You Don’t Always Have To Form Associations

After reading about the en mass resignations of about half the pro tem committee of the Association of Bloggers (Singapore), I couldn’t help but say a few more things about associations. Particularly that you don’t always have to form one. I went through that path myself. It can be a better way to get things done.

I was involved with the Singapore OS/2 User Group over a decade ago. We were a bunch of OS/2 users who wanted to share information about our choice operating system, to evangelize its goodness to other users, to interact with other like-minded users, etc. Just like what Linux user groups and Mac user groups set out to do. Just about the usual things that many other associations want to do.

We did not form an association. I was part of the “executive committee”. We considered the idea. We decided it did not give us significant benefits. We didn’t have to think about it very long actually. Everyone was quite clear what we wanted to do, where we are headed, what we could do, how we could do, etc. The truth is, the formation of an association actually presented to us undesirable overheads that we were unwilling to take on.

Some people feel that the formation of a legal entity like an association facilitates conduct of certain activities. This may be true. I have been part of another “association” that parked itself under someone else’s umbrella (that “someone” was a legally-formed society), for the convenience of borrowing the legal existence without having to deal with much of the overheads.

But the circumstances facing each potential association-to-be are unique. It may turn out, like the case of our Singapore OS/2 user Group, to be unnecessary (and in our opinion, undesirable) to form an association.

Now, don’t think that our Singapore OS/2 User Group could not carry out significant plans because of our lack of legal status. We were able to hold regular meetings at a proper venue, with refreshments and such. We ran road shows. In fact, we even got our own exhibition space at one of the major computer shows in Singapore. Our booth location was not only big, but it was also well-positioned. It was certainly the envy of many other exhibitors at the show. We distributed freebies, we ran seminars, we hosted file shares, etc. We had a website, we ran mailing lists, we had a postal address. We did many things. All without having to form an association.

We tried to organize ourselves like an association, but we stopped short of registering as one, or collecting joining fees, or subscription fees, etc. Everyone was just happy to work together, and everyone knew what they had to do.

Of course, probably no one knows about the Singapore OS/2 User Group now. For the record, the user group died a natural death after several fruitful years of work, because OS/2 itself had been obsoleted by IBM. The user group had served its purpose.

I don’t know the truth of why the Association of Bloggers (Singapore) pro tem committee members are quitting. The timing is certainly, well, untimely. Particularly when the reasons offered by those who wrote about their resignations look like excuses. Some of the ex-committee members spoke about the invaluable lessons they’ve learned making the journey to establish the association. Yes, some lessons are not easily learnt from textbooks. But then again, could you not learn from others’ mistakes?

Before you head off to start a new association, think about why you need one formed. Could your unofficial association do what it wants to do without existing as a legal entity?