What is an Association Management Company (AMC)?

An Association Management Company provides expertise in all aspects of managing trade associations, professional societies and foundations. Associations use AMCs for the staffing expertise and experience necessary to accomplish the association’s goals. Because staff is shared among the AMC’s association partners and expertise is provided as needed, the cost of this level of expertise is more affordable.

In addition to affordable expert staff, there are economies of scale in sharing office space, equipment and supplies, freeing up the association's funds for use in member services and programs.

More and more associations are turning to an AMC for management services because they lower their expenses, turn over the administrative hassle to someone else, and get more broad-based association experience and talent.

Can an association or society use an AMC for selected services (outsourcing)?

Yes. Many AMCs offer services to associations to compliment limited resources and staff expertise. For example, an association could contract with AH to plan a conference, provide public relations services and strategic planning. The benefit of having the level of staffing expertise offered by an AMC is the efficiency with which they can get the job done and quite possibly save the association money because of the AMC’s negotiating power.

What are the advantages of contracting with an AMC, versus hiring someone from the industry or field of expertise, to run an association?

An industry insider will almost certainly know the industry or group and its concerns but he or she may not have the experience most associations need to conduct the major business of the association. In addition to the potentially significant financial savings of using shared staff as well as relief from employer responsibilities, an AMC has people who are experts in the areas of meeting planning, publishing, membership development, strategic planning, not-for-profit financial management, government relations and more.

How much can an association save by contracting with an AMC?

Associations save a significant amount of money when contracting with an AMC, since the AMC incurs overhead costs on a more manageable basis. The cost is then divided amongst all the clients, rather than charged to an individual association.

In order to allocate time between clients, AH researches the service needs of a client partner to get information for an informed estimate of the resources in time, equipment, and personnel necessary to meet the association’s needs. AH would then price their services so they can afford to manage a client properly.

What type of relationship does an AMC offer associations and societies?

An AMC provides associations a variety of services on multiple levels. Associations may require only administrative services; while other groups may require complete executive management from trade show, to meetings, to financial, to public relations/creative services. Most AMCs contract with associations on either a retainer fee or project-based fee, with special services clearly outlined in the contract.

If we choose to switch to an AMC, what can be done with out in-house staff, offices and equipment?

There are several options for an association with in-house support. When working with an AMC, the association in most cases relinquishes its present offices and uses the offices of the AMC as their headquarters. In the area of equipment, most associations usually sell its inventory with little difficulty and in some cases; the AMC might purchase some items for use in managing the association. There are two options in the area of staff. As part of the association agreement, the AMC may employ the association executive director as its new AMC headquarters. In most cases, due to geographic location of the new AMC, the entire stand-alone staff is usually provided with ample notice and released from their duties with the association.