Association Insight International & European Association Insights Spring 2015 | Page 19

Article | Association Insights

Are partnerships the way

forward?
By Louise Clarke

Partnerships and strategic alliances are key to the success of
association. We consider how collaboration and joint ventures can
make a difference to associations in other areas too and help boost
funds, increase membership and raise awareness.
There are a number of reasons why associations enter into
strategic alliances with other organisations, such as other
membership bodies and competitors, for-profit companies,
government agencies and universities.
An alliance could help extend the distribution network of
an association’s products and services. Joining forces with
other organisations can help develop products and services
for local markets, or could be a way of uniting to fight a
common cause or lobby parliament for legislative changes.
Associations often partner with other organisations to
provide education and training programmes to members or
to promote industry standards. Linking up with an overseas
counterpart can often also help associations extend their
global reach.
The European College of Sport Science (ECSS) operates
a scientific exchange with the Japanese Society of
Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine (JSPFSM). “Strong
collaborations with like-minded associations, active in the
same field, have helped us maintain continuous growth,”
says Thomas Delaveaux, ECSS Executive Director.
“We established the JSPFSM collaboration in 1998 and it’s
brought us to the point where Japan is actually the second
strongest nation attending our annual congress.”

The benefits of strategic alliances
include:
• possibility of increased income and new markets.

• It will take time and money to set up and develop an
effective partnership which could be a drain on limited
resources.
• Can be a risk that working together becomes an
unwieldy exercise that’s difficult to control because of
the combined size of two organisations.
The British Dietetic Association has been developing
corporate partnerships, sponsorship and other
collaborations within the food and nutrition sector for 15-20
years.
“It can have many benefits,” says Andy Burman, BDA Chief
Executive. “It raises income to allow you to do projects or
keep membership fees lower. It can help raise profile and
assist with PR or advancing the science base behind the
profession.”
Partnerships can also be a risk as some members see the
association as ‘getting into bed with the devil’, or ‘selling
our souls’. However, “our experience is that very few
members take this view and that this is not a consistent
view (our critics would be happy to accept sponsorship or
funding from some companies that we consider unethical).”
“We have had to develop quite a complex ethical framework
to manage such approaches from industry as we do not
accept all of them. Some are simply not worth the PR
risk…. But all our events, conferences, study days, etc. have
elements of corporate partnership and, properly managed,
this can be really positive.” 

• chance to offer more products and services and
increased value to members.
• opportunity to maximise the ROI on existing resources.
• access to new stakeholders that will add value to your
organisation.
• sharing responsibility for a product or service with your
new partner and reducing costs.

And the disadvantages:
• If it’s a new relationship you are embarking on, will you
be able to work together as partners and can you trust
them? Perhaps a trial period is a good idea.

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