We Have Always Done It That Way: 101 Things About Associations We Must Change
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
By Five Independent Thinkers
Five of the association community’s brightest leaders – Jeff De Cagna, David Gammel, Jamie Notter, Mickie Rops and Amy Smith – examine the conventional wisdom of our profession so we can still make sense of what works and what doesn’t. As they point out, the future is full of great opportunities for associations to do what they do well, but only if energetic and capable leaders step forward to seize the moment.
Each chapter tackles a different challenge, with the hope of changing the way we:
Published by ASAE & The Center's Membership Section Council
Recruiting and retaining members takes a lot of hard work, creativity, and communication to cut through today's intensifying competition. Everyone gets a little stale, and often associations find themselves in the same old trap of "this is how we've always done it." With our brand new 199 Ideas: Membership Recruitment and Retention you'll take your recruitment and retention efforts to new levels. Here's an advance look at how you can use it to boost your efforts:
Show up the competition - tap into the grapevine for great ideas
Put this top marketing tool to work to get the most bang for your buck (and don't forget to do this one thing that can make or break a campaign.)
Tap into the most often overlooked group of potential members - they're right in front of you
Seven ways to segment your lists to better target your markets
Use of the 'magic' words to boost direct mail responses
Drive more traffic to your website with this little-known secret and much more!
Smart, savvy recruitment and retention ideas that really work!
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Marketing has changed. Members and customers are far more discriminating and are far less loyal. They are bombarded with messages from the moment they wake up and check their e-mail to the moment they turn off the TV and go to sleep.
If you are looking for powerful new ideas and market-tested tactics to break through the static, attract and retain members, meeting registrants, sponsors, or customers, this book is for you.
In this book, you'll learn…
How to determine your competitive advantage or unique selling point.
How to write a subject line that will improve the chance that your email will be opened.
How to use emotion and logic to sell the intangible.
How to price your programs, products and services to increase sales.
How to build a fan base using both online and offline tools.
How to address objections and turn them into advantages.
How to select the best mix of marketing tactics that will most effectively sell membership, meetings, and more.
2010/2011 Association Executive Compensation & Benefits Report
Based on Annual Survey of Benefits & Compensation (Published by CSAE)
This report, based on an annual survey of not-for-profit executives across the country, is widely hailed as the most complete and in-depth benefits and compensation survey for the not-for-profit sector in Canada. It is used by hundreds of association executives and boards, as well as numerous executive search and consulting firms that work with associations, and serves as a crucial benchmarking tool for salaries and benefits in the association sector.
NOTE:
The 2010/2011 Compensation Survey is currently in the field and the final report will be ready for September 2010. You can pre-order your copy now.
Le Rapport 2010/2011 sur la rémunération des cadres d’association
Fondé sur l’Enquête annuelle sur la rémunération (Publié par la SCDA)
Ce rapport fondé sur une enquête annuelle auprès de cadres d’association est considéré comme le rapport le plus complet et détaillé traitant des salaires et des avantages sociaux du secteur canadien des OSBL. Il est utilisé par des centaines cadres d’association, de conseils d’administration, ainsi que par des firmes et des conseillers en recherche de cadres travaillant auprès des associations comme outil principal d’étalonnage pour la rémunération et les avantages sociaux du secteur associatif.
NOTE:
Le rapport final du sondage de 2010/2011 sera disponible pour septembre 2010. Vous pouvez commander votre copie dès maintenant.
7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don't
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Are you and your team operating your association in the best possible way? Do you gobble data, data, and more data—and use it to inform your offerings? Do staff and volunteers openly analyze failures, extract the lessons, and apply the experience to innovative new products and services? In remarkable associations and other not-for-profit organizations, the answer is an emphatic, across-the-board “yes.”
What makes remarkable? Anecdotal clues to what allows organizations to achieve exceptional results abound, but, until now, no research-proven qualifiers existed. 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don’t fills that gap.
This project was executed by a group of not-for-profit executives who adapted the acclaimed research methodology of Jim Collins, author of the bestseller Good to Great, for the association community. In fact, Collins served as a mentor to the group throughout, and the result is that 7 Measures is a must-read for CEOs, staff members and volunteer leaders who are invested in making their organizations remarkable—or more remarkable.
