Wild Apricot
JANUARY 15, 2018
If your organization is looking for more funding opportunities, here are five of the best ways nonprofits are generating earned income to support their missions.
YourMembership
JANUARY 19, 2018
Demand for CPAs remains historically high, according to the AICPA 2017 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits, and future hiring expectations continue to be positive, especially among large firms. Accounting and auditing are the eighth highest in-demand positions in Ohio, and accounting is the sixth best business.
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WBT Systems
JANUARY 16, 2018
Every January, articles about trends take over the internet. You’ve probably read a few yourself—including, we hope, the one published here last week about six non-obvious online learning trends for 2018. But every association has a distinct audience who may behave differently than how trend-spotters predict. If you want to identify the most relevant trends for your membership, learn how to think like a futurist.
Higher Logic
JANUARY 18, 2018
Email is an important component of any modern marketing strategy. But, email is just one piece of the modern marketing puzzle. Marketing automation might sound fancy, but it's really just an extension of the functionality that email marketing already provides – the ability to create, deliver and track messages to an audience. What good is an email campaign without the ability to send relevant and personalized content, segment your audience, and deliver the content individual subscribers want and
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Here’s Your Blueprint for Year-Round Member Engagement. Are you ready to transform your association into a thriving, 365-day community? Download GrowthZone’s ebook, How to Create a Community Your Members Can’t Get Enough Of , and learn strategies for leveling out the peaks and valleys of member engagement. This guide provides actionable strategies to create consistent networking opportunities, deliver value-packed content, and foster connections that your members won’t want to miss.
Wild Apricot
JANUARY 19, 2018
I’ve seen nonprofits set toxic and downright annoying work culture expectations that ultimately deter the creation of a strong, functional team. If you’re at an organization where you actually want to build a strong nonprofit culture of teamwork (and attract professional and talented staff), here are three common traps to avoid and what to do instead.
Association Universe brings together the best content for association members and organizers from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Eric Lanke
JANUARY 15, 2018
I attended an educational conference last week and a wonderful thing happened to me there. I got a new idea. I don't know yet if it's a good idea or a bad idea. Maybe you can tell me. But that's not the point. The fact that something new and novel occurred to me while attending this conference practically made it worth the price of admission. Here it is.
Higher Logic
JANUARY 16, 2018
Associations are usually labeled as “small” for one of two reasons: they have a small staff or a small budget. Many have both. But that doesn’t mean terms like “small org” are always on-point. The small associations we work with have large memberships and far-reaching effects. Year after year, they consistently make a bigger impact with fewer resources.
Aaron Wolowiec
JANUARY 19, 2018
With older professionals retiring from the institutional investment industry, tapping into blossoming chartered financial analysts has been key to CFA Society Minnesota’s growth.
Forj
JANUARY 17, 2018
Date: March 27th, 2018. Register Here. In this session, Filament Games CEO Dan White will discuss the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to facilitate interactive, inquiry-based learning. Through the lens of Filament’s VR research, development, and ongoing dialogue with leading VR manufacturers like HTC, Oculus and Google, White will demonstrate how VR can engage users in authentic learning through identity, embodiment, and immersion.
Speaker: Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket
What does delivering an exceptional member experience mean in today's world? With the right insights, tools, and strategies, you can identify what truly matters to your members, drive meaningful engagement at scale, and continue to meet the ever-evolving needs of your members. Join association experts Jessica Bonney from VICA and Jeff Horne from Wicket who will share practical insights on how to build an exceptional member-driven experience by gaining a deeper understanding of your members and d
Association Success
JANUARY 18, 2018
How do we maintain an accord between volunteer and staff leadership? One thing that associations all have in common is a sense of purpose. A vision of a common good is the axis upon which the internal workings of an association spins – or at least should spin. This distinctive aspect of the industry is disturbed by the fact that associations are also unique in their design: they have to rely heavily on volunteer efforts to move forward in pursuing their goals.
Idea Architects
JANUARY 19, 2018
About once a week, I tweet a current favorite question for use as a meeting icebreaker/conversation catalyst. I find having a supply of these on hand makes it easier for me to introduce one when doing so is the right call in a meeting or conversation. Too often, we make breaking the ice too complicated. While longer community-building activities or icebreakers are valuable, they are not the only option available to us.
Aaron Wolowiec
JANUARY 17, 2018
Workplace culture is about more than beanbags and flex hours. It’s about company values and ensuring sure those values shape success, writes Jamie Notter, partner at WorkXO Solutions, in his new e-book.
Smooth The Path
JANUARY 16, 2018
Shirley looked at the metrics of her 6-month new member email campaign. The first email generated a 40% open rate and the second email did even better with a 47% open rate. The rest of the emails were decent each getting between 33 and 38% open rates, except for the 3rd and 4th email. They had 14% and 19% open rates respectively. These results were baffling because both the 3rd and 4th email offered highly valued content and education.
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Customer education has become a key driver for growth, retention, and product adoption. Our latest 2024 State of Customer Education Report uncovers critical data and insights from a survey of over 200 industry leaders, offering a look at the evolving role of education in driving business success. Inside, you'll find data on key trends and strategies, including: Strategies for Scaling & Customization: Find out which investments in learning technology deliver the biggest ROI and scalability.
Jamie Notter
JANUARY 19, 2018
I had two remarkably similar conversations last week with two organizations that could not be more different from each other. One was a large, global corporation, and the other was a small nonprofit, but they were both struggling with the same issue: not enough time. Everywhere I go, it’s the same thing: we don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough time to run experiments or do beta tests.
