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Favored statements at board meetings
Robert C. Harris Association ManagementI have sat through enough board meetings to distinguish the feeble phrases from the more powerful statements. For example, an association distributes committee and staff reports two weeks in advance through a board portal or Dropbox. But not everyone reads the reports. You recognize these directors as they begin statements with the phrase, "I just have a question."
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Failing to use data is failing your nonprofit organization
William D. Pawlucy Association ManagementYou research your mortgage options, your car loan interest rates and schools for your children, but when it comes to our nonprofits, this depth of data and research is sometimes missing. Data is the cornerstone of good decision-making and is necessary for board and staff effectiveness.
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Fishing for leaders: How to hook the next generation of volunteers
Robert C. Harris Association ManagementTry this at a committee or board meeting: Ask the volunteers how they got their leadership position. Nearly everyone will say, "Somebody asked me." Willa Fuller, RN, and executive director at the Florida Nurses Association called it "fishing for leaders." But not all volunteers take the bait. She said the hardest volunteers to hook are the millennials and younger.
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Getting your association started with content marketing
Jessica Taylor Association ManagementThe latest buzzword going around associations is content marketing. It's taking over their old marketing techniques. But what the heck is it? The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) defines it as "a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience — with the objective of driving profitable customer action."
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A governance reboot is necessary for 2016
William D. Pawlucy Association ManagementThe bad news: You have an ineffective board of directors. The good news: They know it and ask for help. This is the perfect opportunity to re-engineer decision-making in your organization and increase nimbleness and innovation. Focus on outcomes in the process, and you will be better off than discussing the "same old, same old" issues that have been talked about for the past 20 years in fixing the governance issue.
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How to engage your members with content
Shawn Smajstrla Association ManagementMost associations are awash in content, and that content is a shovel-ready avenue to member engagement as well as conversions for new members. The key is finding the intersection of what you have to say and what the members (or potential members) want to hear. How do you drive your organization to that intersection?
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Jump the curve with your nonprofit organization in 2016
William D. Pawlucy Association ManagementWhat do we need to do in 2016 not only move our organization forward, but also to "jump the curve" in how we compete and deliver member value? If we don't do it, someone else will out-innovate and out-think us and take our market share. It is no longer enough to make incremental changes in our organizations but taking a leap and jumping the curve is what is needed.
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Committees can make or break a president
Robert C. Harris Association ManagementThe incoming president or chair ponders an installation speech to begin his or her term of office. Concurrently, it is important to be strategic about managing committees. Associations have varied committee structures. Some prefer task forces over standing committees. Many ask board members to serve on them, while others engage their members with a multitude of committee opportunities.
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4 problem areas when setting goals
Betty Boyd Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementGoal setting is the foundation of good planning. Goals help an organization come to terms with what is relevant. But too often, once goals are identified, the process stops before they are implemented.
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5 tactics for gaining new members with content marketing
Jessica Taylor Association ManagementThese days, outbound advertisements are becoming a thing of the past. Between the DVR and e-zines, advertisements don't hold as much weight in our everyday media. It's much more difficult to grasp someone's attention with something that's valuable to them. Associations are recognizing the same trends happening within their industry — retention rates and new-member inquiries are decreasing — because, quite frankly, "ain't nobody got time for that."
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