New! See Governing for Growth, Nancy R. Axelrod's accessible book on how to use 7 Measures of Success to strengthen board dialogue and decision making.
Associations in Canada: Future Impact and Influence
By Donald Belfall (Published by FARE/CSAE Foundation)
By the same author of Creating Value for Members, this is the definitive study on how Canadian associations can enhance their value to members. Don Belfall explores key issues confronting associations and examines their primary activities and overall effectiveness. This publication provides vital information for association leaders, government and consultants to the non-profit sector.
Individuals and organizations constantly look for new and innovative ways to improve what they do. This book will inform those in the association community about benchmarking and provide them with access to over 200 best practices that will save associations time and money, and improve the quality of association activities.
The best practices in this publication cover a broad spectrum of association management issues and are based on CSAE's Association Management Competency Standards. Along with extensive information on benchmarking, best practices and performance indicators, the author deals with specific strategic and operational issues that are relevant to all types of associations and non-profit organizations. This is the reference book for today's association executive.
Best Practices and Tools for Not-For-Profit Boards
By James Pealow, CAE, and Sandi Humphrey, CAE (Published by CSAE)
Highly publicized governance failures have board members doing a lot of soul searching these days. What is the board's real role? What are boards and individual board members liable for? Are the right things actually being done in your organization, and how do you determine what the right things really are?
This toolkit contains a treasure trove of best practices and easy-to-use tools designed to help directors face challenges and pursue opportunities as they actually arise. Useful charts ease the way to selecting the practices and tools that directly relate to the situation at hand.
"Best Practices and Tools for Not-For-Profit Boards" adopts a no-nonsense approach to solving those problems that occur time and again in not-for-profit organizations. It not only shares successful board practices and competencies, it goes one step further by providing the reader with a number of relevant and easy-to-use tools. Designed to play a key role in developing board leadership and capacity, this publication should become an essential reference tool for all senior volunteer executives in Canada's not-for-profit sector.
The content applies to all not-for-profit organizations. Key competencies—organized under people, policy, property and process—are accompanied by insightful and specific responsibilities that apply to each.
Quick reference charts connect the most often asked questions by boards and individual board members to various practices and tools in the publication.
Chapters Include:
competencies of board members
quick reference charts
tools and practices for dealing with people, policy, property, and process
Board Governance Classics: A Compilation of Articles, Checklists, Tools and Templates
In an ideal world senior association staff and Board volunteers would function flawlessly together: meetings would always be good-natured, positive and harmonious; and decisions would always be constructive, balanced and sensible.
We do not live in an ideal world!
Governance Classics compiles over 60 of CSAE’s most popular articles, checklists, tools and templates from the Members Only area of CSAE’s website, AssociationTM magazine, The Association Agenda newsletter and the former CSAE Volunteer Newsletter into one terrific reference publication.
Briefing Executives in An Information-Intensive World
This practical monograph by Dr. Laurence Mussio, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia at McMaster University, examines the two pivotal pillars of organizational success: effective communications and intelligent leadership. It provides a solid foundation for improved executive briefings and includes an in-depth discussion of two important dimensions -- the quality and structure of decision making and managing massive information flows -- and the connection between them. These pages will help you deal with information and email overload; discover the not-for-profit advantage in the information age; develop better briefing documents, and identify the key messages of successful briefing notes, executive summaries and dynamic reports. As Dr. Mussio points out, well prepared briefing notes allow decision makers to focus on those skills they’re expected to perform best: strategic thinking and program execution.
Edited by James Pealow, CAE, and Sandi L. Humphrey, CAE (Published by CSAE)
This CSAE publication is destined to become essential reading for anyone in association management. Whether you’re new to the field, looking to move up, or a seasoned veteran, it covers the full range of competencies you’ll need for success—from a fully Canadian perspective.
Bringing together 34 leading executives, managers and consultants from a variety of segments, Canadian Association Management is the definitive source of information on leadership, latest developments and best practices in the not-for-profit-sector.
This publication is the primary textbook used in the CAE® Program. The competencies covered in the book mirror those identified in the course syllabus.
