ASAE and the Association Societies Alliance have announced a formal partnership to benefit associations at the national, state and local levels.

Steven Stout, chair of ASA and executive director of the Texas Society of Association Executives, told CEO Update that the written agreement codifies preexisting relationships and areas of mutual cooperation. Among them: providing volunteer guides from state and local societies of association executives (SAEs) for ASAE annual meetings and grassroots support for ASAE's state and local advocacy efforts.

ASA members are the chief executives of state, local, regional, multistate and other nonprofit organizations of association professionals. It is an Indiana-based 501(c)(6) group, formed in 2004, run by one staffer at an association management company.

"This agreement is about how can we partner better when ASAE brings the annual meeting to your state or local area? How can we partner together on the ground?" Stout said. "This will give us an opportunity to be engaged in the conversation from the get-go.

"And we don't do a lot of advocacy. We rely heavily on ASAE on the federal level to do our advocacy for us and we want to be engaged in that conversation, as well."

Local and state SAEs also can provide local supporters when ASAE lobbies city and state governments, he said.

Leaders from ASAE and ASA will meet regularly on initiatives to advance the interests of the association community, the two groups said in a statement.

"In today's rapidly changing environment, association leaders are prioritizing collaboration and knowledge sharing to meet the evolving needs of our stakeholders," ASAE CEO Michelle Mason said in a statement.

"ASAE has always had good relationships with local SAEs and ASA, but to formalize a very defined partnership of this nature is historic and can only benefit association professionals across the country," she said. "Having an SAE background myself, it's tremendously gratifying to see this partnership finalized and I want to thank all parties involved for their willingness to work together to better the profession."

Mason was CEO of Chicago-based Association Forum before taking on the top job at ASAE last year.

"We are grateful to ASAE leadership for not only recognizing the value of local SAEs but also for their willingness to create a more definitive and robust partnership based on mutual respect between our two organizations as well as the SAE community," Mason said.

The ASAE-ASA agreement will be reviewed annually at the ASA meeting held during ASAE's Annual Meeting & Exposition "to ensure the partnership is directionally focused on the right mix of opportunities that will create the most value for all parties," the statement said.