Open Ecosystems: Reimagining Associations Through Collaborative Abundance
Breaking the 250-Year Chain of Scarcity Economics
The modern association model traces its roots to 18th-century medical societies that weaponized exclusivity as a value proposition. What began as quality control mechanisms evolved into self-perpetuating systems where:
Artificial scarcity justified premium pricing for basic access
Gatekeeping credentials created captive revenue streams
Hierarchical structures prioritized dues collection over value creation
This DNA persists in many modern associations still structuring operations around the concept of membership as a "product." But we're in 2025 and maybe we should challenge these models as obsolete.
To hear many of the pundits, we're living in an age of abundance. I don't subscribe to the notion that abundance is evenly distributed. But I am optimistic that we are in an era that with just mild cooperation and reframing we can create an unprecedented abundance. To put it another way, perhaps it's not that things have never been worse, but instead it's that this is the worst it's going to be. So let's consider the frame of abundance for our Associations instead of the one of engineered scarcity.
What follows is an exploration of ideas and concepts inspired by what other companies have done. It's also a refinement of the ideas grounded in decentralization and data ownership principles even if these are out of style in our current age of AI. But hat tip to AI, because some of these ideas are more reasonable and realistic today because of AI itself. And AI certainly helped me refine some of these concepts into what you see here.
Finally, these ideas are meant to provoke further thinking. They are not stand-alone or fully vetted ideas. Most may not sustain the pressure test of reality. The point is to get unstuck from the echo chamber of our own industry....the echo of our....the echo.
Open Ecosystem Strategy in 4 Moves
1. Free Radical Participation
Eliminate all barriers to entry through:
Open contribution systems where any participant can add value (GitHub model)
Algorithmic reputation scoring replacing paid membership tiers
Credentialing through verified credentials using either W3C DID or decentralized blockchain networks based on contribution instead of payments
Consider the important problems that might engage people in an open contribution system. I've seen platform based communities fail simply because there are few compelling problems to solve, few people to solve too many small problems, or sticky competing platforms that have greater gravity than what you're trying to build. What about your organization might give a customer a reason to leave their current or next-best solution?
2. Value Fluid Monetization
Monetize engagement through:
Success royalties - Percentage of revenue from community-sourced IP
Predictive analytics - Sell trend forecasts generated from community interactions
There is incredible pent up value in community-sourced IP. But how might we harvest it and unlock its revenue potential? This is where AI can help by synthesizing this unstructured content. But be wary of vendors that propose lock-in AI solutions. Look for opportunities where the sources of your IP are accessible via APIs to "outside" AI models.
Likewise, an investment in people and skills that will allow you to build robust predictive models provide new revenue options. The shift comes from thinking of data analytics as a future focused capability instead a historically focused record of what happened.
3. Co-Creation Infrastructure
Build industrial-grade collaboration tools:
Open API ecosystems letting members build custom solutions
AI-powered matchmaking connecting problems with solvers in real-time
Community liquidity pools funding promising initiatives through tokenization
Platform Partnerships allow co-creation in B2B contexts that can deployed to customers as paid tools
It has been interesting to see how many collaboration opportunities exist between organizations. Often all it takes is the curiosity to ask. In cases were you can strike a partnership with a new start-up there are fertile opportunities for both parties to create new value together.
4. Dynamic Governance Models
Replace boards, committees, task-forces with:
Quadratic voting on strategic decisions
Automated dividend distribution using smart contracts
Decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) frameworks
The steps towards tokenization unlocks some of these options. Of them, quadratic voting systems based on digital identities and accrued contribution tokens seem the most promising. With emerging AI tools, it may even be possible to generate strategic options through AI and have members vote with these systems.
From This to That: What Associations Lose (and Gain)
Implementation Toolkit
This is a Now, Next, Later prototype. Use each set of ideas as a way to promote further conversation with your teams.
Detox from Dues
Launch free contribution portal with DID linked authentication
Convert existing content into open educational resources
Upskill staff in community growth hacking techniques
Deploy telemetry everywhere engagement happens and be ready to harvest the data
Value Fluid Infrastructure
Develop API marketplace for community-built tools
Launch dynamic pricing engine for premium services
The Tokenized Ecosystem
Activate tokenized reputation system
Deploy an AI based strategy engine and back it with quadratic voting systems that leverage the tokenized reputation system
Transition to DAO governance model
Establish co-creation venture fund
Next Up
In future posts, I want to explore deeper into the idea of membership. Is Membership a product at all? How and why we might decouple membership from product and how we might think about new KPIs in our membership organizations that measure health in a better and more relevant way.
I'll leave you with this alternate version of Alan Kay's quote:
"The best way to predict the future is to fund it."
We have to take steps to redirect funds towards the vector of the future we want to create. So what are you funding?