Idea Center - August 2008 Archives
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Chapter Lite: Building Local Community without the Bylaws
Jamie DeSimone, CAE, Director Membership & Chapter Relations for Independent Electrical Contractors led a off-the-beaten path conversation at ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting last month which looked at what could be considered the "chapter-lite" model and even went a little further and talked about what is probably more appropriately consider the "anti-chapter" (meant as a compliment!). The session was titled Creating Local Community for Yourself and Your Association.
They started by offering a definition of "chapter" (formal structure) vs. "local community" (a group drawn together) drawing from Associapedia. It can be likened to the difference between a bricks and mortal association and the LinkedIn version thereof. Yes there can be a place for both but increasingly, we're finding that individuals want less structure and more focus on content in their local communities. Jamie's session provided three examples of varying size and shape.
The first two feel more like a "chapter-lite" but offer good examples of how you can provide a loosely structured community within a formal structure: Greater Washington Network and Association Forum of Chicagoland's Community Outside the Beltway. The first, represented by Frances Reimers, Network manager at ASAE & The Center, grew out of the merger between ASAE and the Greater Washington Society for Association Executives, provides a look at how a formal association lets members gather informally. The second, represented by Pamela Schroeder, CAE, Association Forum's VP/COO, is a successful look at building community through a combination of taking the meetings and events to the member while offering vibrant special interests groups. Both have support from paid staff and count many "members" and volunteers.
The most innovative model -- The Alexandria (VA) Brown Bag -- was shared by Talisa Thomas-Hall, Director of Membership & Affiliate Relations for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. This is a group, which is not related to Talisa's association or a function of her job there, that grew out of a desire by local association professionals, primarily membership and marketing professionals and association service providers to gather monthly and share ideas. Talisa basically stepped up as a coordinator for her collegues - this is building community for yourself. What makes this group work is their focus on the individuals, building an inclusive community and keeping the structure light. They have a program planning team that gets a calendar and they draw on participants as speakers and luncheon hosts. Talisa offers more details in their session handout.
Almost six years ago, a small like-minded group in Columbia, MD, started a similar group which we call Association Network Exchange. Like the Alexandria group, we don't have officers, dues and bylaws. We have a core group that plans gatherings almost monthly. As the un-president, I'm always open to new members and ideas.
What keeps groups like those in Alexandria and Columbia going? A need for face-to-face conversation that happens frequently enough that we get to know each other and can rely or call on each without the burden of running an election.
The Power of Example
Bill Clinton is by any measure a great orator with an incredible way with words. His simple but powerful statement during his address at the DNC could be applied to nearly any situation - lead through "power of example not the example of power." Image living this in our associations, our communities each and every day.
Chat Chew Chocolate - A Different Chapter Model
Chat, Chew & Chocolate isn't your traditional association and certainly isn't your traditional chapter organization - but it is creating excitement and gathering steam. Translated that means it's building members and raising revenue. Founder and president Dena Marie Patton said the organization formed out of an informal gathering of women who met to share stories, advice and friendship. In 2005, Dina decided to grow the concept and today they have 9 chapters each focused on tight geographic community and boasting between 100-300 members.
Okay, it's not traditional. Its more like a franchise operation. The organization really grew out of grew out of a business of providing special parties that focused on the philosophy that its important for women to make time for yourself, fun and friendship on a weekly basis. Dena was throwing parties for fun and started to get more requests than she could handle. That led to the model of a licensed chapter is which the Hostess Director pays 1-time fee for which they get a manual, party in a box, phone and web support and training. And this Director can actually make money on the special events if they want to.
Another difference is that members don't pay a dues, they pay an event registration. And, they aren't called upon to take a role like running the next event.
Some may argue that this isn't a chapter and it doesn't apply to associations. But I would argue that it is and there are some possible lessons for us. For example, the Director (think new name for president) has a clearly defined task, ample support and incentive. Members pay as they go so they equate the "dues" with a use fee; makes seeing the value of the dollar a little clearer. The chapter exists simply to create and nuture community - not to do long reports, hold elections, update bylaws, etc. etc. And the chapter is measured on its ability to create community aka bring women to an event not on how many points they get for completing tasks.
And it's worth noting that they have a social responsibility mission for a very appropriate charity Girls Rule.
Different model? Yes. Better model? What do you think?
Decision to Volunteer Gets Reviews
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership unveiled the Decision To Volunteer research study at its Annual Meeting in San Diego. I'll be sharing the research and insights about this groundbreaking study as we delve more into it. Here's a great summary from Cynthia D'Amour that captures the essence of it. (You'll likely enjoy her current posting on "She wouldn't take my money" too.) As the caption says, this research really does shine the light on why people give their time and how you can engage them.
