Taggies is the nickname for the 2010 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards & Report created by Nancy Schwartz, who works with nonprofits and publishes Getting Attention blog and e-newsletter. This year the awards added a new category for programs – like your volunteer program.

The “trick” to building your volunteer base is matching members to the right job. Making a good match is as much art as science. The trouble is that in associations we haven’t been even practicing the science much less the art. Instead, what we do is list the jobs we need done and then put out a call.

What if we turned the process on its head? What if we applied a little e-harmony/match.com science and art to the process? E-harmony has its 29 Dimensions ® of Compatibility. What if associations did the same?

There have been so many good reads that I've been reading somuch more than blogging. Here are a few I think you might like:

• Leading Change: Getting Your Organization on Board with Social Media
• Learning to ride the leadership rollercoaster
• Good is no longer Good enough
• Best Conflict Tool Ever: Ladder of Inference
• Leadership Skills: Curiosity (this is 3rd in a series -read them all!)
• On Mobilizing Your Evangelists
• The White Magic of Listening
• Federal Report Finds US Volunteer Rate Increased over 2 Years
• 50 Power Twitter Tips

There are so many more ... check out my Delicous bookmarks! And tell me where your's are so I can follow!

In just a few short days, Buzz2010 launches with the frist of three breakfast meetings on hot, hot social media issues. Buzz2010 is both a great learning/networking opportunity and a great model to watch (and experience) unfold.

When your association surprises you - in a good way - they've remixed their membership. When your association does something worth modeling in your own organizations - they've remixed their membership. When those two things happened to me, I just had to pick up the phone and find out more. Check out my SmartBlog Insights posting for the rest of the story on how an association shifted how they looked at the membership cycle and rethought engagement.  Love to hear your feedback!

For those with "building community" on their list of goals for 2010, check out SmartBlog on Social Media's posting by Merritt Colaissi - Spike Jones' 11 Lessons to ignite a fan community. It was lesson #9 that caught my eye:

Movements live online and offline. 90% of WOM happens offline. It’s important to get people together offline.

We are spending much time, energy and dollars on our IT and virtual communities that we fail to see the importance of being face-to-face. Some associations are even going so far as to replace traditional events and, yes even chapters, with online learning and virtual chapters. But it's not a either-or proposition. As Jones learned in building Fiskars successful crafters movement, its the combination that wins.

This is one for the books. A story about an association, ASAE specifically, that created an excellent member experience – so much so that as one member leaves the profession, she brings on board to the association her replacement and pledges to remain active as a volunteer. And, she shares this on the association’s listserv.

It surely seems odd that a public relations professional chapter wouldn’t be an early adopter of the new media. But we weren’t. Our members were – and are – curious though. It’s that curiosity that gave us the platform for entering into social media sphere.

I just ran across an older posting - a challenge sort of - on Acronym where Lisa Junker, one of the bloggers behind Acronym asked us  to take 5 minutes to spread the word about our association. She was prompted by a very cool conversation with Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal who’s a word-of-mouth expert (and three-time association CEO) in which he offered up a few idea starters.

It all started with the Lindy Dreyer’s feature in January issue of Associations Now “Get your members talking! Word-of-mouth expert Andy Sernovitz tells you how.” Catch more of Andy's WOM insights in his book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. The idea goes that in a down economy, word of mouth can make all the difference.

• We needed a new newsletter editor. The call was answered by an innovative, exciting member … who also happened to be a blogger. Our cumbersome e-letter morphed into a blog.
• A Facebook fan started up an ISES DC group.
• She was on Twitter but didn’t see the chapter so offered to be the ISES DC Twitter voice.
• Driven to organize the planning and execution of the chapter’s major expo, the chair opened a Google Group, loaded up the documents and ran the first meeting using those shared items.