The startup accelerator Y Combinator is well-known for nurturing a number of prominent companies from great ideas into great, workable businesses.

For that reason, their model is very much one worth studying. But associations might be able to learn a whole lot more, thanks to one of the accelerator’s most recent applicants.

Good Food Institute, a nonprofit focused on selling the public on “clean meat”—that is, meat grown from stem cells in a lab environment—was a part of the recent summer roster for Y Combinator. As Fast Company notes, the group serves many association-type roles, including taking part in advocacy work, developing best practices for companies getting into the space, and funding research that could help the sector as a whole. It also has a conference coming up next month in Berkeley, California. (It’s sold out.)

Y Combinator has let in other nonprofits in the past, such as the healthcare crowdfunding platform Watsi, but Good Food Institute may just be its first trade group.

Talk about new territory.

Thinking Beyond Membership

"Could we raise awareness for our cause to a greater degree outside of our own echo chamber?"@tpuckey envisions an association world with a focus beyond dues-paying members. https://t.co/PA6iDw9e3R #membership #organization

— Sidecar (@sidecarglobal) August 23, 2018

Speaking of new territory, a post on Association Success from Tara Puckey, the director of strategic initiatives for the Radio Television Digital News Association, makes the case for thinking about serving an industry, rather than just its membership.

It’s a thought exercise filled with a lot of what-if questions. Those questions can be challenging to approach, but Puckey says there’s a lot of value to the effort.

“The fact is, however, that once the initial “But we’ve always done things this way” hurdle has been cleared, asking What if? can really help us to maintain and improve the impact, scope, and influence of our associations,” she explains.

Other Links of Note

A blogging platform grows up. Ghost, one of the most prominent competitors to WordPress, announced a major upgrade this week. Learn what’s inside over this way.

”It’s common to complain about a coworker’s annoying behavior to a friend, but your friend isn’t the one who could actually stop the behavior that bothers you. At some point you need to chat with the source.” — Jeffrey Cufaude, on the need for speaking up.

Just because you have a spot on the board doesn’t mean you should stay there. Over at the Bloomerang blog, the company’s Jay Love highlights an array of reasons why you should gracefully bow out.

(Wikimedia Commons)