Creating Value for Members: A Strategic Guide for Associations
By Donald Belfall (Published by CSAE)
This book focuses on value creation and value management in membership-based organizations. Value consciousness is entrenched in consumer society, and associations are not exempt from this trend. This book will assist association boards and staff in understanding the positive impact that proactive member value management can have on the association's performance, and how the process itself can serve as an ongoing catalyst to focus staff and board members' attention.
This book is a must-read for association CEOs, staff, and volunteers, as well as advisors and suppliers to associations.
Topics:
An Introduction to Value
The Value Created by Professional Associations and Industry Associations
Designing Your Future: Key Trends, Challenges, and Choices Facing Association and Nonprofit Leaders
By Rohit Talwar and Gary Golden
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Some organizations have a clear sense of how they will shape their future, but many do not. Most are at the start of a new era, with uncertainty about the future being the only thing they count on.
How does your organization scan the external environment to identify key trends, issues, and developments that could be of relevance?
How do you, as an association leader, use future-focused information to drive future thinking, strategy development, and innovation within your organization and at the board levels?
Keeping abreast of current events is one thing; viewing trends through the lens of implications and action plans for your organization is another. That's where Designing Your Future can serve as a valuable resource. Identifying and analyzing trends, issues, and events that are likely to cause transformational change within the association sector are critical undertakings if associations are to pinpoint and execute their options and opportunities for sustainability, growth, and responsive strategies.
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership teamed up with global consulting company Fast Future to develop this resource. Designing Your Future began with the analysis of several hundred trends, ranging from social and economic to political to environmental to technogical impacts, likely to affect associations. Use Designing Your Future to prepare yourself, your board, and your staff to anticipate and plan for the realities of the world in which we all work.
Duties & Responsibilities of Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations
By Hugh M. Kelly, Q.C. (Published by CSAE)
Directors of not-for-profit organizations are increasingly interested in learning about potential liabilities that they might face in their capacity as a director.
CSAE presents an updated edition of its most popular monograph aimed at helping directors better understand their duties and responsibilities. This monograph is key reading material for directors of associations, charities and other not-for-profit organizations.
Enhancing Committee Effectiveness: Handbook for Committee Chairs, Staff Liasons and Committee Members
by John F. Schlegel, PharmD, MSEd, CAE
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
One of the most practical reference tools you can give your committee members, this handbook offers a quick how-to reference for carrying out committee responsibilities. The booklet provides checklists and sample job descriptions for both staff liaisons and committee chairs. Learn helpful tips for developing agendas, conducting orientation, writing reports, and presiding over meetings.
Much has been written about the duties and responsibilities of directors and the role of volunteers in organizations. Everyone now agrees that directors must understand their legal obligations to the organizations and appreciate the non-legal expectations they will face from staff and other stakeholders.
But what does it take for a merely competent board member, or even a very good one, to become a great director? What characteristics and behaviours take us beyond legal obligations and basic expectations to a truly inspired -- and inspiring -- volunteer contribution?
This monograph is aimed at those volunteer directors who aspire to bring more to their board tables and maximize the benefit of their time and talent on behalf of the organizations they serve. It provides a blueprint for how individuals can change their own behaviour to become exceptional volunteers and, in turn, inspire others to work together to create an exceptional board.
Governing for Growth: Using 7 Measures of Success to Strengthen Board Dialogue and Decision Making
By Nancy R. Axelrod
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
The best boards improve institutional performance by giving the organizations they lead a great gift: the benefit of their collective perspective on the challenges and opportunies of the profession, trade, or cause they represent. Too many associations fail to gain their boards' best strategic thinking. Whatever the cause, this shortcoming can be overcome through deliberate focus on a strategic-thinking board and use of a framework that encourages focus and practice
Guide to Better Meetings for Directors of Non-Profit Organizations
By Eli Mina (Published by CSAE)
Non-profit organizations can ill-afford to spend money, not to mention the time of volunteers, staff and members, on unproductive meetings. In fact, with the rising costs of meetings and the reduced time that volunteers are willing to commit, non-profit organizations must take the initiative to enhance and improve the value of meetings. This how-to guide provides a simple, straightforward approach to meetings suited to the needs of non-profit organization stakeholders, and is the ideal guide for non-profit directors.
