Spark Consulting

APRIL 18, 2013

'I’ll be speaking about this topic today as part of the April Alexandria Brown Bag focusing on Grassroots Membership Strategies. (If you’re free around lunchtime today, there’s still time to register.). I’ll be sharing the story of my fab client the American Medical Student Association. About a year ago, they switched to a free membership model (disclaimer – I cannot claim any credit for this, as we started working together in the aftermath of the switch).

Revenue 226

Revenue Review Innovation Strategy 226

Wild Apricot

APRIL 15, 2013

'What piece of advice has resonated with you and transformed your work? Here are a few pieces of advice that might apply to nonprofits.

250

250

Reid All About it

APRIL 19, 2013

'First… Oh, Boston, you’re my home. Dirty Water by The Standells (video) my favorite by Mission of Burma didn’t seem appropriate right now. Back to your regularly scheduled program… One of my favorite curated posts to read during the weekend is GigaOm’s Look Back at the Week in Tech. They describe it as “our rewind and quick take on the most important stories and some great links for your weekend reading.”. digitalNOW (#diginow13).

Boston 172

Boston Raleigh Maryland Content 172

Virtual

APRIL 18, 2013

'As standards initiatives develop, a fork in the road that many hit is the question on whether to formally incorporate the entity or continue operating under a more informal structure, often referred to as a “promoter-adopter” model. While no one likes to pay legal fees, the reality is that incorporation carries with it significant benefits [.].

153

153

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Member Engagement

Spark Consulting

APRIL 17, 2013

'Associations Now wants to help you spring clean your membership practices around dues, invoices, benefits and data. Tips for giving and taking criticism (aimed at freelancers, but applicable to everyone). In case you were wondering, all is not sunshine and puppies online. Another spring meeting season tip: take better notes. Want to foster a culture of innovation?

Review 204

Review Innovation Tips Leadership 204

Eric Lanke

APRIL 15, 2013

'image source Read an interesting blog post about the changing nature of music industry. According to the author, after generations of working to make the music being produced more accessible, the industry is changing its focus to deliver the highest quality sound experience possible. The internet and the MP3 player has made music almost universally accessible, and so the market is switching to high fidelity as its primary value proposition.

Industry 130

Industry Leadership Course Conference 130

Mariner

APRIL 19, 2013

'April 19, 2013. In yesterday''s post on three ways to observe National Volunteer Week, one focused on reflecting on the value of your volunteer program. Here are couple of resources that might just help you in the reflection. So pull up a comfortable chair. read more.

Association Management 109

Association Management Resources 109

Spark Consulting

APRIL 15, 2013

'IdeaStarter is a new project from the minds at Avectra. The point of the site is to make it easy to set up a site for any project your organization (association or not, Avectra client or not) wants to undertake that needs support, whether financial (aka fundraising) or in-kind (aka volunteers). It’s only been out there for about a month and so far it looks like there are only two projects on the site, but the point is to make it fast and easy to put together a landing page for your cause

Project 183

Project Technology Organization 183

Wild Apricot

APRIL 17, 2013

'Here''s an overview of a free eBook from Blackbaud offering online marketing insights from 20 nonprofit experts.

eBook 228

eBook Marketing 228

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Strategy

Virtual

APRIL 18, 2013

'As standards initiatives develop, a fork in the road that many hit is the question on whether to formally incorporate the entity or continue operating under a more informal structure, often referred to as a “promoter-adopter” model. While no one likes to pay legal fees, the reality is that incorporation carries with it significant benefits for an organization and the process of establishing a corporate structure is fairly easy.

Class 109

Class Certificate Course Cost 109

Vanguard Tech

APRIL 18, 2013

'Poor use of stock photography has led to a world of clichés and gobbledygook. By now we have seen enough images of “grey-haired business man” or “multi-cultural people looking at a computer screen.” Heck, even the “writing on a white board” photo is overused. Admit it, you giggled a bit as you read that because you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Project 102

Project Communications Tips Organization 102

Spark Consulting

APRIL 19, 2013

'It’s my Top 5 from digitalNOW. I know it’s a little late, but I was busy launching the new whitepaper on associations and CRM last week (you have downloaded your free copy , right?). The concept of the Maker Society. Jenny Levine from the American Library Association talked about their MakerSpace initiatives as part of ALA’s ongoing work to allow members to hack the associations (which resulted, among other things, in a self-organized conference ).

Social Media 174

Social Media Library Innovation Washington 174

Mariner

APRIL 18, 2013

'April 18, 2013. National Volunteer Week is just around the corner (April 21st)! You can use this week at least three different ways. read more.

Leadership 109

Leadership Association Management 109

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Associations Now

APRIL 19, 2013

'A new study found that psychological and neurological complexities of the brain can contribute to a leader’s ability to adapt to changing environments and demands. That conclusion may reshape the future of leadership training. What separates the Margaret Thatchers, Ronald Reagans, and other great leaders of the world from others? We were successfully able to measure complexity and show that it matters more than simply the experience one has.

