Effective Non-Profit Interdepartmental Partnering (829 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

Developing Strategic Alliances

Divisive in the world of non-profits are the employee and executive adverse reactions to anything entrepreneurial. This operating philosophy must be buried with the other relics of the Twentieth Century if Twenty-First Century non-profits are to thrive. The natural outcropping of this (should be) dead paradigm is silo mentality.

Are you having challenges with internal departments unwilling to collaborate? Do you believe this lack of cooperation is costing your organization time, resources, and money? Here is an idea that I’m sure will serve all leaders of today’s non-profits: put your suspected “Lords of Lesser Corners” under the microscope and call them out—privately, of course.

Do you have “Lords of Lesser Corners” in your organization? Be honest now…I’m not trying to be mean however, let’s call things by their proper name. These “Lords” are persons with some amount of authority but are emotionally small people. They are in constant fear of their jobs and area of influence. They lead by Draconian methodology. Their standard method of operation is protectionism. They live their non-profit organizational lives in constant fear and other erroneous beliefs.

Are these “Lords” bad people? Generally not, but they have a huge need for updated education in organizational success and personal success. “Lords of Lesser Corners” can be identified by their unwillingness to change, progress, and embrace new opportunities.

Exploring the Cost of Devastation

The disarray these Lords bestow upon your organization is omnipresent. The protectionism is so insidiously woven into the fabric of their silo’s culture that it is like a cancer in need of chemotherapy. Are you dealing with these challenges?

  • The very bright talent leaves.
  • The deadwood lingers.
  • The bottlenecks are everywhere.
  • Interdepartmental relationships are severed.
  • Interdepartmental sabotage is rampant.
  • Internal customer deadlines are ignored.
  • The organization is completely constipated.

What’s a Chief Staff Executive to Do?

Before you can scan the landscape, you first have to take off the blinders and be completely honest about your situation. You can no longer play ostrich with you’re your head in the sand. Take a close look at your “Lords of Lesser Corners” and explore this question deeply, “Do they add any value to the organization?” Consider the following:

  • Do they possess a talent so specialized that they are impossible to replace?
  • Are they so loved by large segments of your membership that their departure would cause a retention problem?
  • Are you so understaffed that you are willing to retain those that impede?
  • Is it just too much trouble to make a change?
  • Are they a family member?
  • Are they blackmailing you?
  • Do you have the will to lead well?

Strategy for Successful Retention

  • Re-educate the “Lord” as to your expectations of how they operate in the organization. This is the best option. If you can help your Lords to better understand their place in the greater scheme of things, they might consider a behavior change. For internal partnering to be successful, every manager/director must understand how their department’s behavior, performance, and cooperation affect all the other departments and ultimately, the members’ experience.
  • Re-organize your company’s silos and relocate the “Lord” in a section where they will do less damage through their provincial thinking. This is the easiest path but least effective. Your “Lords,” if not re-educated, can and will still spread their darkness.
  • Realize you, the Chief Staff Executive, might be part of the problem for allowing the isolative behavior to continue. You may not realize it but through your non-action, you have been rewarding the behavior you do not want. Ultimately, whatever happens in your organization generally emanates from your management style and behavior.
  • Adjust your departmental director review process to also include their accountability for the whole organization’s effectiveness and success in serving members.

Tools, Skills & Motivation

Relationship management tools will be at the foundation for improvement in interdepartmental partnering. One effective tool is to associate salary, bonus, or incentive pay for managers and department directors with interdepartmental relationship improvement. You can use a number of 360-style measuring instruments—an application you might already own—for measuring improvement. Connect pay to improvement and you’ll be pleased with the results.

An additional collaboration tool is to develop a staff committee (a representative from every department) of “Interdepartmental Collaboration,” answering directly to the Chief Staff Executive. I use the term collaboration as it conjures a different and more beneficial vision in the minds of most, from that of cooperation. This committee will be charged with, and rewarded for, the quality of interdepartmental collaboration.

While it is completely true that the Chief Staff Executive sets the culture for any non-profit—this person cannot be everywhere all the time. Your collaboration committee might just save the careers of your “Lords of Lesser Corners” by helping the “Lords” to better understand how they can contribute to the success of your organization as a whole, and not just their department.

The key to safeguarding your organization’s future…is to research, embrace, and maximize…your member ROI.

Can Associations Serve the Industry, and its Members? (532 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

The ROI of Membership

Trade associations and professional societies that primarily focus on legislative matters can run the risk of neglecting its membership. Does that mean that focusing on influencing politicians is a bad thing? Not as long as the organization’s members don’t get left behind. Unfortunately, this is just what happens, much too frequently.

