Wild Apricot
APRIL 28, 2014
'Here''s our free non-profit webinar round-up for May. Topics include: mobile impact; finding and keeping donors; telling your stories on social media; volunteer interview strategies; and much more.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 1, 2014
'At CalSAE’s ELEVATE Conference last week, I attended a session on association trend spotting led by Shelly and Mark Alcorn. My team was assigned the mindfulness trend. After some discussion about information overload, the pressure of always being connected and what that does to face to face personal connection, and what is the appropriate role for an association in a member’s life (hint: you are not the most important thing in your members’ lives), the innovative idea we came
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Association Leaders
APRIL 22, 2014
'There have been many great military leaders throughout history. Some of them have gone on to become leaders in other arenas as well – political, business, media, etc. Being in the association business, we often see professional speakers who talk about management, change, people, leadership, and more. So when I saw this article today it caught my attention.
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 15, 2014
'Last week’s post focused on the economy, and here I am writing again about it. But I want to foster discussion on Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2014 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey , the results of which it released on April 7. NFF is a community development financial institution. Leaders from more than 5,000 organizations participated in the sixth annual survey.
Speaker: Gareth Webb & Phil Selley, Founding Partners at Intouch Business
For many nonprofit organizations and NGOs, managing grants and monitoring projects with spreadsheets and manual processes feels familiar—but is it holding your organization back? As funding requirements become more complex and stakeholder expectations for transparency grow, relying on outdated methods can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and compliance risks.
Association Subculture
APRIL 18, 2014
'So, most of you regular readers know I have been interested in generational issues for a while now and I''ve been working with the NextGen group at ASAE. When it comes to Generation Y, Millennials (and now Generation Z or whatever we decide to call them :D) the media tends to have its narrative pretty well set. It''s either, "Look out, we''re doooooomed #Coachella," or "These entitled upstarts are ruining office productivity with the cell phones and the chatting and the Googleglass.bah humbug.
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 2, 2014
'How can you ensure an active, engaged board? In this guest post, Lamees Abourahma outlines three creative ideas that associations have implemented that have been effective.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 28, 2014
'I’m excited to share the launch of the fifth whitepaper in the ongoing Spark whitepaper series, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations. . Co-authored with Peter Houstle ( Mariner Management ), the whitepaper tackles the question: how can associations use data to start asking meaningful, mission-driven questions and to inform our decision-making processes around them?
Association Leaders
APRIL 15, 2014
'I like to read but don’t make enough time for it. In particular I like to read biographies. I suppose I like biographies because they give me insights into what makes leaders tick – as you know that’s something in which I am very interested. Currently I’m reading David McCullough’s “Truman” So far, an excellent book – like all of McCullough’s works.
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 8, 2014
'Things were humming along pretty well a few years ago. Gas was, well, relatively affordable, grocery bills were somewhat manageable and people were working. And then 2007 hit. As the economy came crashing down, many of us lost jobs, houses and much more. Stocks and investments plummeted. Luxuries fell by the wayside. Fast forward seven years, and the U.S. is slowly coming back, experts say.
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YourMembership
APRIL 24, 2014
Last week we shared the most noteworthy association management concepts from the Xperience2014 Customer Conference, held March 31 – April 1, 2014 at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, FL. This event provided an Xcellent platform for YourMembership.com customers, employees and industry thought leaders to connect, engage and grow.
Eric Lanke
APRIL 7, 2014
'WSAE is hosting an education session in Green Bay this Monday and Tuesday, and our speakers are the co-authors of Humanize , Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant. In preparing for the session, I decided to go back and review the blog posts I wrote that summarized some of my major takeaways from the book. They include: Stop Calling It Strategic Planning Inspired by a take-down of strategic planning in Humanize , I pledge to stop using that term to describe the messy, constantly evolving process my asso
Wild Apricot
APRIL 14, 2014
'Is it time to do a little spring cleaning on your website? Here''s a preview of a resource in our Membership Knowledge Hub: Website Spring Cleaning To Do List.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 29, 2014
'From the new Spark whitepaper, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations , written with Peter Houstle: Ultimately, Big Data supports innovation and allows us to do predictive marketing. Why is that? With Big Data: More data is easily available to relevant stakeholders. Accurate data helps you experiment in an organized way.
Speaker: Dave Sackett
Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.
Mariner
APRIL 6, 2014
'We talk a lot about how we’re working more and more virtually. And there is a lot of conversation around how to improve how we work with each other in a virtual environment. Yes it’s going to take us time to crack this nut.