Briefly, research comes out of a ASAE & The Center's survey of 26,305 association members to identify how they volunteer, where they do it - and why they do it. The book is now available from ASAE.
What's A Healthy Community?
Paul Chaney started an interesting conversation on The Society for Word of Mouth (a Ning Group) with his posting on How are the numbers shaking out? He asked the critical question "... once you get members into a niche social network/online community, how do you keep them engaged?"
Sounds familiar to those of us working with and for components - ASAE & The Center's nomenclature for groups within associations formed around geography, subject, issue, task, professional practice area, etc. We are struggling on many levels. Are they providing member service, meeting member needs? How do we know if they are truly successful, truly worth the effort and cost?
And the question often comes down to what is a healthy community? Some try to measure by size, others by some measure of the group's ability to fulfill it's legal and organizational obligations. A couple of years ago, Mariner did a survey of associations to identify the make-or-break elements for a chapter. Size wasn't one. (Read the report here).
I liked that Paul took the approach of answering what is a healthy community in terms of adjectives. He asked his Twitter friends to submit one word that characterized a healthy community. Some of the replies he posted: Participate, interact, respond, have patience, listen, act, think, "liquor," engage, contribute, relevance, respect, time, tenacity.
I'd add "fun!" and the "ability to come & go without retribution." Why the latter? Well live gets busy and a community that cares will give people time off.
ASAE & The Center is launching an a study to focus on the influence of geographic components (think chapters) on the decision to join (for more info email me phoffman@marinermanagement.com). This study will certainly help shape the questions we can ask to discover what makes a healthy community. In the meanwhile, chime in on your opinions.
Sharing Data Easily Between Chapter and National - Update
Sharing Data Easily Between Chapter and National
Chip Deale Head of Society Relations for CFA Institute and Kimberly Fischer, an association consultant joined me for a conversation about sharing data in ASAE & The Center Connecting 08 Annual Meeting session “Chapter & National Databases: Do They or Don’t They Interface?” on August 19. The main take-away from the session was that we can create well-organized data sharing systems and we can harness the power of data being collected at national and at the local level.
Seven Measures of Success convinced most of us that being data driven is critical to being a great association. One missing link for many has been how to connect the data from the chapter and that from the national level to get a clearer picture of members – their behaviors, their demographics and more. In a session
at Great Ideas, Peter Houstle and I led a discussion on the power to harnessing this data. Now with the help of CFA Institute and Promotional Products Association International we have two successful examples. Click here to view the presentation PowerPoint with screen grabs and details on both systems.
Some advice they offered can help navigate this option:
- Co-creation with stakeholders is important; clearly define stakeholders’ values
- Hit your deadlines; be staffed appropriately
- Security is important; until it becomes a barrier
- Keep the legalese to a minimum.
- Rollout in stages
- Training, training, training!
For some associations, the investment is too great at this time. That’s where a system like the one we use for our chapters becomes a reasonable Plan B. We use Microsoft Access into which we collect key demographic data along with data on registration, membership, volunteerism and sales. This can work when to take the time to have sharing protocols such as:
- Select Key Identifier Field (Mbr ID)
- Match Fields & Tables where possible
- Set up regular schedule for data imports/exports
- Use flexible, consistent format (e.g. CVS)
There are other web-based options too like MemberClicks.
So what if your association can’t tackle the whole database, consider starting with on on-line registration system like OLRS from the Appraisal Institute. One other easy option is a flexible on-line Membership Database with the option of providing chapters with additional editing, look-up and reporting permissions.
It all begins with the realization that the benefits of shared data translate into more robust & accurate data, operational efficiencies, lead sharing 24/7 and more members!
Association Professionals Learn - The Easy Way
We ended another annual meeting of ASAE & The Center members with a bang! The outdoor block party gave San Diego a chance to shine. But the first "shine" was exiting the final general session to a greeting party of ASAE staff clapping and thanking us all. Wow! I was stuck by how they all seemed to be having a great time celebrating the members (yes, it could have been a huge sigh of relief as well). When is the last time I've taken the time to celebrate my members? Hmmm.
Well it feels great to celebrate so maybe the most important experience I had this week was the celebration! I also learned a couple of things, in no particular order, not the hard way, but the easy way by listening and absorbing:
- A cool option for chapter registration: signup123
- A great quote ... tomorrow's leaders don't want to sit next to a policy manual. So how do we create volunteer positions that are about results not process?
- Crowdsourcing - its a sexy term that has great possibilities for associations in terms of new model for engagement. Check out this video that session speakers shared...