Here is an important question, “Does your organization’s legislative activities create value for non-members?” You’ll most likely answer, “Yes they do.”

If so, what’s the benefit in membership? Where’s the motivation for a person or a company to continue giving the organization money when others receive basically the same benefits with no cost involved?

You might answer with, “Well, they need to support their industry.” I agree, however the drop-offs or non-joiners intensely disagree. And, they vote with their checkbooks.

Not long ago, an association in the Pacific Northwest hired me to conduct my Member Value ProcessTM at their annual meeting. While we determined that the association delivered acceptable value to its members, it was crystal clear to the board of directors that much of the work in which the association focused (legislative), benefited the industry as a whole and not just its membership.

Gosh, I hate it when people want to shoot the messenger rather than to listen to the message, but that’s the life of a consultant. As you guessed, the board was not happy with the findings—few really do enjoy looking into the mirror, let alone bringing it up close.

So, what’s the solution? The simple solution is to deliver more value to your members than to your industry. Granted, some non-members will always get value from the important legislative work in which associations participate; however, this needs to be minimized.

Here is the most important question that organizational staff can pose to the volunteer leadership, “What else can we offer to our members that costs us very little yet is perceived by members as being highly valuable to them?” You answer that question, and you’ve solved the age-old riddle!

As an example, the association mentioned above charged the non-members the same price to attend the annual meeting as the paid members—justifying this horrific action by saying that they needed more bodies to walk through their expo to satisfy their vendor/allied members. Hogwash I say. Honor your members by giving them a HUGE discount.

Another association gave members, and non-members the subscription to their newsletter at no charge. That’s okay for the members, but hellfire—make the non-members pay.

A third example is the association that sold its membership list to non-members for the same price as to its members. Let’s not go down the path of the ethics of selling membership lists but rather the ethics of treating your members so poorly.

I bet if the staff and volunteer leaders of your organization were to spend a single day brainstorming ideas on how to deliver more value to the membership, you would be amazed at what you’d discover. Please don’t whine about poor member retention or recruitment if you’ve never spent a day brainstorming how to deliver enough value to your members so they could justify the cost of their membership.

The key to safeguarding your organization’s future…is to research, embrace, and maximize…your member ROI.

Association Executive Focus—Core Membership or Financial Results (659 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

The ROI of Membership

I’m distressed. I receive about a dozen meetings industry and association related magazines each month. With interest, I read about “meeting ROI” and “strategic meetings management” but…what I DO NOT read about is “member ROI” and that distresses me. While there are scores of fabulous trade associations and professional societies serving both North Americans and the international community, I cannot help but sometimes wonder what has gone wrong with so many USA based trade associations?

Being an Association Executive is Not Easy

Let’s face it, to be a successful association executive, one has to be quite an adept politician—not that it’s a bad thing—it’s just that not every leader is also a great politician. In leading a trade association or professional society, business skills are not enough. Dealing with the various personalities that span an organization’s membership is quite another thing. Oh yes, did I mention the egos? Perhaps that focus is what draws too much attention form the most important task at hand? No, it is not the executive keeping his or her job; it is delivering honest sustainable value to the organization’s membership. That is what sustains an organization.

Association Membership Abandonment

It has been quite a while, and a few name changes, since the American Society of Association Executives published an exit survey on why members do not rejoin their association or society. My interpretation of the survey is that 73% said that they did not rejoin because of the lack of receiving (perceived) reasonable return on their investment—the ROI just wasn’t good enough.

Member ROI Group at LinkedIn

I administer a special interest group at www.LinkedIn.com for association executives and staff. The group is so named, “Member ROI for Associations & Societies.” I frequently ask questions to bring forth responses from the group members. A question I posted about staff commissions and member incentives for member recruitment has received quite a bit of banter. Below is a comment from one of the group members that is very revealing:

“In my 20 years working for a dozen associations have I[‘ve] seen incentives for membership recruitment in practice…at least until recently. An association that I am familiar with pays a bonus to its CEO based on financial results. As far as I know, there are no other performance indicators factored into the mix to determine rewards (i.e. member satisfaction, member engagement, program results), just the bottom line. As a result, a great deal of energy has gone into recruiting non-industry members because their membership fees are the highest, and securing as many sponsorship dollars for the annual conference (which is suffering from dwindling attendance). But no additional effort has gone into retaining the core membership categories (industry practitioners) and their numbers are dropping by 5 – 10% each year. So, while the bottom line may look like it’s holding its own, membership attrition is on the rise. The point is, the CEO is more focused on getting as many dollars in the door to the detriment of the members and association programs and services.”

