Maddie Grant kicked off a Meme, in response to Craig Newmark’s post, asking all association peeps to answer “how are you going to change the world in 2012”.

In 2012, I hope to help associations reinvent the volunteer model. With my intrepid partner, Peter, and a host of very cool peeps (like my fellow ASAE Executive Management Section Council team and good friend Leslie White), my goal is to deconstruct the volunteer model. Then, tapping cool examples from the community-service sector along with innovative ideas coming out of a few associations, we’ll explore lots of options, ideas and possibilities.

We know that volunteers are what make associations unique as organizations and fuel our success. But,  even as we in associations embrace new technologies and – to a more limited degree – new business models, we haven’t addressed the volunteer model. We are still recruiting, developing, managing and rewarding as we did decades ago even though this no longer works. ASAE's Decision To Volunteer study sent out an alarm in 2008 that we can expect a turnover rate in our most active volunteers of up to 28%.  It’s time to change.

We’ll get some help on this journey through ASAE. A group of us from the EMS Council submitted an idea for a think tank project that I understand has been selected for funding in 2012. Also, two of us from the Council have submitted a very cool session for Annual Meeting on the topic (fingers crossed!). And, we have an informal group of association execs who are exploring, through open conversations, new models and sharing their own association’s journey. (We welcome more to the table for those conversations – just contact me for details.)

Lastly, to help inspire people to volunteer for their association and to shine the light on the great contribution association volunteers make, we launched a Facebook page Association Volunteers! Join us there, like it, add your own comments, and celebrate volunteers you know!

Happy to hear from others … join the meme (hint, hint Leslie White, KiKi L’Italien, Cynthia D’Amour, Frank Fortin,  Kerry Stackpole, Kim Howard).

In January 2002, Peter and I, on something of a whim, opened Mariner Management & Marketing.  We had just both left our “day jobs” (Peter as EVP and me as Membership & Marketing Director for a trade association) at the close of 2001. We had a vision to create a new model for supporting association chapters. In came out of a belief that chapters are a critical link in the member value equation that too often falls short.

Our first step was a research project to identify the make-or-break elements for a successful chapter.  Our white paper, Dashboard Indicators for Chapter Success, captured the findings and a place in the ASAE Component Relations Handbook and the on-line course.

More importantly, it provided for us a roadmap for helping our management clients – all chapters or affiliates of national groups – succeed.  Today, our four clients, Public Relations Society of America Maryland Chapter; Intl Special Events Society DC Chapter; Maryland Recycling Network and Washington DC Metro Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, are testimony that the dashboard is right on. The key ingredient, frankly, is appropriate administrative framework.  Not all chapters are alike so there is hardly one solution. Many do not need a formal board, incorporation, Roberts Rules of Order dictate et al. Some simply must have paid staff and detailed policies and procedures.  Today’s chapter –oft called the chapter of the future – is driven first by function, then by form.

Just as we started the first decade with a search, we’ll embark on the second similarly – in search of new models for association components and volunteer programs. Among the activities is an innovation peer group, begun in 2011 to bring together association professionals with an interest in learning from each other as they embark on new organizational models. We are also working with a number of associations, including SHRM, American Association of Diabetes Educators and Internet Society to explore concepts and applications.

We are equally pleased to note that we will be involved in two new ASAE programs:  the launch of the Advance Component Relations on-line course (I will be co-facilitating and am pleased to have helped develop the program which includes a week on new and emerging models) and the rewriting of the Component Relations Handbook (see current version here).

And beginning next month, we’re rolling out a series of updates and add-ons to celebrate what we believe is the year of new models.

It’s been a great decade and we’re geared for an even stronger second decade.

ASAE11 was a great experience on many levels.  But it also prompts me to ask a question. My top five reasons for giving ASAE staff, volunteers and attendees an A+:

1. Lots of variety. We had a stand-bys (general sessions, learning labs, socials, engagement lounge and exhibits). We had some new concepts including the unsession learning tours, innovation forums and the  deep dive, game changer, and flash sessions. They even had what looked like a great first-timers program – check it out. By the way, ASAE already has a slideshow to show you what you missed J.
2. Accessibility. From the meeting location to the availability of wi-fi to the vibrant social media to on-site communications, it was easy to connect. Check out the Hub for a peak.
3. People. It always comes down to having the right people in the room.  I enjoyed the mix of the association professionals (and in that phrase I include vendors, consultants and all those who don’t sport the “regular” badge).
4. Ideas & more ideas. I returned home with lots of resources, tips and ideas. Two of my favorite takeaways are from two sessions I almost didn’t attend.  From the Collective Intelligence session I learned a simple process to jumpstart innovation and from the session on gaming the idea to build a game that can help members prepare for certification.
5. Involvement of attendees. I signed up to be a guest blogger for Acronym along with a crew of members (check out the feed) like Jeffrey Cufaude, Brandon Robinson, Maggie McGary, Lowell Aplebaum, Frank Fortin, CAE, Shelly Alcorn, CAE, and Scott D. Oser. And that’s just one of more than a dozen ways ASAE tapped members/attendees to be active participants. This gave my participation an added focus that helped me dig deeper into the experience. I was a “reporter” so my eyes and ears were perhaps more open.  BTW, my contributions included:

• Getting My I On
• It’s not just the topic that counts. It’s the community.
• 3 lessons from day 1

And now the question. As association executives who offer learning events for its members and decry members who don’t take part, how come so many of us don’t take part in our association – ASAE’s – events? How come we don’t invest in our professional development as we ask our members to?

