Talking at your members is a one-way communication—pushing a message. Technology makes talking at the members of your association easy, all it takes is a few clicks of your mouse. You can find literally dozens of association communications software solutions at http://www.capterra.com/association-management-software/. As well, MailChimp allows you to send [...]
“At most conferences, information flows from the top down in a numbing series of discursive, disconnected PowerPoints and sessions address topics relevant only to some of the people in the room. Participants leave slightly better informed than when they arrived.”[1] Your events do not have to be like “most [...]
Your association can apply to delay the date of its Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA) requires that AGM’s must be held within six-months of the yearend. This is a challenge for federally incorporated associations whose yearend is December 31st and who have traditionally held [...]
The purpose of this article is to identify the five key notifications required when your association board members change, so that all those who should be notified are told on a timely basis. Adding or Removing an Association Board Member The requirements are the same if there is a [...]
How easy or hard, how long or short, how much or how little your association’s audit/review engagement 1 will be is in up to your organization—not the external accountant. You can take control of the audit process by meeting with the audit partner/manager and person doing the fieldwork—before the [...]
The purpose of this article is to identify strategies to build your association through the recruitment and retention of better board members; these strategies can also be applied to volunteers who are potential board members. There are three cornerstone strategies to board building: Identify the gap between strengths and [...]
You do not have to be a Christian or a member to benefit from a wealth of free resources available from the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC) (should you choose to join however, memberships, which include deep discounts on office supplies, begin at $30 for registered charities). In [...]
“Membership dues remain the largest single source of association revenue, but its share has been shrinking over the long term.” Dues average 41.4% of trade association revenue, according to an American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) report.1 So if membership dues - as a piece of the overall association [...]
The purpose of this article is to help boards to be more effective by focussing on the big picture—not on routine matters—by building on the benefits of using a consent agenda. A consent agenda promotes good time management, allowing Boards “to focus on issues of real importance to the [...]
Using a consent agenda can make your board meetings shorter and more productive. It achieves this by combining routine meeting motions into one motion. If every board member does his/her homework it is possible to have a single motion that approves: Meeting agenda Minutes of the previous meeting Reports [...]