Partnership v. Membership: What Behavior Do You Want to Encourage?

That question is not rhetorical. Corporate membership can be complicated. To being with, there are at least two main types: Companies that are your core audience (i.e., trade associations’ typical members). Companies that are NOT…

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Partnership v. Membership: Is There a Membership Role for Suppliers?

In my previous post in this series, I concluded with the question: What role, if any, does supplier membership play in this ecosystem? Lewis responded with a strong statement that suppliers should NOT be association…

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What Should We Do to Get Ready for Blockchain?

One of the key elements of blockchain networks is the network. This technology is a system-level technology. What that means is that its true power lies in the network effect, in the system. Any one…

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How Will Blockchain Affect My Members?

As you may recall from my previous post on my new whitepaper, Blockchain for Associations: Separating the Hype from the Promise, my co-author Shelly Alcorn and I think that this is the REAL question association execs…

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Influence Across America

Thanks to the generosity of my friend and colleague Ed Barks, I had the opportunity to attend Influence Across America: The Rise of State and Local Power and the Impact of Digital Media, a National…

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Should Associations Care About Blockchain?

And if so, why? Blockchain for Dummies offers some qualifying questions when you’re trying to figure out whether blockchain is an appropriate solution for your association and for which projects: Do we need to track…

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What IS Blockchain?

At it’s most basic level, blockchain is a ledger-style database. “Wait a second!” you might say. “There are PLENTY of database options out there. Why do we need ANOTHER one?” Blockchain allows two people who…

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Blockchain for Associations

In the spring of 2018, I had the opportunity to attend one of my favorite conferences in the association year: digitalNOW. At that event, among all the cutting-edge content, I heard one word over and…

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Partnership v. Membership: Defining Terms

Lewis and I are both going to take a crack at this topic, and I’ve elected to go first. I see partnership and membership as being founded on the same broad idea: individuals or organizations…

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Partnership v. Membership: Untangling the Knot

I’m excited to announce a new blog series I’ll be writing with Lewis Flax, the founder of Flax Associates, a consulting firm that helps nonprofits support their objectives through establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with corporations….

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