Tina Brown, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Beast-Newsweek, closed her remarks at #ASAE11 with a statement: "I hope you become our readers in every way." How easy -- and life-changing for an association -- to substitute member for reader. Let us help our constituents become members in every way.

Member engagement is a "popular topic" now. I realize that in associations we must talk a topic or trend to death before we act. Soon we must act. And Tina gave us a game plan.

The countdown has begun to the #ASAE11, ASAE’s annual conference in St. Louis, MO.  There are many reasons I am excited including the session I will be involved in on Monday, August 8 at 8:45a. This session, “Design for the Future: Creating a Sustainable Local-State-National Member Community”, shares the journey the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) took to retool their local chapters for the future. With Nadine Merker, AADE director of volunteer services, and Scott Balthazor svp, customer operations, Socious, we will share AADE’s new chapter model and its new online member community.

The three of us probably had more fun compiling the “lessons learned” handout than any other part of the presentation. That’s probably natural since its fun to look back. There’s nothing like being a Monday morning quarterback. Four of the most telling lessons we’ll be sharing – by story – are: ...

Day 21 ... Yesterday ASAE Greater Washington Network held one of its Super Swaps (a great idea for other associations) and among the topics was volunteerism. In fact of the six sessions, 2 focused on volunteerism.  I followed the discussion by Twitter (check out the hash tag #asaegw or for a cool recap Elizabeth Engel’s post). One comment in particular struck me:

I know that it’s important to focus on the positive, but in the long run we will build volunteerism by understanding what didn’t work and fixing it. I have been an active volunteer for ASAE for more than 10 years, with another association for about 5 years, a chamber of commerce for 4 and my church for, well forever. I rarely—wait a minute—never, get asked what went wrong.  If they asked, here are a few I’d share. The sales pitch was way different from the actual job. We did a lot of meeting and little accomplishing. Our team produced, the organization then shelved the product.

All of the situations can be fixed and frankly many are the result of staff just not really knowing. So sure, ask what went well and then what didn’t.

Psst - it's National Volunteer Week. Yep it started on Sunday, April 10. It runs all week. Not that you'd notice in the association world. But turn to the c3 world and it's a different story. Even the White House took time to notice ... as it fought the budget battle.

So what's up with associations? Don't we get volunteers?

Funny that's what we were saying on the last Executive Explorations call, a series of free discussions on volunteering in associations hosted by the ASAE Executive Management Section Council. We talked more about that on our innovation peer group call. We know we rely on volunteers. We just don’t invest in volunteers. We know we struggle with poor performing volunteers and in some cases a dearth of volunteers. We just don't invest in robust volunteer management programs.

Even my professional society focused on membership organizations hasn't spent a pixel in recognizing this week. I haven't (yet) received that generic email thank you for my hours (although I did just get a request to sign-up again for a volunteer project - does that count??).

Here's the interesting rub. We are doing a lot of talking about member engagement. It seems somewhere along the road, we figured out that if you connect - really engage - a member, they are way more likely to renew. And guess what, the best forms of engagement are through volunteering. So ... why the disconnect? We spend lip service on training, evaluating, and recognizing. We often don’t reward either. Volunteer management can be found scattered all over the association.

There are some associations who have a more enlightened approach. We’re beginning to see titles like “Director of Volunteer Relations” and “Director of Member and Volunteer Services.” Associations like PMI are looking at new training and development models.

I think at the heart of problem is this sense – at the top, yes I mean the board – that it’s a responsibility for members to serve. They are supposed to want to “give back” and to work for their profession. That’s a different mindset from the c3 crowd. They see their volunteers are partners and resources. They see them as a valuable commodity and even a strategic resource. They invest in robust volunteer management programs. They brand their programs. They celebrate. They even embed their volunteering into the community – witness high school students’ requirement for service hours and volunteering as a critical component in a political resume.

So here's my challenge to all of us: let’s put volunteer management and development as a strategic goal. Let’s apply resources to developing robust programs. Let’s be “volunteer organizations”.

One easy step is to "like" our Facebook Association Volunteers! page and add a note about how great your volunteers are.

In case you want to explore a little more about National Volunteer Week:

• Lots of ways to get in the know beginning with #NVW11 stream on Twitter
• Piece in USA Today
• Engaging Volunteers blog series over at Volunteer Match
• Huffington Post's "Volunteering - Some news is so big it needs it's own page"
• IABC/BC chapter offers a reason - make that 5 - you shoudl volunteer for your professional association.

Volunteers really don't want us to enable bad behavior on their parts.

Jamie Notter got it best in his latest post "Stop making it worse." At the ASAE Ideas Swap on volunteerism one asked how she possibly not give a reward to the dysfunctional outgoing chair. The group's response "stop making it worse!

Peter and I led an energizing discussion at ASAE's Great Ideas Conference last week and I'm still digesting the good ideas. The session was on embracing the unofficial volunteer leader. Who is this person you say? Well it's the hell-raiser and the quiet saint. It's the person who is doing work for the profession and maybe even the association -- but unofficially. By ignoring these folks, you could miss out on some good work or inadvertently fuel a disruptive force. Here are two examples we talked about where associations embraced the unofficial leader.

I opened my email this morning and the first email was from Lisa Junker, editor-in-chief at Associations Now. Short and sweet.