Guides to finding association clients

How to see which associations are about to buy: management company changes in a Form 990, new executive directors, membership software, requests for proposals.

• How a management company change shows up in a Form 990 Where an association's Form 990 names the firm it pays to run it, why a change there is a year late, and how to see a move while the contract is still open.
• How an association management company finds new clients The associations that hire a management company first are small, run by volunteers and running out of them. Where to find them, and what they say before they search.
• How to tell an association is about to replace its membership software The signs on its own website that an association is about to choose a new membership system (AMS) or its first one, and why one that just switched is the wrong call.
• A new association executive director is a buying window. How to see one early Why a new executive director or CEO reopens an association's contracts, where the change is announced first, and why the Form 990 names them a year late.
• Where associations post requests for proposals, and what comes before one How associations issue RFPs for software, websites, management and events, why few are public, and the signs a request is coming months before it goes out.
• Reading an association's Form 990 before a sales call The six parts of a Form 990 that tell a vendor who runs an association, who signs, how big it is and who it already pays, and what the return cannot tell you.