Have you ever wondered what each of your association's members was really thinking? Meet Jane, the association executive who was able to better target member segments at both a strategic and operational level by streamlining and making better use of big data and...
The Portage Group is pleased to kick of 2015 with some exciting news! On January 1 2015, TPG entered a new research partnership with the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE). Under the new partnership agreement, TPG will be the sole and exclusive...
By Jack Shand, Executive Partner. The Portage Group In an earlier article on The Characteristics of Executive Leadership, I outlined what employees in the nonprofit sector do. But what do nonprofit organizations do? First, two observations: Observation one is that...
If you lead an association, you know its important that your members play a role in shaping your strategy and priorities....but being member-driven is just half of the battle. The other important and often overlooked piece has to do with communication. It can be hard...
By Alan Ward We don’t know our limits until we push past them.
Is this true? It sounds like it could be true. If you asked me, though, if I knew my limits my automatic thinking answer would be “Yeah, pretty well.” I more or less know what I can and cannot do. Ergo, I probably know my limits.
My deeper thinking process, however, would question that conclusion. All I really know is what I have done, what I have done well or not so well, and what I stay away from doing. I know my experience, but not my limits.
As the saying goes, “failure to plan is planning to fail.” Just as important as your association or nonprofit’s strategy is an implementation plan to put all of those great ideas into action! Here is a simple implementation plan template to help get the ball rolling in achieving your strategy.
With low-cost survey tools like SurveyMonkey at their fingertips and ever-present budgetary pressures, it is easy to see why some associations are foregoing market research expertise and going the DIY route where their member needs surveys are concerned.
There are a number of tools you can use to succinctly and effectively communicate to your members that they drive the association agenda. The one-page strategic plan is a great way to present your strategic plan in a succinct way to your members – the key is to make it clear that their input is being used to drive the agenda. Below is one example of a one-page member-driven strategic plan. Here is an example.
Ten critical things your association or nonprofit should be doing to recruit, retain and engage your volunteers. By Jack Shand, CAE, CMC.
As leaders and contributors, we want to make things happen. We need to make things happen. On our watch revenues should be ramping, membership should be growing, and our organization’s influence should be expanding. We develop strategy, equip the ship, and set sail. And things go well… until perhaps they don’t. Then, it seems, we have more questions than answers…
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