Monograph Series Guide to Effective Committees for Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations
By Signe Holstein, CAE
Committees are a vital component of a successful organization. When they work effectively, committees can provide valuable insight and advice to the board of directors and staff, and can help an organization accomplish its goals and objectives and achieve its vision. They can also link an organization with the attitudes and concerns of its members, and can serve as an important training ground for future leaders.
However, when committees do not operate well, the results can be damaging.
Ensuring that an organization has the right committees, with the right mandate and leadership, and that they are accomplishing the tasks they were intended to accomplish in a timely fashion, requires ongoing attention from the board and staff. By examining different types of committees, how to establish effective ones, and how to evaluate and implement change in ones that already exist, CSAE’s Guide to Effective Committees for Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations provides the tools for creating your own blueprint for success. This key information is also supplemented by templates that can be adapted to your specific needs, including sample agendas, minutes, policies, terms of reference and more.
Guide to Government Relations for Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations
By Huw Williams and Lou Riccoboni (Published by CSAE)
For the majority of associations, government relations is the most important activity they undertake. Yet research shows that many organizations do not commit enough resources to government relations, and often do not follow the best approach for achieving success.
Based on their own experiences as government officials, political aides, association professionals and outside advisors to associations, Huw Williams and Lou Riccoboni shed light on government relations approaches that really work. Included in this overview are case studies showing how a variety of not-for-profit organizations have succeeded with government at all levels, as well as tips and checklists to help you prepare at a glance.
If your organization is committed to having a strong voice with government and protecting your members’ core interests, you are sure to find this publication an invaluable resource.
Guide to Revenue Diversification for Directors of Non-Profit Organizations
By John Pepin (Published by CSAE)
Identifying new revenue sources can be a major challenge for any not-for-profit organization. For board members, senior staff officers and others charged with the responsibility of generating new funds and leading the organization to a more innovative and creative approach, finding the guidance and inspiration to see you through this challenge has also been difficult.
Based on his own experiences as the chief staff officer of a charity and consultant to numerous associations, John Pepin provides a compelling case for revenue diversification that can be applied to associations, charities and other types of not-for-profit organizations. This informative monograph serves as a first step for those directors of organizations embarking on a revenue diversification process.
If your organization is committed to making a change and becoming more innovative, then this publication is an invaluable resource for your board and senior staff members alike. It will help you understand the process and terminology recommended to develop your own organization's roadmap to a successful revenue diversification model.
Guide to Positive Staff-Board Relations for Directors of Non-Profit Organizations (Revised Edition)
By Sandi L. Humphrey, CAE, and Donald Evans (Published by CSAE)
Do you and your board and/or board chair have a healthy and productive relationship? Do your board members and chair refrain from wandering into operational matters? Do you communicate openly and honestly with each other? These are just a few of the questions posed by co-authors Sandi Humphrey, CAE, and Donald Evans in this monograph. Through examination of common and desired situations, they identify how boards and staff of non-profit organizations can overcome the obstacles that test their relationship and, in so doing, increase organizational effectiveness.
Author Jim Pealow is a key leader in the not-for-profit community, with more than 30 years of experience in industry, three levels of government, and associations. For several years, he has been contributing the popular “Learning Link” column to Association™ magazine, the official periodical of CSAE.
Learning Links is a collection of 32 of Jim’s articles from the past six years, featuring innovative ideas and practical solutions applied to trends, issues, challenges and opportunities for the not-for-profit community.
This publication provides a wealth of relevant and reliable information for any not-for-profit executive. In fact, several of the articles have already become part of the syllabus for the CAE® program.
The CSAE Source Guide directory contains contact information on association executives and key business suppliers to associations—a complete list of all CSAE members. There is also detailed information on programs, services and resources provided by CSAE. This vast resource enables association executives and suppliers to better build coalitions, seek information from colleagues, or access the services of association suppliers.
By Jane Watson (Published by CSAE) A must-have book for meeting minute-takers
Minute takers perform a vital function at meetings. Without effective minutes, many of the ideas and decisions made at meetings would be lost. This revised fourth edition of The Minute Takers Handbook is designed to help all people who are involved in the minute-taking process, either on an occasional or regular basis. Along with helping you to become a confident minute taker, it provides techniques and examples to enable you to produce concise, accurate minutes for all types of meetings. This handbook will help you:
Set up meetings
Improve your listening skills
Know what information to include in the minutes
Prepare parliamentary-style minutes
Understand group dynamics
Take accurate minutes using a computer
The writer of this guide, Jane Watson, is a trainer, consultant, and author in the field of business communications. For over 15 years, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies, health care agencies, financial institutions, and all levels of government to advance their written communication skills.
