Two associations in the plastics industry have partnered to grant free memberships to students, with an eye toward the long-term benefit to both associations and their industry as a whole.

Staring at a membership report, it can be easy to look at the numbers and just wish they were a little bigger—especially in young-professional and student categories, where the numbers always seem stubbornly unmovable.

The numbers, of course, represent actual people. And student members, in particular, are a constantly changing group of people who speed through that membership category in just a few short years. Their place in the industry your association serves is fluid but important.

That viewpoint—that student members are more than just positive numbers on the membership dashboard—played a role in sparking a partnership between two associations in the plastics industry that has more students than ever before participating in the two organisations.

I visited one of those associations, the Society of Plastics Engineers, last month and met Managing Director Russell Broome and fellow staff. Broome is a little more than a year into his tenure as the leader of SPE’s U.S. office, after more than 20 years as a member and volunteer with the organization, dating back to his own student days at North Carolina State University. He told me SPE had been spinning its wheels in recruiting student members for all the presumable reasons.

“Students are very busy with coursework, internships, sports, and other activities. They don’t often feel the need to join a society—most times they feel that there is no value—especially since the time demands are already stressful,” he says. “Showing them why an SPE membership is valuable to them as a student as well as to their future career is important.”

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This article was originally sourced from Associations Now here and was written by Joe Rominiecki.