What Do You Think?

Do you think this person’s comments are sour grapes, or might the comments be too on-target for many to swallow? Sometimes truth can be quite a bitter pill. I believe the exceedingly difficult question that not enough of today’s association executives are asking is this: Are we delivering true and reasonable ROI to our members or are we simply perpetuating a broken association?

Here is the question that every member is asking of their association or society: And I get what for my membership dollars besides this monthly magazine, newsletter, or ezine?

Remember this. If you charge your members extra for something, it is not a value added item, only the price differential compared to what non-members pay would apply to the member’s ROI. This might be worth considering before you charge your loyal dues-paying members for the next webinar or white paper—just a thought.

The key to safeguarding your organization’s future…is to research, embrace, and maximize…your member ROI.

Member Engagement — Does Your Association Do It? (1153 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

The ROI of Membership

They are called the disenfranchised! Within a trade association or professional society’s membership; the disenfranchised are also referred to as the grumblers, the fringe, the disconnected, the malcontent, and the contrarians.

Warning: this article is bullet-hole riddled with clichés; however that was my disposition the day of writing. Nonetheless, this article is absolutely worth the read for all association and society paid staff and volunteer leaders.

In my professional association, many have classified me as one of the above. However about 10 years ago I did something about it and formed a community within the association that draws about 20% of the attendees to my annual event which is held in conjunction with the association’s convention. Now many of the association’s members also considered to be in my same disenfranchised category receive heightened value in their convention experience through my event. However, most associations do not have an “Ed” doing something for the outcast members. This is now the time for me to break my arm patting myself on the back.

Let’s talk about your association or society. How do you reel in the self-exiled members before they quit your organization? Below I have listed a few of the questions that I ask of boards of directors when facilitating strategic board planning retreats. Regardless of your position; paid staff or volunteer leader, asking the questions below at your next board meeting will cause an honest discussion around the topic of member engagement.

1. Do you know what really matters to the disconnected and have you attempted to deliver what they want?

Let’s face it, how can you deliver value, at any level, to a person if you have no idea as to what they consider to be valuable? I can’t tell you how many “happy sheet” surveys I’ve completed that asked the wrong questions; I believe for fear of hearing what people really think. What’s a happy sheet? A questionnaire that is written in such a way to elicit only one answer—yep, everything’s wonderful. As you know, when the ostrich’s head is in a hole, its rear is quite exposed—not the intended result. You can only improve the right things at the right time when you know what urgently needs to be fixed.

2. Are the disenfranchised members really grumbling contrarians or do they simply want different kinds of value—value that is not as easily delivered?

What do you do when you’ve picked all the low laying fruit—go away, or get a ladder? For many in association or society leadership, going the course is always the safe direction. However, to grow your organization, you must consider the needs of those that fall to the wake of the mainstream.

You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting. Many mature associations have had to merge with others that are involved in their industry. First, perhaps there shouldn’t have been multiple associations. But, I’m quite sure the genesis of the newer organization was out of discontentment from particular segments of the original organization’s membership. A new organization was formed and some time later dissolved, or the original organization met its demise. At the end of the day, to keep members engaged in an organization, they must receive value. The value might be that of, being valued or that of other more tangible issues—regardless, the value must be received.

3. Do you allow your organization’s Past President Good Ol’ Boys’ Club to be the organization’s puppet master?

Let me count the ways I’ve seen this, and let’s be clear on what really is, a puppet master. For this article, I define the puppet master as the person or persons behind the scene that pull the strings controlling the puppets. Am I calling your elected board members and paid staff puppets? I’ll just say this, if the shoe fits…

I realize this discussion will anger the good ol’ boys, but shouldn’t the elected board, in concert with the paid staff, run the organization? The insidiousness of this puppet master dynamic is that for many who want to make a difference, they would just as soon not make waves. And, for the single blade of grass, or member, that does try to rise above, the puppet master acts as a lawn mower and chops that blade, or member, down to the level of the rest. So why go through the trouble? Let the puppet masters pull the strings.

4. Are your board members continually seeking to deliver more perceived value to the organization’s members?

Wow, you mean improve? Sorry for being so cynical, it is just that I have worked with so many associations that are riddled with volunteer leaders that want the privileges and stature of a board member position but are unwilling to accept the same responsibility and perform their duties in a timely manner. Also I have seen plenty of paid staffers that are on cruise control, enjoying the comfortable ride. To continually deliver more member value means to get off cruise control and take some risks.