Online and On Mission: Practical Web Strategy for Breakthrough Results
By C. David Gammel, CAE
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Mission
Web strategy
Breakthrough results
The three are inseparable.
C. David Gammel, CAE, web strategist, frequent speaker, and consultant, works by the mantra that an association or nonprofit organization has not achieved a breakthrough result unless that result effectively supports the organization's mission. Online and On Mission is your guide to creating such results for your organization.
The book explores:
Why website strategy formulation should drive a redesign project rather than the reverse
How to prioritize among the competing demands of your site
What a clear and proven strategy formulation and implementation process looks like
Look for practical insught into revenue, market need, and marketing strategies ideal for staff specialists, senior staff and CEOs alike.
Are you devoting so much staff time to database management, accounting, and other non-core functions that you're not able to focus on the things that make your association important to your members? Use this guide to assess you outsourcing needs and find a qualified outsourcing partner to make your association thrive. Inclludes a chapter on legal issues and features sample RFP's and contract agreements.
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
The best partnerships are deliberate, well-defined, and most importantly, tied to strategic imperatives. Effective partnering demands forethought and hard work - both in identifying opportunities and prospective partners and in creating and managing the relationships in ways that produce the desired results. The Power of Partnership, itself the outgrowth of a cooperative research effort by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, digs into the distinguishing characteristics, principles, practices, and application among effective partnerships.
The Power of Partnership focuses on conclusions drawn from the study of partnerships among nonprofit organizations, for-profits, and government entities. The book's preparation comprised virtual discussion groups with association and other industry leaders, interviews with partnering organizations, case studies, and secondary research into the topic of partnership. The result is insight into a key strategic weapon for leaders and organizations bent on achieving their dreams.
Trade shows, consumer shows, product launches, corporate events, professional conferences and other opportunities to interact face-to-face with customers have become an important part of the marketing mix. Well chosen and executed events can shorten the sales cycle significantly and put you miles ahead of the competition, but you need to have an exhibit plan that's well thought out, organized, and executed. Powerful Exhibit Marketing provides the step-by-step advice you need to get real results from your exhibits. Learn how to:
set objectives, budget for your event, and measure its success
choose the right show and find the right audience
develop an action plan for working the show
design an attractive, memorable, and effective booth
create promotions and in-booth activities that work
turn leads into business
gather customer information and competitive intelligence
Put the experts to work for you with this comprehensive volume - each chapter is written by an association professional with 10+ years of experience! Major topics include governance and structure, leadership processes, management and administration (including finance and human resources), internal and external relations, and programs and services. You'll get in-depth coverage of 34 critical subject areas, which were selected based on a role delineation survey of association executives. (Published by ASAE)
Professions are in transition. In his new book, Donald Belfall looks at the various trends that are currently affecting all professions—a loss of pride in profession, the decline of profession culture, the increasing disconnect between practitioners and their profession, decreased job satisfaction, shifts in the nature of consumer involvement with professional services—and the threat these trends, if left unattended, pose not only to professional organizations but to professions at large.
Through his examination of the challenges faced by practitioners, Belfall shows how professional associations need to assume their role as profession leaders and start addressing, if not reversing, this worrisome shift—to prevent the transition from becoming a case history of decline, and set the conditions for a positive future.
More than just a testament to the difficulties inherent in leading a professional association, this book provides new direction, a backdrop for strategic planning, and the impetus for a greater bond between associations and their members.
Put Your Data to Work: 52 Tips and Techniques for Effectively Managing Your Database
by Wes Trochlil
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
At the heart of a data-driven organizational strategy is dependable data. And data will only be dependable if it resides in a reliable database—one that is well-managed and understood by not only the IT staff and the membership department but by everyone who uses it. In Put Your Data to Work, membership database wiz Wes Trochlil gives us a user-friendly guide to better databases. Among the practical advice found in his 52 tips and techniques:
Banish data redundancy—and its ugly aftermath.
