Research Guides: Researching U.S. Industries: Associations

Locate Trade & Professional Associations

Trade and professional organizations exist for nearly every industry. These organizations often collect and publish valuable data about their members' areas of interest. Some organizations will share information with the public, but others make data available only to members. Publications by trade organizations may provide more detailed information on an industry than the information found in the reports listed above.

Select Resources

Associations Unlimited Provides information about associations and professional societies, listings for nonprofit membership organizations of U.S. national, regional, state, and local, or international scope; in addition to 144,000 listings of the encyclopedia of associations series, nearly 300,000 additional nonprofit organizations have been added to this database.
Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources Identifies associations within a particular industry. Search by keyword for the industry or search by association name.
National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States The National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States lists 8,100 national trade associations, professional societies and labor unions and their key executives.
World Chamber of Commerce Directory Provides geographical listings of Chambers of Commerce in the United States and Canada. Also lists foreign Chambers of Commerce in the U.S. and international embassies and foreign consular offices in the U.S. and U.S. Chambers abroad.