Who is Managing your Association?

Associations are typically managed in one of three ways, volunteers, an in-house administrator, or an Association Management Company. With volunteers and in-house administrators, you can run into several issues. Volunteers are treasured in associations and appreciated for the work they put in, however, they do not always have the capacity to put in the type of hours that most associations need to run properly and efficiently. They also might lack the knowledge and skills that can help the association grow rather than just staying afloat. In-house administrators can cost you a pretty penny to keep everything in order. They also have a limit to their skills. One person can only do so much and only has so many skills that can be applied to the association's management. 

Association Management Companies, on the other hand, can provide an assortment of benefits to the association while saving you money. Association Management Companies have a group of talented people whose primary focus is to grow and manage nonprofits. By working with a group or small team, you are provided the skill set of multiple people and professionals. In our office, if someone has a financial question, they turn to Heather. If they have an event planning question, they go to Tammy. This team dynamic is beneficial to clients because it allows them to have someone who is an expert on any association related topic at their fingertips. 

AMCs also allow the volunteers to focus on strategy rather than details. Whether it is newsletters, managing financials, or sorting through the admin inbox, your AMC can handle it! This gives volunteers more time to think about the mission of the organization and ensure the group is staying on track. 

Another benefit of working with an AMC is the buying power they have in the industry. Hotels, for example, know that if they provide excellent service and a good deal for a conference, the AMC will be more likely to consider them for future conferences with other clients. Because of this, your association can get room deals and discounts on other event related services. This benefit can expand past hotels; AMCs have connections with insurance providers, nonprofit attorneys, printing companies, and more! 

Step back and look at how your association is currently running. Do you have volunteers up to their ears in work? Are you paying an in-house administrator for a job a team could do more efficiently? Is your current AMC a good fit? Evaluating how your association is being managed is the first step in improving your association, making members and the board happier. 

The Importance of a Mission Statement

All associations have a mission they are working towards whether they put it in writing or not. The putting it in writing part, however, is more important than you might think. One, having your mission in writing will hold your board accountable to making decisions that directly follow that mission. They will have something to refer back to when guiding the group and determining plans. Two, having a mission, allows potential members to have a better understanding of your association’s purpose. They will be more likely to join if they have a full understanding of the group and stand behind the mission. 

When writing your mission statement, there are a few things you want to keep in mind. Your mission statement should: 

• Be clear and simple. The statement should be easily understood by both those in the organization and those who are not. 

• A full explanation of your association’s purpose. Make sure to cover your basis and explain the entire purpose of the organization in the short statement. 

• Avoid fluff. Do the previous two together without adding fluff words and unnecessary jargon. This will only complicate the statement cause some people to skip over reading it all together. 

• Separate from a vision statement. Understand the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement. A vision statement is a declaration of an organization’s objectives rather than an explanation of what the association already does. 

If your board does not already have a mission statement in the books, get together to create a cohesive idea of what your association’s mission truly is. After that, get to writing!  

The Essentials of a Board Orientation

Joining a Board of Directors can be a tricky decision. You are committing your free time to running an organization for the next year or two. You may also be hesitant as to what you are actually jumping into as a volunteer. As the current, Board of Directors, it is important to train your new members and provide background on the association. At Impact, we have a Board Orientation Outline that we provide for our clients. It ensures that the proper information is shared with new board members and nothing is left out. Here are a few essentials you should include on your Board Orientation Checklist! 

An introduction. Take the time at the beginning of your orientation to thank the volunteers for their time and commitment to the organization. This will make them feel appreciated and needed and encourage them to jump right in! 

History: Briefly go over how the organization came to be as well as any policies and procedures that are set in place. 

Expectations. Share the association’s mission, vision, and core values. Explain how their new role falls in line with those values. It is also important to lay out a relatively accurate expectation for the time commitment involved with their role. Hopefully this was already discussed prior to their joining, but should be reemphasized. Lay out when meetings are, how many they should be attending, and more! 

Membership. Include a breakdown of how many member types you have and how many members fall into each type. Discuss the ways in which you would like to grow each type and any discussions that have been made about potentially changing these memberships. 

Strategic Plan. Now that you have covered the basics, it is time to get into the nitty gritty or what the group will be working towards. Communicate your strategic plan and allow for questions from your new board member. 

Your new board member may be a little overwhelmed at first but the orientation is there to help them catch up to speed with the rest of the group. This could be presented as a document or a one on one between a current and new board member. It is important to be available for questions and encourage any suggestions of change from the new set of eyes. If the new board member has questions about something that was left out, add it to the outline for the next newbie!  

If you are interested in seeing Impact’s Board Orientation Outline, email kristen@ImpactAMC.com!

Avoiding Volunteer Burnout

Every association is lucky to have those few people who are so passionate about the organization that they volunteer for everything! They join the group eager to help in every way they can to keep the association moving in the right direction. You might notice that saying “few people” is not an understatement. An associations can be made up of 50 people or hundreds and it will still have a small amount of people who are willing to volunteer their time.

This can lead to the same handful of people volunteering for the board, committees, or events which can result in volunteer burnout. If you notice that your volunteers are becoming increasingly less enthusiastic, slacking on the job, or more and more negative, you might have a case of volunteer burnout on your hands. Recognizing this burnout is the first step in fixing it. Keep an eye out for when your volunteer’s excitement starts to dwindle.

Once you have noticed that a volunteer is starting to burnout, take a look at their workload and figure out how to divvy it up differently. Pass some responsibilities to those who are looking for more to do. This will allow your volunteer some more free time and a moment to catch their breath.

It is also important to show your appreciation for the volunteers. Feeling valued is often a strong motivator in someone’s work ethic. Showing the group that they are special and emphasizing the difference they are making will raise the morale of the group and keep them chugging along.

Another option to take the load off your volunteers, would be to hire an AMC. AMCs are there to do all of the minuscule things that your volunteers either don’t have time for or simply do not want to do. It allows them to focus on the bigger picture of the association, keeping the mission at the forefront.

Volunteer management can be a challenge, however, it is better to keep a close eye on your volunteers throughout their time with the organization than to run them into the ground.

Adjusting to an AMC

The changeover to an AMC can be a big one. Because of that, we have put in place an on-boarding process for each of our new clients. With this process things tend to run a lot smoother, however, we do notice some clients still have a hard time adjusting to an AMC. Below are a few tips and tricks to an easy transition.

• Overload your AMC with information. Keep in mind that your AMC is becoming a part of your association with only the knowledge you provide and that they can research. They might be new to the industry of your association or even just the way you have done things in the past. Never hesitate to share information about your association. The more your AMC knows, the better off you will be.

• Be available. We often find that if we are not provided information, we spend a majority of our time tracking down the person with that information. If that person is often unavailable, the process drags out. Make sure your AMC has any login information and processes right off the bat in order to avoid delay of communication. If you expect your AMC to provide drafts before publishing work, make sure to get back to them in a timely manner in order to make sure the work officially goes out.

• Let go and let us! AMCs have the experience and skills to do the job. If you are paying for them to do it, make sure to actually let them do it. Once you have seen drafts in the first few months and have evaluated the quality of the work, learn to trust your AMC. This will alleviate you of the duties and free up time that you wanted to gain by hiring an AMC. 

Although change and depending on others can be scary, it is often for the best. If you hired an AMC it was for a reason. You also picked the AMC you picked for a reason. Learn to trust them, communicate with them, and fill them in on all things about your association will only make your organization more successful.