Seek and destroy shadow databases.
Test early. Test often.
Pursue success, not perfection.
Open the database—once and for all.
Query your database. Use the answers to refine strategy.
It doesn't matter whether you're the CEO providing the vision of what will be important to your community in the future, and therefore what data should be captured, the chief technology officer with overall responsibility of your information management systems, or the marketing or membership director, both of whom would undoubtedly benefit by knowing as much about your members as possible, implementing the sound tips in Put Your Data to Work will help your organization operate more efficiently.
Risk Management Primer for Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations (Revised Edition)
By Paulette Vinette, CAE, and Stuart Hartley, FCA (Published by CSAE)
How can board members improve the tone at the top? Have we successfully communicated our ethics, values, mission, and vision? What proof do we have? Do we have anti-fraud controls in place to avoid management override of these controls, misappropriation of assets, and production of fraudulent financial statements?
Along with senior staff, directors and other volunteers of not-for-profit groups are accountable for the wellbeing of their organization. This requires careful definition and management of these and other risk factors in order to protect the organization, its leaders and its assets.
As co-authors of this publication, Paulette Vinette, CAE—a former president and CEO of CSAE—and Stuart Hartley, FCA—president of a consulting firm specializing in risk management, IT and inernal auditing services—have collaborated to develop this very effective framework for risk management that's adaptable to any not-for-profit organization. This revised version presents updated material in a format that makes it even easier to apply to your organization’s unique circumstances.
Risk Management Toolkit for Not-For-Profit Executives
By Paulette Vinette, CAE, and Stuart Hartley, FCA (Published by CSAE)
Risk isn’t just something for corporations to worry about. It has become increasingly important for not-for-profits to monitor and manage risk, and every organization must have a plan in place.
By now, most not-for-profit executives are familiar with the concept of risk management. But implementing an integrated strategy—measuring and assessing risks, balancing avoidance against opportunity, allocating proper resources, and understanding one’s basic legal rights and obligations—is a process that can easily be mishandled.
This new publication from CSAE is designed to help executives by introducing them to the best practices and tools necessary for planning, executing and maintaining an effective risk management strategy. Topics include:
The business reasons and legislative pressures to implement a program
The roles and responsibilities shared by the board, its committees, external auditors and senior management
Implementing a risk management program
Establishing financial controls
Applying the COSO model of Enterprise Risk Management
Tools, templates, and quick-reference checklists to simplify the implementation process
The toolkit is an invaluable resource for senior staff at any not-for-profit organization, and a perfect complement to our popular Risk Management Primer for Directors of Not-For-Profit Organizations.
By Jack Shand, CAE, and Kenneth Thacker (Published by CSAE)
One of the greatest challenges facing associations and other non-profit organizations is recruiting and retaining talented volunteers who can make a valuable contribution. This guidebook provides a straightforward overview of non-profit organizations, their structure and purpose, and how volunteers fit into the process. Information is directed to both association staff leaders, to aid in recruiting and retaining volunteers, and to volunteers themselves - to provide them with a clear picture of what is expected once they choose to volunteer.
The Self-Evaluation Tool provides a means for association executives to measure themselves against today's association competency standards. (Research undertaken by CSAE has identified these professional competencies). This resource is available electronically or in hard copy.
Social Networking for NonProfits: Increasing Engagement in a Mobile and Web 2.0 World
By Andy Steggles
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Facebook
Linked In
Blogs
Twitter
Social Platforms
If you want to sharpen your appreciation for these and other elements of the social web AND find ways to use them more effectively to foster connection and meaning in your niche, you're looking at the right book.
Social networking, social media, and the generation of technology known as Web 2.0 form a social web of opportunity for meaningful connection built of trusted relationships, interests and shared content. And engagement of this sort is what membership and other nonprofit organizations are all about, right?
In this book, Steggles and company go well beyond answering the "what is it?" question to provide real guidance and examples of ways nonprofit organizations can relate to and leverage the social web.
