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The importance of new director orientation and mentoring

John T. Dinner Association Management

I hear two recurring concerns among directors in the course of my boarding consulting practice: the poor quality of information provided to boards before meetings and the inadequacy of new director orientation.

4 nonprofit board responsibilities that may surprise you

Maria Huntley Association Management

Does your nonprofit board really understand what it means to be a board member? Having worked with more than 40 different association boards during my career, I have experienced some pretty interesting perceptions about what it means to be a board member, on each end of the spectrum.

The elusiveness of good governance

John T. Dinner Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The achievement of good governance is elusive due to challenges that typically confront and often confound boards. These challenges tend to be somewhat common across organizations and typically relate to difficulties with sharing power, delegating authority and group decision-making. These issues, in turn, are most often related directly to the extent to which trust and confidence exists between the various boardroom players.

Obsessive management disorder

Harry J. Friedman Business Management, Services & Risk Management

You are 12 years old, and you are with a group of friends discussing what you all might want to do together on the weekend. You seem to be dominating the conversation with ideas you think will be fun. Ladies and gentlemen, here we have a leader, a manager, a future master of the universe. Management and leadership are compulsions, not a job title.

Planning for your association’s planning

Maria Huntley Association Management

I had a serious case of deja vu recently as I sat in and observed a board planning retreat for an association in which I had little background. I quickly realized that I had been in this meeting before, at least a hundred times. How can that be? This is a new association halfway across the country that I have never interacted with before. And at the end of the day, one of the volunteer leaders commented that they just spent the day talking about the exact same things they talked about the previous year. He questioned what they can do to make sure the discussion doesn't continue into next year's retreat. That is a great question.

Get more benefit from your benefits

Michael J. Berens Association Management

In my many years of conducting and analyzing member satisfaction surveys, I was always baffled by how few members were aware of, much less took advantage of, an association's member benefits. Recruitment materials usually list a plethora of discounts, privileges and affiliations exclusive to members as an enticement to join. Yet, the record shows that most members do not take advantage of most benefits — either because they are not aware of them or because they don't perceive them as having special value.

It’s time to replace not-for-profit scarcity with possibility

Lynda Gerty Association Management

We've all heard the same news: Charities are in trouble. People are disengaged. Volunteering is on the decline. Today's generation is apathetic. I'd like to offer a different vantage point. What if I told you it isn't that people are abandoning community? What if the exact opposite is true: Community is abandoning people. What if there is a huge supply of talented people who are eager to contribute, yet a lack of (meaningful) demand for their skills and talent?

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