This month's round-up of the top-voted association stories submitted to AssociationJam.org may be the most diverse and interesting yet — and there were even a couple of categories (Leadership and Fundraising) in which two very different stories tied for top place!

Here, by topic, are the top stories voted up by Association Jam readers for December 2009:

Membership

No Dues. Just the Experience. | Kerry Stackpole | Wired 4 Leadership

If your association couldn’t charge dues, would your members pay you for the experience of belonging? It’s a serious question. Member benefits aside.

This post speaks to what I mentor my photography clients on—relationships based on value. People are looking for the experiences of what the product or service brings to them that is irreplaceable, and it's important now more than ever in this computerized world where personal interaction is becoming less common, to stand out with whatever you are offering... [~ commenter Audrey Ranieri at AssociationJam.org]

Events

Want better meetings? Do evaluations | Maureen Carruthers | Low Hanging Fruit

How will you know if you’ve given good value to meeting participants? Save 5-10 minutes at the end of each meeting to ask 4 simple questions...

Leadership

Two stories tied for first place in the Leadership category this month:

Where No Association Has Gone Before - Lessons from Star Trek | Shelly Alcorn | Association Subculture

Starfleet does not spend time complaining about last years conference dinner or micromanaging its captains. Here's what we do. Go do it. Should your real world association mission be less powerful? ... Clear mission, clear values, clear policy and clear roles.

The Trouble with Hierarchy | Jamie Notter | Get Me Jamie Notter

Hierarchy in organizations was designed in a completely different era. We don't have to get rid of it, but we need to address its weaknesses in a deep way. Hierarchy is to organizational effectiveness, as strategic planning is to strategy....and it sucks.

Volunteers

Ten Red Balloons: Lessons in Volunteer Management | Judith Lindenau | Off Stage

What can associations learn from the winner of the most recent DARPA contest, the Red Balloon Challenge? A big lesson is how to organize resources and mobilize volunteers using social networking.

Fundraising

Two stories tied for first place in the Fundraising category this month:

How Web Design Can Improve Your Online Fundraising | Elizabeth Beachy | Step By Step Fundraising

Your nonprofit website has a donation page... so how come you're not getting any donations? The lack of online giving could be due to several reasons, from low traffic to a poorly designed website.

What If Associations Weren’t Afraid to Generate Serious Cash? | Kevin Holland | Association Inc

As an association you have access to a cash-generating apparatus that would make for-profit companies salivate, if you’ve been doing at least some things right.

Social Media

LinkedIn Tools for Associations and Chambers of Commerce | Karla Tillman Pollack | ABS News Center Blog

LinkedIn, a professional networking social network, has more than 50 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Here are 3 ways to add LinkedIn to your organization’s communications tool box, and two useful free LinkedIn applications to help you make the most of it.

Fun

Blog FAIL: What was I thinking?! | Erica Salimida | Fast Company

Like the scrunchie, that guy I dated sophomore year, and stirrup pants, this goes down in history as one of those “What was I thinking?” moments. People say hindsight is always 20/20, but why didn’t I at least add some insight, like a Q&A with the CEO or a customer review, to accompany the press release? Maybe I was hoping that my extreme lack of creativity would have the opposite effect on people, making them think I was a genius.

Technology

Learn to Podcast : Podcasting 101 : Guide to Podcasting Basics Jeff Cobb | Mission to Learn

Jeff Cobb's free PDF guide to podcasting offers a concise set of tools and brief explanations that should be of use to pretty much any individual or organization that wants to get into podcasting or expand their current efforts.

Other

Open for Business! « Unemployed Marketers Group Offers Help to Nonprofits | Unemployed Marketers Group

The most challenging consequence of being out of a job is the sense that all your talent and skill is being wasted, and that's the impetus for the foundation of the Unemployed Marketers Group. Brian VanderMey and a few dozen colleagues from the marketing world have banded together to keep their skills sharp and their resumes active. The group offers pro bono marketing services to nonprofit organizations on an on-going basis: an application form is available on their website.

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, we invite you to submit your links to AssociationJam.org. Follow @associationjam on Twitter to see which stories get voted up and onto the front page!