The Open Garden Organization

About The Open Garden Organization

The future of the association industry is unclear. Within today’s cultural
shift in the economic, political, and social climates, associations need to
be flexible and ready to evolve to meet the needs of both their audiences
and world at large. Today, the threat to associations is the possibility of
becoming antiquated due to their lack of willingness or ability to change
and modernize with the culture around them. However, this situation also
presents an amazing opportunity to experiment, innovate, and ultimately achieve sustainable growth and new levels of mission attainment.

In Amith Nagarajan’s The Open Garden Organization: A Blueprint for
Associations in the Digital Age, readers will learn how to experiment in new
ways and drive progress forward within their organizations. The backbone of
Amith’s method lies in the “Open Garden Model,” which focuses on three
main principles: purpose, culture, and inclusivity. The Open Garden Model
encourages associations to:

• clarify and deepen purpose
• discover and live their values
• embrace a future of uncertainty by taking on many
small risks to experiment and learn
• shift their business model to one that embraces
an inclusive and expansive audience, reaching far
beyond the scope of traditional membership