Topics include:
Social platform characteristics
Evolving educational applications for social networking
Legal implications, liabilities, and risks of the social web
Goals for engagement, and ways of measuring ROI on social engagement
Strategic Planning for Associations and Not-for-Profit Organizations
by Ron Knowles, FCMC & Helen Hayward, CMC
Strategic planning has come of age. It is now the fundamental tool and resource not-for-profit Boards use to direct and control their organizations. It also provides Chief Staff Officers with the essential means to lead and manage their associations—both large and small.
A broader acceptance of strategic planning has occurred because it is useful to Boards and staff in many ways. There is a greater familiarity with the fundamental methods, language and tools of strategic planning and, as a result, broader appreciation of its value and importance as a management tool. In the association world, almost everyone has participated in a strategic planning workshop, defined a mission, articulated a vision or selected a set of key strategic directions. Although there may be growing fatigue with some of these methodologies—e.g., writing mission statements—a good strategic plan is now a basic expectation of Boards and a valued management tool for many Executive Directors.
Successful Meetings for Not-for-Profit Volunteer Leaders and Staff
by James Pealow, CAE
A ‘how-to’ guide to leading and effectively managing meetings in a not-for-profit environment. It will assist volunteer leaders and staff to carry out their roles and responsibilities when conducting and participating in meetings and making decisions on behalf of the organization.
This publication will help volunteer leaders and staff make decisions and understand the critical elements, policies, processes and practices required to manage and participate in successful meetings.
Succession planning has been called the discipline that needs to be as pervasive and routine as annual planning and budgeting. It is about developing people strategically, and not just filling a vacancy when someone leaves. Preparing your association for the smooth transition necessitated by staff either retiring or leaving for other career opportunities is a crucial, yet too often overlooked, exercise. Jack Shand explains the steps in the succession process so your organization develops the competencies it will need tomorrow, retaining its best people, and saving money through effective succession planning.
Understanding Bylaws: A Guide for Directors of NFPs
By Linda Wood Edwards, CAE (Published by CSAE)
This guide from CSAE covers all aspects of bylaws for associations, charities and other not-for-profit organizations. It is designed to aid those who are developing bylaws for a newly-formed organization, and for existing associations who need to update or amend their bylaws. Along with definitions and descriptions of the various sections and articles that must be included in bylaws, this book provides actual sample wording. A CD-ROM version is included for those who wish to "cut-and-paste" sections for their own use. The book also includes ext ensive endnotes and links to additional sources of information relating to legislation governing not-for-profit organizations in Canada.
Whether you're starting a new organization and writing your first bylaws, or updating your existing association bylaws, this book provides an authoritative resource to guide you through the process.
Versatility: How to Optimize Interactions When 7 Workplace Behaviors Are at Their Worst
By Francie Dalton
Published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
Cohesive working relationships are the goal. But that may be insufficient to compel our best response at the moment when another's behavior is inflammatory. We need explicit, simple tips that we can realistically hope to implement even when our patience is being sorely tried. Versatility: equips you for those very moments. Based on author Francie Dalton's immensely popular workshop "The Chameleon's Edge," this book clarifies the causal links between your and others' behavior, evoking esteem for the use of behavior as the powerful tool it actually is.
Versatility discloses that the secret to successful workplace interactions lies not in trying to change others but in adjusting your behavior effectively and tailoring your communication. Complete with exercises and specific, easy-to-use adapting techniques, Versatility will sharpen your ability to:
Quickly recognize the style you're dealing with
Customize your approach to each style-on the spot, and
Achieve needed business results more quickly and more easily
Versatility reveals the power resident within you to interact successfully even when others are at their worst and to apply the adapting techniques consistently with all your interactions to be more effective. This article, Motivating the Unmotivated, is a good example of the kind of tips you can takeaway and apply from reading Versatility.
The importance of effective media relations has never been greater to not-for-profit organizations as they face growing competition for resources, member support and public attention. 'Earned' media can be one of the most cost-effective ways to build credibility and awareness among key target audiences. This invaluable guide will help safely steer even the most experienced not-for-profit executives and communications professionals through the complex world of media relations.
This concise guide will become the essential reference book for not-for-profit organizations as they increasingly rely on the media to carry their messages. Learn the "do's and don'ts" of electronic and print interviews, and gain an informed appreciation of how journalists view and work with executive sources. Learn how to negotiate and take control of a media interview, create and communicate key messages, use "sound bites", manage crisis communications, hold media conferences and editorial board meetings, place contributed articles and use your web presence as a key communications tool.
