Who are the “experts” in Association Cost Reduction Experts?  They’re the countless association management professionals who’s vast experience and knowledge feed ACRE’s existence. The whole ACRE idea is to develop mechanisms for associations to effortlessly help one another in the universal quest to reduce costs, so that all can devote more of their money to their mission.

The Beginning

Serving as associate executive director for a $40-million national association, Craig Price, CAE faced a problem familiar to a lot of associations.  Trying to balance a budget when the expenses required to meet growing member needs far outpaced expected revenue.  Starting the budget process with a projected deficit was the norm every year, but that year the size of the budget hole was unprecedented.

A New Approach

With oversight responsibilities for finance, as well as administration and a host of mission-specific functions, Craig looked to close the budget gap by going beyond the usual cost-reduction strategies employed in previous years. He surveyed a number of peer associations to learn how they managed similar financial challenges without cutting expenses that would negatively impact their operations or programs. The surprising results revealed a wide range of very different approaches to cost reduction by associations.

Craig came away from that experience recognizing the significant benefits that associations could glean from an association-specific, data-driven, best-practices approach to reducing non-strategic costs.