Prepare to become fit for purpose.

A collaboration between Association Forum and Foresight First LLC
Association boards must act with intention to become fit-for-purpose to address the intensifying concerns of The Turbulent Twenties and the accelerating challenges of The Threatening Thirties. In other words, every association board must become more: more than it has been historically, more than it is today, and more that it imagines it can be. The Fit-For-Purpose Association Board Director Course will help you and your association's board get there.

✏️ Why This Course?

The Fit-for-Purpose Association Board Director Course will challenge the association community's orthodox beliefs about board purpose, work, and performance. Through four online modules and interactive Zoom discussions, you will:

Develop deeper insights into the need for fit-for-purpose association boards for the rest of this decade and beyond.
Recognize why current and emerging challenges demand a stewardship mindset.
Understand the core convictions that animate fit-for-purpose board service.
Build the habits of mind that enable board directors and staff partners to realize their potential.

Facilitated by Jeff De Cagna, AIMP, DAIG, FRSA, FASAE, executive advisor for Foresight First LLC, this high-impact learning and development experience will include asynchronous content, real-time conversations, and focused learning to ensure you are prepared to be a fit-for-purpose board director or staff partner.

📚 Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Explain why the current and emerging challenges facing associations demand fit-for-purpose boards.
Reframe the purpose of board service based on three stewardship imperatives.
Strengthen individual and collective performance with six core convictions.
Integrate six habits of mind to enable fit-for-purpose board contributions.

Learners who successfully complete the quizzes and final exam with a cumulative score of 70% or higher will earn the Fit-for-Purpose Association Board Director Course certificate of completion. Those scoring 85% or higher will receive a certificate of completion with distinction.

Who Should Attend?

Current and future board directors/officers seeking to elevate their impact.
Chief staff and C-suite executives working with or serving on association boards.
Association staff who support boards or are preparing for future board service.

💡Whether you’re serving on an association board today or preparing to serve tomorrow, the Director Course will help you meet the demand of 21st century board service with greater capability and confidence.

📆Program Dates

Jan. 26, 2026 - March 25, 2026
Virtual

Register now!

Location

This program is virtual and uses both live virtual learning and asynchronous learning modules. Live sessions will take place on Zoom.

📆Information Sessions

December 9, 2025 | 3:00-3:45 p.m. CT

Attend the December Session

January 13, 2026 | 3:00-3:45 p.m. CT

Attend the January Session

Learn more about the Fit-For-Purpose Association Board Director Course in these complimentary virtual information sessions.

Pricing

Before Jan. 20, 2025
Member: $700
Nonmember: $910

Jan. 20, 2026 - Jan. 26, 2026

Member: $840
Nonmember: $1,180

Note: Receive a 10% discount when five (5) or more individuals register together!
To receive an invoice and pay via check/ACH, please contact education@associationforum.org.

Through January 20, 2026, single association groups of up to 12 people can register for $6,000 and up to 20 people for $9,000. To take advantage of this special price, please contact education@associationforum.org.

CAE Credits

This program is approved for (11) CAE hours toward the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE's) Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification.

What is the design of this course?

The Director Course is a hybrid learning experience comprised of four multimedia modules (including a combination of text, audio, and video) shared from January-March 2026. Each online module will be accessible during the designated “learning window” below, allowing learners to complete the work at their own pace. (The estimated time required to complete asynchronous module work is 4-5 hours per module.) Each module will conclude with an optional (and strongly encouraged) ninety-minute facilitated Zoom meeting to discuss the online content and answer questions.

Learner Assessment: Before the course begins, learners will complete a formative assessment that will ask for their reasons for pursing the course, their thinking about the orthodox beliefs of association boards and governing, and their intentions for learning throughout the Director Course. Each module includes four knowledge checks. Modules 1–3 end with a brief quiz. The final exam is available after the Module 4 Zoom session and must be completed by Wednesday, March 25, 2026. A cumulative score of 70%+ earns a certificate of completion; 85%+ earns a certificate with distinction.

Module	Schedule	Description
Module 1: Why Association Boards Need Fit-for-Purpose Board Directors	Opens: Mon 1/26/26 Closes: Tue 2/3/26 Zoom: Wed 2/4/26, 2:30-4 pm CT	Focuses participants' attention on why association boards need fit-for-purpose board directors by examining the challenges associations are confronting today and will confront in the 2030s.
Module 2: The Three Stewardship Imperatives of Fit-for-Purpose Association Boards	Opens: Mon 2/9/26 Closes: Tue 2/17/26 Zoom: Wed 2/18/26, 2:30-4 pm CT	Focuses participants' attention on exploring the three imperatives and examining how they define the contributions that fit-for-purpose boards make to their associations.
Module 3: The Six Core Convictions of Fit-for-Purpose Association Boards	Opens: Mon 2/23/26 Closes: Tue 3/3/26 Zoom: Wed 3/4/26, 2:30-4 pm CT	Focuses participants' attention on exploring the six core convictions of fit-for-purpose boards and examining how these core convictions shape fit-for-purpose board work.
Module 4: The Six Habits-of-Mind of Fit-for-Purpose Association Board Directors	Opens: Mon 3/9/26 Closes: Wed 3/18/26 Zoom: Thu 3/19/26, 2:30-4 pm CT	Focuses participants' attention on exploring the six core habits of mind of fit-for-purpose boards and examining the implications of these habits of mind for fit-for-purpose board service.

🎤 Facilitator

JEFF DE CAGNA, AIMP, DAIG, FRSA, FASAE

Jeff is a long-time association community contributor and executive advisor for Foresight First LLC, located in Reston, Virginia. He is an association contrarian, foresight practitioner, governing designer, stakeholder/successor advocate, and stewardship catalyst. Jeff is the originator of both the board’s duty of foresight and the stewardship, governing, and foresight (SGF) board capacity-building methodology.

A graduate of the Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities, Jeff has continued his learning with the future at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Oxford University, Harvard Business School, the London School of Economics, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, BoardSource, Competent Boards, the Corporate Governance Institute, the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, the Institute of Artificial Intelligence Management, and the Institute for the Future.

In 2019, Jeff was named the 32nd recipient of ASAE’s Academy of Leaders Award, the association’s highest individual honor given to consultants or industry partners in recognition of their exceptional contributions to shaping the future of the association community.