Most associations talk about member value. The International Dairy Foods Association put a number on it.
On the October 14 episode of Association Amplified LIVE, Dan Stevens sat down with Tom Wojno, IDFA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Operating Officer, to find out how. The full replay is below. Here’s the short version.
The “what if we didn’t exist” exercise
Tom spent part of his career on the other side of the table, in the private sector, and he remembers how membership dues looked from there: an intangible expense, and one of the first things to go when a legal or government affairs budget got trimmed. A big advocacy win is easy to point to. The other 364 days are not.
So about every two years, he runs the same exercise. He sits down with each team at IDFA, from government relations to crisis communications, and asks one question: if IDFA did not exist tomorrow, where would our members go to get what you provide?
The teams list everything. Then they price it. What would an in-house lobbyist cost once you add real estate, overhead, and health care? What would a company pay to replace the regulatory support, the legal community, the export intelligence? Add it all up, divide by the average dues payer, and you have a return on investment.
IDFA has run the numbers four times in Tom’s nine years. The figure started around $11 for every dollar in dues. The latest round came in near $15. For a six-figure multinational member, Tom says, “that adds up.”
The side effect is almost as useful as the number. When members see the full list of what they’re paying for, the reaction is often “wait, you have a legal community? My CIO should be in that tech network.” The ROI exercise turns into an engagement tool.
Two more things worth your time
The rest of the conversation is just as practical. Tom walks through the lead, support, monitor framework IDFA uses to decide where it invests, and why “we can’t be everything to everyone” is something the board hears out loud. He also explains why IDFA walked away from its trade show after a member compared it to Girl Scout cookies (you want to support the Scout, you don’t need the cookies) and what replaced it, from a next-gen leadership program to micro-credentials for frontline plant workers who can’t leave the floor for a week.
Audience questions covered consumer trust, the “we over me” culture across departments, and how IDFA decided which credentials to build. All of it is in the replay.
Watch the full episode
Grab 31 minutes, share it with your membership team, and ask yourselves Tom’s question: if we didn’t exist tomorrow, where would our members go?