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 29, 2014
'Mark Athitakis, contributing editor, Associations Now. This month’s guest blog post is by Mark Athitakis , a contributing editor for Associations Now. It was originally printed on April 28 , so it’s hot off the press. This is a topic that seems to intrigue our readers, so thanks to Mark for sharing it with us! As a reminder, if you’re interested in submitting a guest post for our blog, please contact Kristen Parker at Kristen@eventgarde.com.
YourMembership
APRIL 17, 2014
The Xperience2014 Customer Conference, held March 31 – April 1, 2014, at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, FL, provided an Xcellent platform for YourMembership.com customers, employees and industry thought leaders to connect, engage, and grow. Throughout the show our guests had the opportunity to attend sessions focused on business, marketing and association management best practices.
Eric Lanke
APRIL 28, 2014
'image source I''ve been spending a lot of time on the road lately. Lately, as in the past decade or so. It''s part of the life of most association executives. But lately, it''s gotten me thinking about the three kinds of meetings I find myself at. First, there are the meetings our associations plan themselves. Our conferences and trade shows and Board meetings.
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand
Do you really know your donors? Not just what they give, but who they are? 👥 In this interactive session, we’ll break down how nonprofits can use behavioral indicators (affinity, recency, frequency, and monetary value) to build prospecting segments that go beyond wealth screening and actually align with donor identity. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to move beyond basic demographics and cultivate supporters based on how they already engage with you!
Wild Apricot
APRIL 7, 2014
'It''s National Volunteer Week in the U.S. and Canada. Here are some ideas and resources for celebrating your volunteers this year.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 30, 2014
'From the new Spark whitepaper, Getting to the “Good Stuff”: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations , written with Peter Houstle: What are the things you need to do to get ready to use your data? Address your data quality issues. Measure what matters, not just what’s easy to measure. Find your internal data sources. Consider external data sources you might want to add.
Jamie Notter
APRIL 21, 2014
'I read a good article online about the founder’s role in setting the culture of a startup company. The article talks a lot about Facebook and Zuckerberg as an example, but I’ve seen this one first hand, and it’s been documented by other core writers about corporate culture, like Ed Schein (pp. 91 to 99 in the Corporate Culture Survival Guide ).
Aaron Wolowiec
APRIL 22, 2014
'As some of you may know, in addition to my role with Event Garde , I work for Michigan State University’s central communications office. I love working with students. They’re brilliant. They’re ambitious. They’re overachievers. And some of them are old, well, older. I’m amazed by the nontraditional students I encounter on campus. Some are undergrads and some are grad students.
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YourMembership
APRIL 10, 2014
It’s easy and more than a little tempting following a successful conference to spend just a little time patting yourself on the back. After all, we all like to celebrate our victories, especially when our customers (or members) are pleased with our efforts. You meeting planners out there know exactly what I am talking about. When you’re a company, or organization, with a 15-year history like YourMembership.com, you can sometimes overlook the important moments while you rush on to the next big th
Eric Lanke
APRIL 21, 2014
'image source I do a fair amount of reading on leadership issues. And in doing so, I encounter the following sentiment--most recently in this Corner Office column --again and again. I have learned that leadership is all about demonstrating and exuding confidence. One of my former bosses used to say: “There will always be uncertainty in your life, doubts about yourself, about the decision you’re about to make.
Wild Apricot
APRIL 11, 2014
'Here''s a preview of a new article in our Membership Knowledge Hub (by Tobi Johnson) that provides insight into and tips for managing and supporting offsite and virtual volunteers.
Spark Consulting
APRIL 21, 2014
'Peter Houstle (Mariner Management) and I are just about to release a NEW whitepaper on Evidence-Based Decision Making for Associations. It will formally drop next week, but you can get a preview this week via the YourMembership.com FREE webinar series. Peter and I will be talking about the whitepaper THIS Thursday, April 24 from noon – 1 pm ET.
Speaker: Jennifer Hill
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Virtual
APRIL 30, 2014
'As someone who''s worked around technology associations for a long time, I often get asked: "So what are the secret traits of the groups that are the most successful?" Quite honestly, these secrets traits aren''t really so secret. In fact, I like to call them the three "I"s. All of the better-performing organizations I have worked with have had at least one of these traits; some of the great ones have had all three.
Mariner
APRIL 28, 2014
'As management guru and former GE CEO Jack Welch noted, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” We would suggest the corollary is equally true…i.e. “You manage what you measure (and ignore that which you don’t measure).” In other words, the things about which we make decisions and the decisions themselves are often governed by what we can readily observe and count.
Jamie Notter
APRIL 24, 2014
'I participated in a Twitter chat about generations this week, and I will say that I was pleased with the level of the conversation. There wasn’t a lot of hype or “kids these days” statements thrown around, and while people were sensitive to the dangers of stereotyping, they didn’t throw the baby out with the bath water and adopt the “this generations stuff is useless” position either.
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