The challenge with starting an association is to balance representation of the entire community with taking action on steps that get the formation underway. How long do we take input before we start making decisions? And who makes those decisions? Is it reasonable to have the entire community participate in the effort to organize an association? If we have a smaller group of decision makers, will they represent the perspectives of the community at large?

Realistically speaking, we need to rely on a relatively small group of people to determine how to form this organization. If the group is too large, we’ll debate various aspects until everyone has lost their enthusiasm and this thing will die before it has started. However, this small group of people needs to represent the many interests of the performance marketing community.

So here’s our plan, which allows input from the community at large, and expedites the formation of the organization by keeping decision making to a small but representative group of people:

Discovery efforts are underway. I have interviewed over 40 industry leaders to get their thoughts and ideas on starting an association. Links to surveys are available on this blog for any and all performance marketing professionals (or hopefuls!) to provide their input.

Working groups will be formed to help outline options and recommendations on various aspects of getting an association started, including the strategic goals, governance, financial goals and structure, membership criteria and dues, and association management. We are looking for volunteers from the community to develop proposals on each of these areas (email rebecca@performancemarketingalliance.com if you’d like to be on a working group). There will be separate posts outlining the objectives of each of the working groups.

A Formation Advisory Board will be formed to determine and approve the various proposals provided by the working groups. The Formation Advisory Board (FAB) will be nominated from the interviewed industry leaders, and voted in by that same group. It will consist of 11 people representing the community at large. The FAB will also elect the first Board of Directors. The FAB will only have the purpose of forming the organization and will be disbanded after the first Board of Directors is elected. There will be separate posts detailing the FAB roles, responsibilities, and election process.

The Board of Directors will have a make up determined by the FAB. The Board of Directors will have fiduciary responsibility over the operations of the organization. This is an important group necessary for a non-profit organization that is self-supporting. There won’t be much information on the Board formation until the FAB makes its recommendations.

Stay tuned for posts going into more details.

–Rebecca