5. Why are you being so resistant to change?

What is it about this particular sacred cow that makes it so untouchable? This is the touchy question that gets many “doers and risk takers” chopped down to size and most aggravates the good ol’ boy puppet masters. Want an example? Try discontinuing your golf tournament—never you, mind that it has lost money the last five years in a row! Damn it! We’re not giving up the event! Now that’s settled!

The hard question for many trade associations or professional societies is this, are we trying to serve the members or are we trying to perpetuate the association’s legacy (the past president’s good ol’ boy club)? As a writer and professional speaker, I live in a glass house and will admit to being part of the good ol’ boys’ club in organizations of which I have once been a member. Fortunately, I realized when it was time for me to leave—I was just too stubborn to change.

An analogy I’ll draw; back in the days when I taught mostly sales training. I would tell a sales manager that they would have to fire that star sales person that left a wake of excrement behind and demoralized the rest of the sales force with his or her behavior. While they were the top sales person, they greatly damaged the sales department and the organization by their unacceptable behavior—that was being accepted. As such, this greatly flawed top performer became a heavily weighted ball and chain to the department and organization rather than a stabilizing anchor. At some point the sales manager was going to have to let go—in my opinion—the sooner the better. This opens a door for the rest of the organization to improve. It’s just hard to let go of what is comfortable—no matter the damage that’s being done.

Yes, the larger your membership, the better your organization can serve your industry. Might it make good sense to give up one member if you get ten in return?

The key to safeguarding your organization’s future…is to research, embrace, and maximize…your member ROI.

Industry Supporters and Value Seekers; a CSE’s Dilemma (984 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

What’s In It For Me is what every association or society member ponders…yearly.

Exploring the Chief Staff Executive’s (CSE) dilemma…I have one important question to ask you. How much more could your organization do for its members if the yearly sustainable real-dollar value of membership was known?

My work with associations and societies has revealed that today, there are less and less “industry supporters” and more and more “value seekers” in the market place. Value seekers need more than the good feeling that they have supported their industry on order to join and retain membership in an association or society.

The Dilemma

In attempting to deal with the dilemma that has caused the above question to be so crucially important for the survival of today’s associations and societies, we must first digress. Especially evident in mature industries are the number of Baby Boomer aged supporters. Many joined at the urging of their fathers who were also in the business. Your Baby Boomer supporters grew up in a world where Dad took care of revenue generation and Mom took care of everything else. Dads then had much more leisure time away from the family available to them than the Dads of today.

Sacred Cows

The sacred cow activities, services, and products that your organization offers to its members are relics of the past world order. Older members surly recognize that these are losing propositions for the organization but are also their connection to the past. This connection creates value for some, yet rarely for enough to justify the loss to your organization. Resources are squandered to serve just a very few. Those same resources could be, and should be, invested in other programs that deliver a high return on investment (ROI) for a greater number of members.

The Value Seekers

Many of your prospective members are currently in their 20s and 30s, married, and have a spouse that also works. These folks have less, away from the family leisure time, and want to make the most of the time they have. Frequently, association and society meetings and activities have recreation or leisure elements built into the event—a draw for the Baby Boomers but not so much for their younger counterparts. These younger folks are much more computer and electronic communication savvy than their seniors and can find the industry specific training they need (which has been the decades old stalwart of associations) elsewhere.

The Advocacy Trap

While nobody will argue that traditionally associations and societies have done phenomenal work in the area of affecting legislation. This is one of the great benefits of large numbers collaborating for a common good. Additionally, nobody will argue that almost every player in a particular industry reaps the benefit of an organization’s advocacy efforts—regardless of their membership, or lack there of. The problem that has emerged for associations and societies is that the industry supporters, many of the Baby Boomers, are retiring. The “supporters” belonged to their trade association or society for a very different reason; to support their industry. The younger “value seekers” want something different, they want a return on their time and dollar investment. Since advocacy creates value for all, there is no actual return on investment because everyone gets the value regardless of membership.

Today’s Challenge

Associations and societies of today must show ROI in order to retain and recruit members. Organizations that have traditionally relied on their advocacy work to show value are finding themselves coming up short in today’s ROI column. Currently, your challenge is to create programs, activities, trainings, services, and anything else that deliver actual ROI for the dues their members pay. While many associations already do a pretty darn good job in this area, they also tend to do an awful job in measuring and communicating that ROI value to their current members and prospective members.

