Would you like to do something for your association but can't afford it?
Sell website sponsorships, Put a big banner across the top of your association website. "This website is sponsored by company logo and company name and link to company website". You can also sell cheaper sponsorships for different sections of your website (Membership, Programs and Jobs etc). It is very common on membership websites. Your members are very targeted sales opportunities for many businesses, who would be willing to pay to get in front of your people.
One of the most important things we need to do is prove the value of our products. If you don't see the value in something you won't pay for it. People don't blink at spending $400 for an iPhone but hesitate to spend 99 cents on an App for it. They see the value of the phone itself, but not necessarily that of the App. People judge value constantly when they consume products and services, and a lower price doesn't necessarily sell someone. However people are very good at looking at at similar item and seeing the differences in value.
When a new organization, association, or chamber of commerce is looking to construct a website, they have a number of questions to ask themselves, and choices to make. Unfortunately, they often ask the wrong questions and make the wrong choices.
A website has purpose, or at least it should. A website without purpose, will sit there and do nothing. A website needs purpose in order to accomplish anything. One mistake many people make when putting together a website for their chamber, or association, is to ignore these purposes. They focus on looking good, or on showing off some credential, which are not un-important, but they're not purposes. Having people call you. That's a purpose. Having people sign up to be members; That's another purpose. It's what you want to do on the website.