Leadership 85

Leadership Survey Recruiting Recruitment 85

Association Adviser

APRIL 16, 2013

'As we’ve learned throughout today’s issue, non-dues revenue (NDR) is an increasingly important contributor to many associations’ operating budgets. As the latest Association Adviser insta-poll shows, more than five out of six readers (86 percent) say NDR accounts for at least 25 percent of their annual revenue stream, and for 22 percent of readers, NDR accounts for more than half. .

Revenue 80

Revenue System Education 80

Spark Consulting

APRIL 16, 2013

'Mary Meeker recently shared an outstanding presentation on the State of the Web, 2012. It is 88 pages that are chock-full of information. Highlights include: Apple is still the game-changer in mobile, but Android devices are rapidly closing the gap. One billion people use smartphones, worldwide, but FIVE billion use mobile phones. Mobile Internet use has surpassed desktop Internet use in India.

Social Media 163

Social Media Innovation 163

Membership Marketing

APRIL 17, 2013

'As we deploy new and exciting marketing channels, it is often good to step back to be sure that we are covering the basics. That’s why I found an article by Kevin Mills, the Director of Membership for the National Legal Defense Association, a good reminder. In the April issue of Marketing Advents , Mills wrote an article titled, Direct Mail: The Foundation for Marketing Success.

Marketing 74

Marketing Products Social Media Recruiting 74

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Associations Now

APRIL 17, 2013

'One association executive urges you to take down the walls around your association’s online community platform and let nonmembers in. After the rise of social networks Facebook and LinkedIn several years ago, it didn’t take long for associations to see the potential in converting their traditional directories and listservers into more robust platforms for member engagement and interaction—and, of course, the potential for boosting the appeal of their member-benefits packages.

Social Media 84

Social Media Discount Directory Education 84

Association Adviser

APRIL 16, 2013

'Tracy Tompkins. A clearly defined editorial plan can help ease the magazine production process and help you reach your communications goals. These best practices can organize your editorial leadership and help you develop best-in-class communication pieces that your members can trust as the voice of your industry. Create an editorial committee that regularly meets and plans relevant editorial topics for your magazine.

Products 74

Products Process Committee Guidelines 74

SCD Group

APRIL 16, 2013

'In the year before I was fired as an association executive (back in 1992), my initial response to callers who asked “how are you doing?” was “ hangin’ in there.”. In retrospect, I realize that the phrase “hangin’ in there” represented a negative signal from the No. 2 exec in the organization. And, those simple words passed along an attitude to volunteers and staff.

Leadership 63

Leadership Review Project Organization 63

Mizz Information

APRIL 16, 2013

'About five weeks ago, I quit my job--the ultimate "never do this" move. Why? Because crying out of frustration every day about a job happens to fall into my "life is too short" category and I decided I was entitled to a one-time exception to the "never quit a job without having a new one" rule. So here I am, five weeks later, licensed by the state of Maryland to do business as McGary Associates and trying valiantly to land a new job (McGary Associates is merely a side-gig, not my plan for full-

Maryland 59

Maryland Price Organization 59

Speaker: Andrew Olsen, CFRE - EVP, Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker | Kat Landa, CFRE, CSD - SVP, Talent Solutions at DickersonBakker

Across the nonprofit sector, organizations invest heavily in donor retention efforts, yet the struggle of cultivating lasting relationships remains. While attracting new donors is crucial, the lack of repeat donors poses significant financial risks. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry data, experts argue that there is a direct correlation between donor burnout, donor retention, and the talent retention crisis.

Analysis

Associations Now

APRIL 18, 2013

'More at ASAE''s Annual Meeting Author and lecturer Susan Cain, whose book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking helped spark the recent surge in interest in the qualities of introverts, will be the Opening General Session speaker at ASAE’s 2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta on Sunday, August 4. New research has found that while extroverts may be viewed as high-performing team players, their contributions to group projects are lacking compared to what their

Team 82

Team Los Angeles Atlanta California 82

Association Adviser

APRIL 16, 2013

'Alex DeBarr. As with their for-profit brethren, many associations must face up to the fact that they are either on the brink of failure or are on the brink of success. Both positions are dangerous, yet brimming with opportunity—and both positions require fast recognition. Associations now face more competition, more financial pressure and more market volatility than ever before.

Revenue 74

Revenue Communications Leadership Marketing 74

SCD Group

APRIL 14, 2013

'Over the last 30+ years in associations and nonprofit organizations, I’ve witnessed: Major donors defect from the organization. Board members yell and debate over seemingly inconsequential matters. Members resign in protest over the organization’s policies. With that background, I was astonished to read about Albert Hirschman’s 1970 piece called Exit, Voice and Loyalty” as noted in Roger Lowenstein’s Wall Street Journal review titled The Choice: To Squawk or to Go?

Review 60

Review Leadership Association Management Team 60

Beth Kanter

APRIL 16, 2013

'I have been working in the nonprofit sector for 34 years, spending the last twenty of them focusing on the nonprofit technology sector to deliver training and capacity building. I have been waiting a long time to have a sector-wide conversation about learning from failure and last week at the Nonprofit Technology Conference, we were able to just that!

Video 51

Video Innovation Technology Software 51

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

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