The Rigsbee Member ROI Valuation Process

Valuating the ROI on your various programs, services, and activities requires both art and science. There are a number of formulas (the science) for determining ROI and they are all based on having real-dollar numbers. What I believe to be the most honest way of determining the real-dollar value of any program, service or activity is to ask your members. This needs to be done in a live session facilitated by a non-partial third party (the art). Association staff and volunteer leaders have high-value determination agendas that generally hamstring the truth. Using audience feedback technology takes away risk by allowing anonymity. I want members to support, fight for, and stand by their valuation numbers, not to just offer random amounts.

When You Need Help

I have made a number of articles and other resources on this subject available to you at no charge; just visit http://www.rigsbee.com/association.htm and help yourself. I am now going to make a statement that to many, will likely sound quite self serving on my part. Conducting an honest member valuation process takes a skilled facilitator—you just cannot grab someone off the street to do the job. Please, please, please do not blow it with a lousy facilitator. And yes, the next potentially self-serving statement is this. I created the process, have been conducting the process for over a decade, and am darn good at it. If you do not hire me, at least hire someone as good as me. It is worth the expense to do this right.

Now You’ve Got an ROI Number

What now? Once you can honestly tell current members and prospective members how much they will get back for each dollar they invest in membership, you need to shout if from the roof tops. This information should be included in renewal notices, articles in your magazine or newsletter, on your web site, and everywhere possible. This is what the younger people in your industry need to hear. They need to hear why it is a good business decision to join your organization and pay their dues—year after year. They need to know what’s in it for them. Watch the video below for an effective tool for sharing member ROI.

Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

For Whom Is All the Pomp & Circumstance? (1378 words) 

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Let’s deal with another association sacred cow; ego driven meetings. This is a true “elephant in the living room” situation—one where we all look at it but deny its existence. Does your meeting really need all the frills, extras, and perks?

First let’s ask ourselves, for whom is the meeting really intended? Is it for the active working industry stakeholders? Then why all the frivolous meeting trappings—who are we trying to impress? Or might it be to impress non-members? If we are trying to impress non-members with our meeting “smoke and mirrors,” does that mean that we have no honest ROI (return on investment) to offer in return for one’s annual membership dues of conference registration?

If we want our industry stakeholders to consistently support our meetings, we need to cut out the fat and deliver the meat. Frills are fat—meat is education and effective networking. Control extravagant extras that deliver no real ROI to the attendees. If only a few members golf, but we are keeping a deceased golf tournament on life-support—why? Let’s stop the unnecessary spending and deliver real value for every dollar that is invested in our meeting registration, hotel stay, and travel.

The Real Cost

Every meetings industry magazine features at least one article annually on reducing meeting cost. Even the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association puts on three “Affordable Meetings” conferences a year. It is the same old tired saw, “We’ve got to do more with less.” But, is that true? Line item veto is the necessary tool to employ here.

For years, associations have been able to get “Meeting Partners,” aka, vendor sponsors to pop, in many cases, for the lion’s share of the meeting cost. But wait, today the vendors are expecting ROI—now what do we do? Moving past my caustic cynicism, may I please point out the elephant? Let’s talk about unnecessary frills, elite member benefits, and ego driven decisions.

Unnecessary Frills

While every meeting and industry is different, what remains constant is the discretionary spending of the executive director and volunteer president. This is where there are generally plenty of sacred cows to grind. Does the volunteer president really need a suite? Perhaps it is necessary; but only if he or she hosts nightly events for the membership.

Hauling staff across the country to an annual meeting can be a nice reward for the staff member but first do the cost-benefit analysis. Many times it will be more cost effective to hire local temporary help. But the earned flights and staff rooms are free. No they’re not. I have personally negotiated and signed enough meeting contracts to know that this is erroneous thinking.

“The general session staging was so beautiful and I was really motivated to attend the meeting because Mr. or Ms. National Celebrity was keynoting. “ Really—do you really hear this? I don’t think so. If you have to pay a national celebrity a hundred grand to motivate people to come to your meeting, what does that say about the value of your meeting? Sorry, but not much. Deliver the meat rather than the fat—give the attendees something that will actually make their business and personal life better. Deliver usable skills, knowledge, and perspectives. 

