Serving Canadian associations since 2001
Serving Canadian associations since 2001
Association management companies (AMCs) provide operational support for membership organisations—typically those run by an all-volunteer board, with no office and no full-time staff. These firms handle the day-to-day operations on behalf of the board.
When hiring an AMC, organisations often make the mistake of assuming they are purchasing a commodity. This can be a costly misunderstanding. You’re not buying something simple or interchangeable—you are effectively hiring a key employee.
When managed well, the service feels seamless. Members interact with the organisation without realising they are speaking to a third party. The AMC’s team understands the organisation and its members, builds relationships, manages events, collects revenue, and handles financial responsibilities. This allows the board to focus on governance while confidently delegating operational tasks.
When making a hiring decision, you should evaluate factors such as skills, experience, personality, industry knowledge, and budget expectations—just as you would when hiring an employee.
If your budget allows only for administrative-level support, it would not make sense to seek the qualifications of a senior manager. A clear and detailed job description—including budget expectations—helps attract the right candidates.
While reviewing credentials (like a CV or company profile) is important for shortlisting, it should not be the sole deciding factor. Conduct interviews with top candidates to assess their expertise, judgement, and cultural fit with your organisation.
Understanding these fundamentals helps avoid common hiring mistakes and ensures you select the right AMC for long-term success.
COMMON MISTAKES
Many AMCs will not respond to an unsolicited request for proposal (“RFP”) from an organization they don’t know. Why? Proposal requests are often a “tire-kicking” exercise with no real intent to award an engagement. It’s time-consuming and expensive for an AMC to prepare a proposal so they want to know that you’re serious.
SOLUTION:
If you want a proposal from a reputable firm then make a personal connection. Phone them, introduce your organization and tell them why you would like them to respond.
What if you were hiring an employee? Would you keep the salary range a secret and ask for the attributes of an executive when you have the budget for an office manager? The result would be a host of applicants that you can’t afford. If you’re asking for proposals, be upfront about your budget and solicit ideas for the best package for that budget.
SOLUTION:
If you have a tight budget, some AMCs will opt out and that’s OK. It saves you time because you only have to focus on the firms who are genuinely interested in serving you at the price you can afford.
Prioritize your needs so that respondents can give one price for your “must-haves” and a second price for your “nice-to-haves”.
Some organizations do this because they want to compare each AMC’s pricing on an item by item basis. Trust me– even if an AMC gives you this information it’s worthless. Every job, including that of an AMC is a holistic undertaking. The greater the number of tasks an AMC does for you, the less expensive it is for them to take on an additional task because parts of that task are probably already included in another activity.
Like an employee, every AMC does some tasks faster and more effectively than others. What you really need to know is how well each AMC’s areas of strength coincide with your “must-haves”. Line-by-line pricing doesn’t answer this question and it will reduce the willingness of many AMCs to provide a proposal.
SOLUTION:
If you’re not sure what you can afford, then prioritize your needs in the RFP so that respondents can give one price for your “must-haves”, a second price for your “must-haves” and a third price for your “nice-to-haves”.
If your needs are ambiguous then the proposal pricing will be useless.
SOLUTION:
Make the effort to be specific. If you’re not sure, then include these needs in a separate section and leave them out of the pricing. Ask the AMC what services they suggest to meet these needs. This is a good way to assess the ability of the AMC to anticipate your needs and provide solutions.
This is a waste of your valuable time. There are many things you can overlook that are critical to the hiring process and let’s face it – it’s really time–consuming to create an RFP from scratch.
SOLUTION:
Start with a template
Would you hire an employee simply because they have the lowest salary expectations? The relationship with your AMC is going to last at least 2 years and hopefully longer. They will be the first point of contact with your members and they will be a deciding factor in your sustainability.
SOLUTION:
Choose the best AMC you can afford.
