Associations are always competing for members and member loyalty. Loyalty is generally tied to value creation. Associations have to create lasting and meaningful value through their information, educational programs, credentials, networking and volunteer opportunities in order to keep members engaged, happy and active within the association community. One need look no further than the Decision to Join research conducted by ASAE and the Center for Association Leadership to corroborate this assertion. On the surface creating member value sounds like an easy endeavor: determine what your members want and value and then give it to them in as many ways as your resources permit. In reality, however, it is much more challenging especially when your membership base is extremely diverse and globally dispersed. The challenge becomes how do you become (or give) something to everyone without becoming nothing to everyone?

Not an easy question and unfortunately there are no easy answers. However, in every challenge lie a myriad of opportunities for associations who are willing to think creatively and use whatever resources they have available in attempt to advance their mission and vision while simultaneously creating member value. One such way is through collaboration with cooperative, and in some instances, competing organizations. And while this seems to fly in the face of logic and reason, but coopetititon or cooperative competition has been proven, while not perfect, to yield significant benefits for all participants in such an arrangement provided that each was interested in contributing to the greater good.

An example of this phenomena recently popped up on my radar screen in the association world. I can’t say that it is a perfect example of coopetititon because I don’t know enough about the participating organizations but based on face value I would think that each of the participants shares a number of members and in many way competes for the same member dollar and loyalty.

Recently (August 17, 2007), The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) and Mirixa Corporation announced the beta launch of http://www.RxWiki.com, the first Web 2.0 medication therapy management encyclopedia for consumers, written and edited by pharmacists.

The wiki was launched to serve as a:

Free website publishing pharmaceutical, over-the-counter, and nutraceutical medication information. RxWiki also serves as a community network for pharmacists to create and share information for their patients and consumers at large, and to collaborate in the advancement of Medication Therapy Management (MTM). RxWiki is different from other medication resources because it’s a community-driven content portal that taps America’s pharmacists as trusted content editors.

According to NASPA Executive Vice President and CEO Rebecca Snead:

“Patients who actively participate in their healthcare, their medication therapy and who have a personalrelationship with their pharmacist can experience improved health outcomes. RxWiki will serve as the premier medication resource for patients in increasing their understanding of their medications and will enable them to take a more active role with their pharmacist, and in managing their medication therapy,”

I think RxWiki is a great example of using creative thinking, cooperation, and collaborative (Web 2.0) technology to meet the needs of a group of stakeholders. It also creates value for each of the affiliated associations simply by participating and supporting such a great endeavor. I suspect that this is only one of many examples of this type of creative thinking and would love to know if anyone has other examples of this type of arrangement. The moral of the story appears to be that the rules of the game are changing (and have been). But the question remains: are you/your association ready to change with the rules and do things outside of your comfort zone to stay relevant and create member value?