ASIS Revenue Falls 50%, Hit By COVID

That compensation is ridiculous considering ASIS has been losing money for decades. switching to positive balance is as simple as firing all the execs.

On a different note, I am impressed they continued to provide $500,000 in scholarships, awards, and research last year despite the tough financials.

Kudos to ASIS for continuing that to support individuals trying to further education

Contributing to ASIS expenses are 13 executives that have an average compensation of $280,000 and make combined $3.6 million.

What do executives at similar organizations make? Do they have more executives than usual, or is this in line with other, similar organizations? I have no frame of reference for this $3.6 million expense.

Great IPVM reporting. And, while I usually post undisclosed, not this time.

I am a long-time ASIS member and the ASIS response to IPVM is dripping with elitism and chest-puffing (c'mon, award-winning CEO, best-in-class staff?....really sad to see that garbage response.)

Is that really the best way to provide a response about financials/revenue drops? The answer is "No." Be transparent, don't try to BS people.

ASIS was floundering before the new CEO and certainly is no better since. At least not for the members, nor for the industry.

GSX--I provided feedback to the new hire they had running the last one I attended (her first one)--right in the portable offices off the show floor. About how they lost their way. She dismissed my feedback right on the spot. Tough to take from someone clearly clueless about the security industry I've spent the last 40 years in.

The fix, to me, is clear. Get back to the roots. Inspire young professionals--even at the college level. Get off your high horse (especially the execs at ASIS who--in most cases--have no security expertise) and listen to your members. Your members--not your speakers, not your "I want to rub shoulders and be in a leadership, council, chair position..." core group. Those are the "duds" of ASIS. Get in touch with the real people who make the security industry function.

It saddens me as a member but I feel this is par for the course when it comes to originations and how they do PR when things are looking grim. In response to an earlier post, I am a college student and didn't hear anything of ASIS until I got into the role that I did now. They should get back to basics before trying to spin a negative situation that they clearly find themselves in.

$3.6 million to people who have allowed revenue to be cut in half in under 3 years. I get the pandemic, but if these are award-winning best-in-class people, they should have figured out how to diversify their revenue streams and should have done a much better job competing against ISC West way before the pandemic.

What is their membership growth like? They've been around for 67 years and only have 34,000 members globally? That is a major failure in itself by anyone's measure. This board is incompetent considering how much growth and investment the world has put into security infrastructure over the past 67 years.

I’d like to earn $700k for running an organization into the ground. Imagine what they will get paid if they actually somehow turn this ship around.

Online booths with 24 hour access, videos, webinars, and ability to get feedback from sales and tech teams any day.

Virtual shows running 24/7 allow working people to attend when it is convenient.

Opportunities to see the product and kick the tires via trial demos eliminates the need to be there in person.

Recorded conference and training available 24/7 work well. Can pause to handle a phone call, or rewind for better review. Can watch it (attend) a second time and invite a client or your techs to watch.

Imagine if key information could be downloaded to knowledge bases.

COVID just proved it could be done. As software improves going in person to a conference may never be necessary.

IPVM could create a Virtual Conference with reviews and training.

I have been a member of ASIS for over 25 years, a volunteer leader for more than 20 of those years including serving as a Chapter Chairman, Council Chairman and several positions in-between. It truly saddens me to see what is happening to the organization that I have been a part of for most of my career. The reason for decline is very clear to those of us that have been members for more than ten years.

The current (paid staff) leadership has lost touch with the original mission of the organization. Originally ASIS (The American Society of Industrial Security) was founded on three principals. Promote professionalism within the Security Industry, Provide education for the Security Industry and provide a community where members can network and participate in the first two goals. Vendors were allowed to participate but took a back seat to practitioners. Selling of any kind was forbidden during education sessions. It was a practitioner centric organization. It provided value to the Security Professional. ASIS catered to Security Directors and SIA/ISC catered to Security Contractors.

During the past ten years or so ASIS has become increasingly focused on growth and increasing revenue streams. This has diminished the original mission statement and has soured many longtime members. As older members retire or just became inactive, new younger members were not joining.

A few years ago, the current CEO doubled down on this destructive path by allowing vendors to take a more predominant role in the Association. Sponsorship of everything, selling the headquarters building and converting the "Councils" into "Communities" where anyone can join. Again diminishing the value to the Security Practitioner. As the practitioners left the association, more vendors joined giving the appearance of sustainable membership numbers.

Please don't think I am anti-vendor, I am not. I also sell a service to my clients but if they keep pushing the Security Directors out of the association, who are we going to do business with?

The desire for revenue over substance has also cheapened the certifications offered by ASIS. In the past it was very difficult to even get approved to take the CPP test let along passing it. Background qualifications were verified and references were interviewed. The certification meant something. Today if you pay the money, you can take the test regardless if you meet the stated qualifications or not. I personally know several people that have recently received all three certifications without the required experience so they cannot claim they are checking. I even know several PCI's that have not participated in a single investigation.

I honestly don't blame the current leadership for these missteps. They are not Security Professionals. They don't understand what Security Professionals do during the course of their work. They are social media professionals generating revenue for their sizable salaries. It is clear in the response from ASIS HQ in the article above that they are focused on themselves not the membership.

ASIS received a $2 million PPP loan and reported 80 jobs:

This PPP tracker site estimates ASIS had reduced its number of employees since 2019:

The size of company's PPP loan indicates that the number of employees on payroll during the eligibility calculation period (typically 2019) was higher than the 80 jobs reported as retained on the PPP application³. This could be caused by a reduction in employment since 2019, due to Coronavirus or other factors.

The minimum number of employees this company must have had in 2019 to qualify for the loan range received is 98. This estimation is accurate if all employees were paid at or over the $100k PPP salary eligibility cap.

Excellent article and comments. As a paid ASIS member for over 15 years it is hard to see a return on the investment. I have also earned the coveted ASIS CPP however I must admit the test is extremely dated and is in a need for an overall. I know they now are currently working on that revision however they have waited to long.

ASIS in contrast to the NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association) has little to no ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Standards. They boast they have 12 ANSI Standards however the NFPA has over 300 ANSI Standards. Given their "best in class staff" you would think they would continue to develop ANSI Standards to better the security industry and thus continue their legacy of being the "go to" for security topics.

Unfortunately, I know from personal experience owning a company who is an accredited ANSI Standard Developer when we put forth a security related Standard PINS (Project Initiation Notification) per ANSI Essential Requirements instead of ASIS coming to us to work together as required, again by ANSI Essential Requirements, they appealed our accreditation and pushed for our decertification. Thier stance was that since they have the size and history in security we should have gone to them first prior to submitting our ANSI application for accreditation and before submitting our PINS.

It sadly does appear that ASIS leadership takes the stance that they are the only Security Organization that should be listened to. They forget the knowledge comes from the volunteers and experience their members bring to the table.

In my professional opinion, ASIS will continue to hemorrhage members and fail to gain new members. If they do not change their business model and get back to the roots of those that are on the ground, another organization will. It's the circle of life.

Update: FY2022 results released, ASIS reports ~$1.4 more in revenue than expenses though that's because of $2 million in PPP loan income:

These results cover the 2021 GSX show, which was poorly attended. Despite that, per the financials above, ASIS nearly broke even on conferences (36% of revenue, 37% of expenses), showing the financial power of the show.