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Boards
Association Management Company
White Paper Series
Data
Association Management Company
White Paper Series
Who Owns Your Association's Data? How to avoid wasting time on data sharing and asset management.
Matthew Ott, M.S., FASAE, CAE, CMP, AAiP
Your data, domains, passwords and accounts are essential to your association. You should own every record, account and login that you depend on. Your management company should hold access, not title. Boards that confirm this before a change in management keep operating through the change, but boards that don’t verify this information can lose weeks of valuable working time.
In one transition I worked on, records were incomplete, system access took weeks to obtain, and member correspondence kept going to mailing addresses that the association did not control. None of it was malicious. Nobody had ever written down who owned what.
Here’s how to avoid wasting essential time: Run a one-page ownership inventory
List each asset. Record which entity it should be held in and who holds the administrator login. Then test it.
|
Asset |
Should be held in the name of |
How to test it |
|
Bank and investment accounts |
The association |
Ensure a board or finance committee member is listed as a signer. |
|
Domain name registration |
The association |
Check the registrant on the registrar account. |
|
Website and hosting |
The association |
Ensure a trusted volunteer has recovery access. |
|
Member database (AMS) |
The association |
Request a full export with history. |
|
Email marketing platform |
The association |
Confirm account ownership and export lists. |
|
Social media accounts |
The association |
A board officer has recovery access. |
|
Accounting files and audits |
The association |
Request the general ledger and last three audits. |
|
Governing documents and minutes |
The association |
Confirm a complete copy sits with the secretary. |
|
Hotel and venue contracts |
The association |
Check who is listed on the contract and who is the signing entity on each contract. |
|
Trademarks and logos |
The association |
Check registration records. |
|
Certification and education records |
The association |
Request an export of credential holders and history. |
Once the ownership inventory is done, the work is not over.
Future event contracts deserve extra attention
Hotel contracts are often signed years ahead. If they were signed in the management company's name, your association may not control its own future meetings. Ask for a list of every future contract and the entity that signed it.
Make it a standing practice
Repeat this inventory once a year, preferably at the same board meeting each year. Ask for a full data export at the same time. A test export that works on a quiet day is your insurance for a hard day.
FAQ
Is it unreasonable to ask our AMC for a full export? No. It is good governance. A well-run firm can produce one without delay.
Should the AMC have administrator access? Yes, it needs admin access to properly do its job. The association should also hold administrator access through a board officer or trusted member.
What if an account is in the AMC's name today? Ask your AMC why this is. The AMC may receive additional discounts by aggregating contracts among its clients, especially in technology. If so, ensure there is a clear path to changing ownership if your association decides to leave the AMC.
Want help running your first inventory? Email Matt Ott at matt@MomentumAMC.com.