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 19, 2018
How does your conference treat its participants? How do you and your leadership team view them? Are your conference customers more like tourists? Seeking conference swag, amenity room drops, welcome bags and quick ideas? Or are they more like explorers? Craving authentic experiences, no matter the size, that enhance their lives and change their attitudes, behaviors and skills?
Association Success
JANUARY 19, 2018
We're back. Even better. Underpinning all our efforts at AssociationSuccess.org is a thesis: that the best, brightest, and boldest ideas come from minds meeting. Early November saw this thesis in action, with the unfolding of SURGE 2017, our free virtual summit, and our vanguard experiment in collaborative innovation. SURGE 2017 was a three-day virtual event, during which attendees had exclusive access to pre-recorded sessions focused on cutting-edge solutions to our shared problems.
Smooth The Path
JANUARY 18, 2018
Have you ever tried to do something online that should have been easy but wasn’t? This issue could be with your cell carrier, or computer company, or utility. Maybe you cannot figure out what link to click. Or you click the right button but nothing happens. Or you click a link, and then another, and another just to end up right where you started.
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Sales often gets a bad rep. Yet, if securing sponsors, advertisers, and exhibitors is part of your role, it’s essential. But what if it didn’t have to feel time-consuming, uncomfortable, or worse—icky? Join us for the 3-part virtual Sales Accelerator Labs , where customer experience and sales expert Carrie McIntyre will show you strategies to make sales easier, more effective, and dare we say, enjoyable!
GrowthZone
JANUARY 16, 2018
We were busier than ever this past year producing over 100 blog posts for our amazing audience of association professionals (that’s you!). Didn’t have time to read all 100? Of course not, so here are the top 5 most popular posts of the past year. (Most of the articles can be read in less than 3 minutes!). 3 Ways to Quit Wasting Time in Worthless Meetings ».
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 16, 2018
Dear Association Leader: The status quo does not have your best interest at heart. It feels safe. And familiar. And comfortable. And even successful. But it’s not. It’s a very enticing powerful force. It can seduce you into a seemingly logical yet inadvisable present-forward mindset. You project today’s business into the future and expect yesterday’s success tomorrow…although the world continues to change.
Association Success
JANUARY 16, 2018
Why we need to go beyond a tracker. Brand is the personification of your association. Its purpose is to create an identity for your association that people can relate to. In the best of times, it is your biggest asset. In the worst of times, your biggest liability. The health of your brand functions just like personal health: it is vitally important and susceptible to neglect.
Beth Kanter
JANUARY 18, 2018
Note from Beth: I’m honored to be a member of the Leap Ambassadors Community , a group of people in the nonprofit sector who care deeply about high performance. A recent work product from this community includes “ Small, But Mighty ,” created by a small group led by Debra Natenshon and Karen Walker, the guest post authors. Often, we think of “high performance” as something only for large organizations, but smaller nonprofits can apply the ideas too.
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Ever wonder why brands like Apple, LEGO, and Sephora are going all-in on branded communities? It’s because online community building is the secret sauce to connecting with audiences in ways that ads and emails simply can’t. But here's the best part—it’s not just for big corporations. Associations can create thriving online communities too. GrowthZone’s eBook, "The Power of Community," breaks down exactly why a branded online community can be a game-changer for your association.
Effective Database
JANUARY 17, 2018
Over my nearly 30 years in the association space, one of the things that always gives me a chuckle is when I hear an association executive say “I work at a small association.” Because I know in my mind that “small” most likely means something different to that person than it does to me. For example, my first association had seven staff when I started there.
Velvet Chainsaw
JANUARY 18, 2018
Established, successful conferences have leadership that are usually adept at incrementally improving their event each year. They focus on securing better content and speakers. Or improving registration and marketing practices. Or creating unique receptions and parties. Or decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. One improvement tactic–curating conference programming that meets your customers’ needs–is foundational yet proving to be insufficient for innovation and new growth.
Membership Marketing
JANUARY 17, 2018
We have just launched the questionnaire for the 2018 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey and I want to invite you participate in the research. If you are on our survey list, you would have already received an email with a personal link to connect you to the survey. Please use the link provided in the email to respond. However, if you have not received an email from me requesting you to participate, you can still be a part of the research by using this link.
Beth Kanter
JANUARY 17, 2018
One of my favorite activities is to do a networking walk on The Dish trail, a five mile somewhat challenging hike adjacent to the Stanford University campus, a location where Silicon Valley start up entrepreneurs have famously walked and made deals or come up with great ideas. Not too long, I had the pleasure of “walking The Dish” with Kathleen Kelly Janus, a social entrepreneur, author, and lecturer at Stanford University’s Program on Social Entrepreneurship.
Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg
Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.
Effective Database
JANUARY 16, 2018
I recently came across a one-question service from a service provider (I think it was some kind of online software…) that asked why I had discontinued my subscription to their service. Among the choices were “Too expensive” and “didn’t provide enough value.” I had to read it three times to make sure I was reading it right.
Reid All About it
JANUARY 19, 2018
The weekly list of free educational events for the association community… It’s that time of year again. Marketing General Inc. is inviting associations to participate in their 10th annual Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey. Of all the benchmark reports released in the association community each year, this is one of my favorites. The deadline is February 2.
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