real problem for some members.
How many chapters still exist but are no longer affiliated with AITP? (like Portland)
Does it really matter? We have two I am aware of in our region--Lacrosse, and Eau Claire Wisconsin were one time DPMA chapters that decided to be local computer clubs--and still function--but they bailed out when the association had those "40,000" members. On the other hand, we have seen that Boston has resurrected their AITP chapter and Long Island is one of the most successful chapters in the association(sorta like Austin)--because a guy by the name of Paul Zeim and some others decided to make it happen(like a guy named Earl McGehee did in Austin)--it can be done!! How many student chapters are no longer affiliated? (like University of Texas)
Don't know when the Austin student chapter(Univ of Texas) called it quits but don't believe we have lost many--but not because we did things smart. As my friends in EDSIG have explained to me when they dragged me out behind the wood shed and educated me on how universities really work, we all have to understand that faculty members are "assigned" to be student group advisors--not because they love AITP, but because that is how universities work--everybody gets stuck with these jobs whether they like it or not---AND the University, for the most part won't pay their dues to belong to the parent organization(in this case AITP) We owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to the many student chapter advisors that we have as AITP members for their dedication to running successful student chapters, driving their students to the NCC each year and being active members of AITP, EDSIG,etc.
For years we have talked about doing a better job of telling members what value they get for membership dues. If the value is so low or so hidden that we must sell it, then we have failed.
I agree Earl that we have not done the job we should have been doing in spreading the word on the value of AITP(or just the value of having a professional association of IT professionals that is akin to the AICPA)--and this failure didn't happen recently. It really dates back to when we were 40,000 fat cats with all that money rolling in from the NCC(National Computer Conference) and advertising, etc. that allowed our leaders to have lavish parties, dress in penguin suits for the National Association Meeting, etc. We took our eye off the ball back then and have been paying the price ever since. Problem today is to recover some credibility in the IT community so that we DO become the association that people will identify with IT professionalism. And we are making progress in that regard(National Collegiate Conference, Legislative Committee, EDSIG, ISECON, being the leading proponent of ICCP certification, etc)--but it is a long road and we have lots of work to do(but at least we are ON THE ROAD and not in the ditch)
We need to lower dues to match what members think they are worth, or provide more perceived value for the dues we charge now.
As the last president of the association to END the year with a balanced budget, I can tell you first hand that dues CAN'T be lower--they must go up to pay the bills. If I could have had a crystal ball back in 1999 and foreseen the things that have helped decimate our membership(9/11, fall out from Y2K aftermath, outsourcing, overseas outsourcing, etc),I would have been the first to suggest an annual dues increase equal to the cost of living increase(or more)knowing that it would be needed to just pay the bills. And if we want the association to do more, we have to be willing to pay more--or we have to grow our membership so more people are paying those dues--that is an economic reality--like your reference to capitalism below. Not a pretty picture--but one we must face if we are determined to not just let AITP die. My two cents
Lucky Larry Schmitz, CCP, CMC
Capitalism insures that companies not delivering value to their customers do not survive. Survival is about adapting to change. Have we changed enough to survive?
1. Many members do not believe they are getting adequate value for their dues.
Membership is down to 3,600 from 40,000 a few years ago. Would all those people have left if they thought the dues were a good value proposition?
First of all, recognize that in the "40,000" member days, you had to be a manager of a DP related department to be a "real" member-
2. Some chapters do not believe that national is providing adequate value for the portion of the dues they keep.
Key word here is "keep"-
On the word "keep", the Association doesn't "keep" any dues that a region or chapter decides to charge their members-
How many chapters still exist but are no longer affiliated with AITP? (like Portland)
Does it really matter? We have two I am aware of in our region-
Don't know when the Austin student chapter(Univ of Texas) called it quits but don't believe we have lost many-
For years we have talked about doing a better job of telling members what value they get for membership dues. If the value is so low or so hidden that we must sell it, then we have failed.
I agree Earl that we have not done the job we should have been doing in spreading the word on the value of AITP(or just the value of having a professional association of IT professionals that is akin to the AICPA)-
We need to lower dues to match what members think they are worth, or provide more perceived value for the dues we charge now.
As the last president of the association to END the year with a balanced budget, I can tell you first hand that dues CAN'T be lower-
Lucky Larry Schmitz, CCP, CMC
Capitalism insures that companies not delivering value to their customers do not survive. Survival is about adapting to change. Have we changed enough to survive?
