Connected Leadership. Local Impact.

Why Associations Matter

Associations are woven into nearly every industry and profession in the country. They set standards, advance careers, fund research, and bring people together around a shared purpose. Behind each one is a team of professionals working to keep it strong.

Figures reflect the U.S. trade and professional association sector, drawn from IRS and national association industry data.

The leaders behind the associations

Every one of those associations is led by a chief executive and a staff who carry a heavy load with limited resources. To do that job well, they lean on their state, regional, and international societies of association executives, known as SAEs. These societies are where association leaders compare notes, work through shared problems, and get better at a role few people outside it fully understand.

Where ALC fits

The Association Leadership Coalition brings those societies together. More than 30 of them, representing over 4,000 associations and the more than 14,000 professionals who run them, across 40 states and beyond. When ALC strengthens a society, that society strengthens the leaders it serves. Those leaders strengthen the associations they run. And those associations strengthen the members and communities that count on them.

That is the role ALC plays. A network of leaders supporting the leaders who keep an entire sector moving.