As a ballerina wannabe, it was natural that the headline in the Stillwater Gazette would catch my eye: "More than roles for ballerinas." It came to be through my Google Alerts for association + volunteer. The teaser simply said "Every year the parents of "Nutcracker" ballerinas and cavaliers are asked to log at least a couple of volunteer hours to support their children. ..."

Look at that teaser again and notice the phrase "asked to log at least a couple of volunteer hours to support...." Parents respond to this graciously because (1) it's expected, (2) the expectation is fairly minimal and there are plenty of quick jobs like poster-hangers and greeters, and (3) they are asked. There's a great lesson here for associations. What if we presented volunteering as an expectation? And backed up that expectation with a host of short-term, ad-hoc positions, and then simply asked?