Feature
Eleven associations, one finance manager
The Southeast chapter's shared-services pilot has grown from five associations to eleven, ahead of a planned national rollout in 2027.
The Southeastern Textile Manufacturers Council shares its finance manager with ten other associations. Three years ago it shared her with four. Dana Whitfield, who chairs NANA's Southeast chapter and runs the council from a converted mill in Charlotte, built the arrangement in 2023 to keep small associations from paying for a full-time controller they needed eight hours a week.
How the pilot works
Eleven associations now split the cost of a finance manager, an events coordinator, and a single AMS license, all hosted at the council's Charlotte office. Each participating organization pays a share proportional to its staff size, and the shared staff report to a coordinating committee rather than to any one executive director.
Rocky Mountain Outfitters and Guides Council, a two-person operation in Cheyenne, joined remotely in 2025, proof the model doesn't require the participants to share a building.
"You're not paying for a full controller when what you need is eight hours a week. You're paying for eight hours a week, and so is everyone else at the table."
— Dana Whitfield, President & CEO, Southeastern Textile Manufacturers Council
What the participants gain
A finance manager who closes the books for eleven organizations on one shared calendar
One AMS license instead of eleven separate contracts and renewal cycles
An events coordinator who runs registration for every participant's annual meeting
Membership among the pilot's smallest participants has held steady since 2023, even as several report they could not otherwise justify dedicated finance staff.
Hollis Greenleaf, whose Rocky Mountain Outfitters and Guides Council runs on two staff, said the shared events coordinator alone freed him to spend more time on member recruitment.
"I used to lose a month every year to registration logistics. Now I lose an afternoon."
— Hollis Greenleaf, Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Outfitters and Guides Council
How the arrangement is governed
None of the shared staff report to Whitfield alone, even though her council hosts them. A coordinating committee made up of one representative from each participating organization sets the annual budget, approves any new organization that wants to join, and reviews the finance manager's performance. Whitfield said building that governance layer took longer than finding the staff.
"The hardest part wasn't hiring a finance manager eleven organizations could share. It was making sure none of the eleven felt like they were working for someone else's association."
— Dana Whitfield, President & CEO, Southeastern Textile Manufacturers Council
Not every role transfers
The model has limits. Executive directors still handle their own board relationships, government-relations work, and member recruitment; only finance, events logistics, and the AMS license are shared. Greenleaf said he considered and rejected sharing a membership coordinator, concluding that renewal calls needed someone who already knew his 420 outfitters by name.
What's next
NANA plans a national rollout of the model, anchored by the Southeast Shared-Services Forum in August 2027, where Whitfield and Greenleaf are both expected to speak. The Shared-Services Model Guide documents how the Southeast chapter structured cost-sharing, staff reporting lines, and the AMS license split for associations considering the same arrangement.
NANA's own research team has not yet studied whether the model would suit associations outside the Southeast, but Whitfield said she has fielded calls from executive directors in four other chapters asking how the coordinating committee works. The chapter's shared-services pilot remains open to new participants ahead of the 2027 rollout.