- For a remix on associations, check out opensource.association blog
- Proctor-Gamble reports that 50% of product ideas outside company ... what are associations missing when they have closed spaces?
- Jott offers voice-powered, hands-free messaging and to-do lists all of which boosts your productivity.
- You can build a referrral program that activates chapters for the acquistion process ... American College of Emergency Physicians offers chapters a $175 referal fee to open the door to group membership with an additional $175 when they join ... great way to build chapter efforts in membership acquistion.
- To build involvement in social media platforms, consider using incentives like cool tee-shirts to members who build their connections on LinkedIn. ACEP drove involvement with incentives.
- The Bloggercon led to a couple of cool ideas which were posted thanks to Maddie Grant including these:
- "Another value of an association blog is that it can make stronger connections between your members, who get to know each other through blogs or online before they meet in real life - many, many examples of this at this ASAE conference" and "cross pollinate! Let members build a conference program via the blog by asking for their input."
Thanks ASAE, all the content leaders, all the members and exhibitors who shared!
10 Commandments for Volunteer Management
The list starts off fairly simply with "Know Thy Membership" but ends with a bang on "Don't write-off non-volunteers". The latter may well be one of the most important commmandments. The list is Beth Grazley's 10 Commandments for improving your volunteer program shared at the end of her Thought Leader Session on The Decision To Volunteer study undertaken by ASAE & The Center last fall.
I've had the pleasure of being involved in the project from the beginning and spent the better part of today at the Annual Meeting immersed in discussions and sessions on the topic. I was drawn by Beth's 10 commandments and in particular the 10th. Beth shared with attendees the basic research findings which included information on non-volunteers such as the fact that there are both controllable and noncontrollable reasons that members don't volunteer. Things like time constraints and family and professional responsibilities are uncontrollable but not personally asking, not being clear on opportunities and lack of virtual and adhoc opportunities are controllable reasons. This is important to consider because some 50% of the members responding in the study say the volunteer for other organizations but not associations ... so we're missing the boat.
Can we bring these non-volunteers in? Certainly if we get to know them better and if we are committed to breaking down the barriers - like being more clear on the opportunities available and in establishing one-on-one recruitment. In one discussion, we talked about running a Volunteer-Get-A-Volunteer campaign. MGAM campaigns have been a staple of associations - can we adapt that model? Perhaps the question is can we afford not to?
Volunteer Study Packed with Aha's
ASAE & The Center's Decision To Volunteer study is packed with aha's, told-you-so's and myth busters. Read Ben Martin's review of the book published by ASAE & The Center and authored by Beth Gazley and Monica Dignam (and thanks Ben for the appreciation of the "acting on the findings" section in key chapters which was the handiwork of a team including me largely from the Component Relations Section Council).
The book - now available at ASAE & The Center, is the kind of book that takes several reads. I was fortunate to be on the taskforce that reviewed the findings and helped produce the book, particularly in crafting the "acting on the findings" section at the end of most chapters. Still as I re-read chapters, I am drawn to new bits of info which I'll share over time. As a starter:
Under the aha's:
Volunteerism is like paid positions in yet another way .. its best to have an articulated career path for volunteering in your association. And this is not to be confused with succession planning! This is rather helping volunteers see not only progression but different opportunities that may in fact take them in different directions. When I look at my volunteering role with ASAE for example, I have just completed the chair position for the Component Relations Section Council, but I'm also in the writers pool. I may choose to explore greater role in governance or a series of adhoc roles.
Volunteers report they do so increasingly through workplace opportunities suggesting a stronger relationship between work and volunteering ... or as the authors say "volunteering related to a profession is viewed increasingly as a virtue." Does this suggest that we can use this in our volunteer recruitment messaging?
And now for a "told you so": we have volunteers! The fact is that the average hours are decreasing (from about 4 hours/week to 1 hour/week according to the study which quotes Bureau of Labor Statistics 2008 and the Weitzman et al 2002 research). This probably gives the appearance of fewer volunteers. In fact we have - if the study is accurate - untapped pools of volunteers. Perhaps if we took the time to pare back the jobs, took large jobs and broke them into smaller ones and looked for more meaningful adhoc, one-up jobs, we'd drawn in that untapped pool.
If you're in San Diego, stop by the Decision To Lounge where we're hosting a series of informal discussions, check out Beth Grazley's session on Sunday at 1:30 and the learning lab on Monday at 2:30 PST. Not here in sunny San Diego? Check out Cindy Butts's blog posting and ASAE's three vodcasts .
Always in search of ideas.
