This month’s round-up of the most popular links at AssociationJam.org brings you a broad mix of theory and practical tips for
people in associations and nonprofit organizations — oh, and a
“must-laugh” Dilbert cartoon for anyone who’s ever faced a challenge on the job!
Here’s a look at what topped each of Association Jam’s topic categories in September:
Membership
Relevance Is Not Enough
Jamie Notter | Get Me Jamie Notter
The association community thinks relevance is the key to
success, and that’s not true any more. If you’re not figuring out ways
to provide much deeper value, you won’t see growth.
Events
Annual Meeting: The discussion continues
Lisa Junker | Acronym
Discussion about the 2009 Annual Meeting in Toronto continues,
both on association blogs and elsewhere. A round up of the latest
coverage.
Board
“I’m
Pleased to Introduce Our New Chairman, Who Like Any Other Human Being
Has a Compelling Life Story That Has Led Her to This Point and Informed
Her Worldview … But She’s Not Going to Talk About Any of That”
Kevin Holland | Association Inc.
What does all this add up to? A missed opportunity. For the
association, and perhaps even more painfully, for the individual in
question… Now, here’s what should happen when you are introducing a new
chairman.
Volunteers
Three Actionable Ideas for Welcoming New Volunteers
Chris Bailey | Gravit8 Interactivity
For my association to be successful, we had to be adept at
quickly engaging prospects and helping them go from curious prospect to
new member to passionate advocate.
Fundraising
Five Things Your Nonprofit Needs to Know About Web 2.0 Donors
Heather Mansfield | Nonprofit Tech 2.0
Your organization will continue to have your check writers and
your Web 1.0 Donors, but there is third group of donors out there now
that is entirely different. Your approach to them… needs to be entirely
different as well.
Social Media
10 Tips for Launching an Online Community
Maddie Grant | SocialFish
Some great tips adapted from a post by Jeremiah Owyang.
Fun
Dilbert comic strip for 09/24/2009 from the official archive at Dilbert.com:
Technology
There ARE “Affordable” AMS Systems
Wes Trochlil | EDM Blog
I often hear from association executives they can’t afford to buy an
association management system (AMS)…. with the advent of SaaS product
pricing, even smaller associations can afford to buy really robust AMS
software.
Other
6 Counterintuitive Ideas for Associations
Maddie Grant | SocialFish
Need to make money? Give stuff away for free. Need to develop better
strategy? Invite competitors, remove the chain of command/committee
barriers – and open the doors to direct feedback. Do the opposite of
what everyone else is doing.
Get linked…
If
you’ve got a stand-out blog post, article, presentation, video, or
other online resource to help associations and non-profits be more
effective, add your story links at AssociationJam.org.