In a move to strengthen two organizations serving the corporate real estate community, the National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives (NACORE) and the International Development Research Council (IDRC) plan to form a new association, CoreNet Global.
The combined association would serve a total membership of around 5,000. Both NACORE and Atlanta-based IDRC each have approximately 3,000 members. CoreNet Global would lose some numbers in NACORE's and IDRC's overlapping memberships. Even so, Matthew Cullen, chairman of the board of West Palm Beach, Fla.-based NACORE and head of General Motor's corporate real estate group, predicts this new entity would attract additional members who aren't part of either association's roster.
CoreNet Global's expanded membership would foster more and improved opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge within the corporate real estate community, Cullen said. Most of all, he said, it could eliminate redundancies, leverage strengths and provide one integrated voice for the corporate real estate world.
Both organizations currently maintain local city chapters and separate Web sites, as well as their own publishing and educational activities. Upon becoming fully operational, CoreNet Global would have one Web site, one set of chapters, one publishing voice, and an integrated educational and research arm. It has not been decided where CoreNet Global would be headquartered.
Economically, companies of all sizes are cutting costs, and although they want the networking and learning derived from associations, it helps to have less membership dues, Cullen said. With the two organizations coming together into one, companies that used to pay dues to two organizations would now only pay for one.
Leveraging the strengths of the two organizations is one of the main reasons Cullen and the other board members are excited about the prospect of creating CoreNet Global. NACORE exhibits strength in its educational arm, according to Cullen. IDRC, on the other hand, features a well-developed research component. Combining NACORE's educational strengths with IDRC's research skills would result in better educational programs and resources for the members, Cullen explained.
“We felt as we go forward that combining the resources of the organizations would provide value to our members,” Cullen said. Creating CoreNet Global involves taking the best of each organization to develop a new one that would offer even more membership benefits.
The integrated voice wouldn't happen overnight. If the members of both NACORE and IDRC approve the integration vote this month as expected, then CoreNet Global will become incorporated in mid-2001. NACORE and IDRC would continue to run as usual until the new association is up and running, and by May 2002 Cullen said that CoreNet Global would be fully operational.
