Association Outsourcing Study

Monarch Media is made of 100-percent, association-experienced staff. Yep, we worked the long hours, wore more hats than we could count, and delivered a range of member services and benefits from trade shows and conferences to publications. And it was with this knowledge that Monarch Media was born. We looked at associations from the inside and decided that specialized and dedicated third-party vendors were needed — those who would help association staff to deliver superior member services.

According to the recent article published by Associations Now, roughly 80 percent of associations are looking to outside vendors to help accomplish their missions. This data comes from a newly released study from association management and services company SmithBucklin that looked at the types of functions, other than of the commonly outsourced audit and legal services, that associations are outsourcing. When asked how they currently used or planned to use outsourcing, respondents said the number-one reason was to gain access to specific skills, which was followed by supplementing in-house staff and saving money.

And of course we were pleased to hear that Monarch Media’s services were among the top services mentioned for outsourcing. The article states that “the services with the highest rate of outsourcing among respondents include graphic design, multimedia, and video, outsourced by 52 percent of the 360 U.S. association and professional society executives surveyed. This was followed by editorial and publishing (27 percent), advertising (27 percent), and membership technology (26 percent).”

The article also gave a three tips for establishing good working relationships with vendors: Be Candid. Prepare your team. Assign a champion. All great tips! Assigning a champion is an especially good idea and can take the outsourced relationship and turn it into a true partnership. We strive for those partnerships and we look forward to working with even more associations in the future.