Every association has the goal of developing opportunities that make sure its member companies benefit from membership. As an organization grows, variety begins to define it more than any other aspect. That variety is produced by company sizes, locations, demographics, interests, services and much more. Most companies joining the Concrete Foundations Association find the two primary benefits of membership to be networking and advocacy. For some, however, the instances of engagement with these two benefits can be distanced apart, making it difficult to recall them. This is why tangible benefits, or program-based opportunities, have a significant role — they continue offering value to members.

The “value proposition” of an organization is its leading purpose. It is defined as “an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers” (OxfordLanguages, 2021). Since the Great Recession of 2008-10, the CFA has been committed to expanding resources and services principally geared toward the concrete contracting businesses that aspire to be called #CFAConcretePros. The latest efforts by the CFA’s board of directors began in the fall of 2020 with an extensive strategic planning event. The board gathered virtually with members who desired to help identify ways of furthering the association’s impact on member businesses and increasing the association’s attractiveness to the vast landscape of cast-in-place concrete contracting businesses.

Even before this renewed commitment to expanding resources and challenging member companies, the CFA leadership had entered into a relationship with Business AdvantEDGE in order to deliver a program titled “Savings4Members,” a business affinity discount-buying program. Through a members-only portal, this program introduced companies to the buying leverage they can gain by being part of a national association network. Today, that program is known as Perks Marketplace and is now a collaboration of Advanceα and Business AdvantEDGE. With a quicker and easier participant interface, the program is designed to give participating association networks access to a greater number of national and regional corporate partners.  

So how does it work? A member organization creates a Perks Marketplace account through the program link provided by the CFA. Next, the member selects from 18 companies based on which buying opportunities and programs of interest appeal to them. The member account is verified with CFA membership privileges. Finally, the information about your purchase — which may consist of an online code, a subscription-based program, or an account card (i.e., fuel account) — is stored in your Perks account. It is that easy, and the value is exceptional.

Here is an example: A CFA member, Company A, creates a Perks Marketplace account and chooses Exxon Mobil for fuel purchases in Q2. A total of $27,200 is spent during that quarter. The member saved $1,088 (8¢ per gallon) in fuel rebates during the quarter. Annual membership for the CFA is $950. Therefore, Company A pays for the year of membership and, with three more quarters in the Exxon program, they can save an additional $3,000. This extra sum can be put toward Convention registration and travel expenses through their Perks Marketplace account.

CFA members can log in to their account profiles (found at www.cfaconcretepros.org) and find the portal to Perks Marketplace from the welcome screen.

Accessing Perks Marketplace is a point-and-click interaction that opens a browser window. In that window you can register for a new account or bookmark the page and return each time a new account is of interest (which also entails entering your Perks Marketplace information).

“Membership has its privileges.” Can you name that slogan advertiser from a couple decades ago? The CFA is working to build reliable membership privileges for you, privileges and benefits and opportunities that contribute to immediate and quantifiable savings. These benefits complement and, in a sense, set the stage for the even greater business advantages found in thought-leadership networking and technical advocacy, which save members tens of thousands of dollars every year. Want to know more? Give it a try. See the special opportunity created in Perks Marketplace for CFA members with the CINTAS workday advantage program.