To Associate or Not to Associate
Published on 12/12/2017
Currently, it seems that every professional association out there is struggling for money and membership. For a business/trade organization, membership is money... and money is membership. The more members you have, the more money you have to do things or provide for your members. There is a constant struggle to maintain a positive balance when each and every member has their own expectation of what the organization should or must provide to keep them as a member. This is why organizations should have a direct and clearly-stated purpose.
The purposes of TxAPPS, as provided in our ByLaws are: 1) To promote legislation and rule changes that may help certified process servers and the process serving profession at large. 2) To combat legislation and rule changes that may harm certified process servers and the process serving profession at large. 3) To maintain, promote and lobby for increased ethical standards for the process serving profession, both legislatively and in conjunction with the JBCC. 4) To promote certified process servers to the legal community and the general public. And 5) To promote and sponsor education for certified process servers in the State of Texas and the process serving profession at large.
The question of whether we should or should not join a professional process servers association has been weighing on the minds and hearts of process servers throughout the State of Texas We're not alone. Every process server in the nation has the same question, ultimately, is it beneficial for me to join a professional organization? In my opinion, the answer is yes. But, we should only join the organization whose purpose we fully support, and understand that different organizations stand for different things and work toward providing different benefits for its members.
When you commit to joining a professional organization, you shouldn't be just contributing your money to the cause, you should be committing yourself to the cause. An organization can only go as far as its money and its members are willing to take it. Big plans take big money. In an organization where everyone contributes equally in membership dues, when membership is low and money is tight we can expect that we might be slower in meeting our purpose.
As a new and upcoming association, it may take TxAPPS some time to figure out everything that its members expect. Our goals are to figure out those expectations and build an organization that not only meet, but exceeds them. We begin by providing a regular and effective source of news and references for certified process servers in Texas. The goal of our newsletter is to bring news from the JBCC to you, the process server. As we build and develop our relationship with the JBCC, we hope to also be able to provide them with feedback from process servers who are not going out of the way to submit their opinions directly to the JBCC. We hope to advertise products, services, and even other organizations that may be beneficial to certified process servers. We also hope to bring news from Texas Educators to certified process servers; with our ultimate goal being an annual process server education exposition where certified process servers can quickly obtain the continuing education credit hours they need to renew their certification with the State.
If you are one of those who are asking yourself the question "To Associate or Not to Associate?", we encourage you to choose TO ASSOCIATE! Even if it's not with TxAPPS, the JBCC represents government control over a private industry, and we should all have eyes, ears, and concern for the changes made that affect the process serving profession. As professionals, we need to be informed and up-to-date with law changes, rule changes, and level local court policy or procedure changes. This knowledge makes us the experts in our industry!