A short introduction to Associations and association management in Belgium, presented at the EU-meetup in Brussels on November 15th, 2013.

1. Associations and
association
management in
Belgium
The Belgian
Delegation
AMC Meetup - 15.11.2013

2. Big in Belgium
• 3 official languages (Flemish, French, German)
• 3 important regions (Flanders, Wallonia,
Brussels)
• 5 levels of decision-making (local, provincial,
regional (2), federal)
• 11 million people
• 1.000.000 ‘businesses’ (70% with 0 FTE, 30%
SME’s and 1.000 with 250+ FTE)

3. Association community
• 675 professional societies & trade associations
• Approx. 3500 association professionals (staff)
(50% of orgs without staff, 5% with 20+ staff, top
10 have nearly 900 staff)
• Another 650 organizations (non-profits) for
specific ‘tasks’ (social issues, executing policy,
public-private partnerships)
• EU/INT-Brussels is far away !

4. Association industry
• No basic educational programs for association
professionals (bachelor/master/…)
• Association Management Companies (few:
2Mpact, B-Mas, some ‘secretaries’) > the big
associations provide services for small ones !
• Suppliers: not focused only on associations
(ICT, eventorganizers,…)
• (Formation, Magazine Sectorlink.be, BSAE.be)

5. Challenges for associations
• Professionalism : Board governance vs.
management by the Secretariat/Bureau
• Rethinking the goals of the organization to
avoid to become obsolete (wake up-call!)
• Rebranding: creating unique value for their
members and gaining respect as ‘authority’
• Reaching out to others: stakeholdersmanagement, becoming ‘social’ (again)

6. Challenges for association
management in Belgium
• Creating awareness for more professional
association management (inside the
associations and towards stakeholders)
• Empowering ‘association professionals’ (basic
education, but also ‘on the job’)
• Broadening the suppliers-side of the industry,
including reaching out to other sectors: PA/PR,
PCO…
• Learn from EU/INT-Brussels and others !!!

7. Marc Mestdagh, CEO
2Mpact nv (Gent)
http://www.2mpact.be
Tel . +32 9 233 48 66
marc.mestdagh@2mpact.be
Twitter @2mpact