This is a reference book no not-for-profit executive should be without. Make it your essential guide to media relations.
It will pay for itself with your first media interview!
Selecting the right spokesperson
Developing your message and getting it across
Successful interviews
Arranging media briefings and editorial board meetings
Published by PARN (The Professional Associations Research Network)
This benchmark study on professional bodies in Canada compares 75 Canadian associations with previously surveyed associations in the UK and Ireland. It is part of a valuable international resource on governance and management, organization and operations, member relations, services offered and routes to membership for professional associations.
Les Guides pratiques pour une Gouvernance Stratégique Guide no 1 : Le président du Conseil d'administration
Par Roméo Malenfant
Vous vous préparez à devenir président de votre organisation ? Vous recherchez des critères pour choisir une personne qui prendra le leadership de votre association ? Vous vous posez des questions sur les rôles que devraient jouer votre président ? Qui doit élire le président de votre groupe ? Et pour combien de temps ?
Le présent guide de Gouvernance Stratégique aborde un aspect de la gestion des OSBL pour lequel on retrouve moins facilement de réponses.
Roméo Malenfant, auteur de La Gouvernance Stratégique : la voie de l’imputabilité, répondra à vos questions de manière concise et claire sur la plupart des aspects entourant le poste de président du Conseil d’administration.
Les Guides pratiques pour une Gouvernance Stratégique
Guide no 3 : Le directeur général en action
Par Roméo Malenfant
Le directeur général est constamment dans le feu de l’action. Il doit motiver son personnel, être attentif à ses administrateurs et également se maintenir à l’affût des derniers développements dans son domaine.
Quelles sont ses préoccupations quotidiennes? Sur quelles habiletés doit-il compter? Quelles son les caractéristiques d’un directeur général dynamique, compétent … et en santé? Voilà quelques-uns des éléments que ce Guide pratique 3 aborde.
Les Guides pratiques pour une Gouvernance Stratégique
Guide no 4 : Le procès-verbal (et l'ordre du jour)
Est-ce que le procès-verbal d’une réunion d’un Conseil d’administration est préparé comme le procès-verbal d’une assemblée générale ?
Ce guide pratique 4 aborde clairement ces questions et d’autres. Il est destiné surtout aux directeurs généraux et aux personnes qui ont à préparer des réunions et assemblées et à rédiger les procès-verbaux dans le contexte d’une Gouvernance Stratégique bien comprise.
Le rôle des bénévoles dans les organisations s.b.l.
Par Jack Shand, c.a.é., et Kenneth Thacker (Publié par la SCDA)
Toute association ou organisme sans but lucratif se trouve devant un défi de taille : recruter et retenir des bénévoles talentueux, capables d'une solide contribution. Ce guide pratique jette un coup d'œil honnête sur les organismes sans but lucratif, leur structure, leur objet et la place qu'y tiennent les bénévoles. Les dirigeants d'association y apprendront comment recruter et retenir des bénévoles, tandis que les bénévoles y trouveront une explication de ce que l'on attend d'eux.
C'est un excellent outil d'orientation pour tout bénévole appuyant un organisme sans but lucratif et un précieux ouvrage de référence pour le personnel des associations.
Le rôle des bénévoles – un aperçu
Les avantages et les récompenses du bénévolat
L'établissement des rôles et des responsabilités (y compris ceux des directeurs, président et chef de la direction)
La motivation des bénévoles
L'animation de réunions efficaces
PLUS : un aide-mémoire à l'intention des directeurs, président et chef de la direction
Cet outil permet aux cadres d’associations de vérifier leurs compétences par rapport aux normes actuelles du milieu associatif. Ces normes de compétence ont été dégagées par la Société canadienne des directeurs d’association. Il est possible de commander cet outil en version imprimée ou électronique.
Réunions efficaces, Guide à l'intention des admin. OSBL
By Par Eli Mina (Publié par la SCDA)
Ce guide explicatif de la SCDA propose une conception simple et directe des réunions, bien adaptée aux besoins des parties prenantes des OSBL. Il s'agit du guide parfait pour les administrateurs de ces organismes.
