About Us

Association TRENDS is the National Newspaper for Association Executives and Suppliers for the latest news, information and trends in assn management for the professional staff of international, national, state, regional and local voluntary organizations.

Founded in 1946 in Providence, Rhode Island, the Martineau Corporation was originally an advertising and ad specialty company. After moving to Washington, DC in 1968, company founder Frank Martineau, CAE, APR, added association management to services offered to clients.

Association TRENDS was created in 1973 to meet the needs of a growing base of small association clients. Officers of the various nonprofit groups needed information about what other associations were doing and asked for a quarterly tip sheet about "trends in association management." Association TRENDS was born.

TRENDS became a monthly publication in 1975, with prospective association clients and industry suppliers requesting copies. The original 4-page mimeographed paper developed into a 16 and 32-page typeset, professionally printed, 8 1/2 X 11 newsletter, which soon evolved into a tabloid, glossy stock, newspaper format. In 1993, Association TRENDS ' editorial staff produced its first international edition. In early 2004, TRENDS launched its current weekly electronic publication, which is accompanied monthly by a tabloid, topic-focused BONUS print piece.

Often called "the bible of the association community," Association TRENDS is read every week by association executives, chamber of commerce managers, meeting planners, nonprofit legal and accounting experts, convention and visitors bureau directors and industry suppliers of all types. (The association market consumes more than $400-billion of goods and services annually.) Readership has grown from the few in-house management clients in 1973 to well over 25,000 readers throughout the United States. While Washington, Chicago and New York, the primary headquarters locations for national associations, are the areas of greatest distribution Association TRENDS is read by local, regional and national association executives in all parts of the country.

Associations TRENDS sponsors an annual contest for association publications and honors the " Association Executive of the Year. "

Jill Cornish, TRENDS executive editor, was named one of the "Women Players in the Assn World" and one of the " Dazzling Dozen in Washington DC's Assn World" by The Washington Business Journal.