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“The advocacy group Freedom to Marry, which spent more than a decade fighting for the cause of same-sex marriage, will end its operations later this year.” As a regular reader of the American Society of Association Executives’ Associations Now Daily News, I am happy for them, their members, and our country that this mission driven association has achieved its goal.
Reading the headline, however, reminded me of other organizations and institutions whose focus and futures seemed bright at one time or another. When I began my career in 1973 with Florida’s then Bureau of Drug Abuse Prevention, one of the treatment programs we licensed was Here’s Help. The tag line on the bottom of their stationery (Do we all still have that stuff?) read something like “Here to help until we’re not needed any more.” I always admired the candor with which some organizations and associations could selflessly pursue their self destruction.
Then there is the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association. Having celebrated the 70th anniversary last year, I keep wondering if there is some list of industry objectives, once achieved, would make us obsolete. If the Legislature and Governor had reached a positive accommodation on coverage (Medicaid) expansion, would that have been a high time to go away? Oops! No, the House of Representatives and Governor want to deregulate an already excessively competitive and expensive hospital market, so we need to hang in there another year on the advocacy front. Oh! And just week the court threw out hard fought for limits on medical liability, so that battle may be brewing again.
Of course even without government policy and regulation to fight for and against, there are literally tens of educational topics we keep being asked to research, find experts, and present to the SFHHA’s 13 committees and task forces. The Summit in June which covered just 8 of those between keynotes and breakout sessions had 350 in attendance. Yes, there’s also that amorphous role and function called “networking.” Introducing members to each other, a lot more effective than cold calls, often reminds me that at heart I’m still a Jewish mother. No, we’re not “ending operations” anytime soon. Hold, on though, it continues to be a bumpy ride!