Elite Member Benefits

What about room upgrades for the board members and past presidents? Do you really think the upgrades are free? Not on your life; the rank and file members are paying for those upgrades in their nightly room rate. How about extravagant board dinners? The adage of rewarding board members for their service is questionable. They get more value than do other members through their high-levels of engagement. There is also another reality; some of the board members evade their responsibility and are bankrupt of action and follow through. Why reward them? While I’m not suggesting that board member recognitions are valueless, just that they must be tempered with results. Otherwise, that spending will easily diminish the ROI for the rest of the members.

Elite member benefits manifest in the most unusual ways. As an example; one association in North America gives its president, each year, a travel budget of $25,000 to visit other “sister” organizations around the globe. Does that help the North American members’ ROI? Absolutely not, there is zero benefit to the membership in that presidential perk. It is just a bonus the board voted into policy for itself. Would the money be better spent promoting the association’s accreditation program or possibly offering better food at their convention? Sure it would be more logical, but then it is an ego driven decision.

Associations must be responsible and look close at line items and be aware of the times. Like the challenge of overly lavish salaries and benefits for municipal, state, and federal employees, during a time of budget shortfalls. When public sector employment packages eclipse those of the private sector, the private sector will revolt. Associations must consider the same conundrum as it is easier for association members to vote with their checkbooks than change their government.

Ego Driven Meeting

How wonderful is the yearly “President’s Theme” in the greater scheme of things? Truly, the association’s executive director should be the holder of the long-term vision—providing that the association can keep one. The yearly presidential zigzags in direction serve nobody except the president’s ego. Stop it already! The money spent is squandered, unnecessary, and just another cost escalator.

Then there are the president’s, executive director’s, and the conference chair’s discretionary funds to be used for whatever they want. Might some oversight be in order here? Those funds simply raise the total cost of meetings and thereby minimize the ROI for members.

The hard truth is that while social conscience activities give us warm fuzzes, they are generally ego-driven. These activities deliver no ROI to attendees other than good feelings, and possibly a bit of networking. Do those activities if you must, however be honest about the motivation and the ROI depreciating effect on your event. Yes, a few members will laud the association for its efforts; however most will just tolerate the event. The preponderance of our society members prefer to give in their own way, rather than being forced into the herd mentality.

All of the above might be considered necessary and at miniscule cost. However, on a singular basis each might be acceptable but collectively these line-items can dramatically increase the total cost of your meeting and greatly reduce the ROI that your members receive for their meeting attendance investment.

Don’t Forget the Sponsor Needs

All too frequently, pushed to the back burner of importance, is the ROI that meeting sponsors receive. Today, so many associations call their sponsors, “Partners” but what does that really mean? Partners: what a wonderfully erroneous and politically correct term. Partner is actually a legal term with a very specific meaning and liability for one another is connected. There is little ROI for sponsors in ego driven meetings—labels do not deliver value. Sponsors are there for one reason—to do business—to sell.

Meeting sponsors are an incredibly precious asset that associations must nurture and cherish. Otherwise, those comfortable and expected checks will go somewhere else. Just to get you thinking, how many companies are now channeling a healthy percentage of their marketing budgets away from traditional broadcast and print media toward social (Internet) media? Yearly, the numbers are quickly increasing.

Also to get you thinking, many hospitality companies have rechanneled their marketing budgets away from traditional trade expos in favor of hosted buyer events. Why, because the hosted events deliver better ROI. Vendors have choice. Many associations would be well served by transferring the hotel room upgrades away from board members and toward their valued “Partner” sponsors. This will help them to engage in their primary desired activity—selling.

Meetings, and their sponsoring organizations, must deliver honest real-dollar ROI to all members, in all categories, in order for them to consistently lend their support. Consider grinding up yet another sacred cow—the ego driven meeting. Also consider running all budgetary spending, regardless of new or legacy, through a cost-benefit analysis matrix to find more sacred cows for the grinder. Always error on the side of more ROI for your the members.

Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

Member Engagement: Foster Communities of Reciprocity (776 words)

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When your members are actively engaged in your association or society, there are two important benefits to the organization. First is what usually comes to mind—member retention. Second, might not be so top of mind and that is member recruitment. When a member is enthusiastically engaged, he or she will aggressively talk about the organization to colleagues, suppliers and customers. There is no better source for member recruitment, which will have the follow-up member assimilation factor included, then member evangelists.

Fostering communities of reciprocity within your organization is the number one most important activity of association and society leaders and paid staff for encouraging high-level member engagement. However, there are frequently self-generated internal control issues that can easily squelch this kind of valuable participation. If a particular community is not, an association officially sanctioned and developed community, the leadership can all too easily consider the community a threat, menace, or danger to the organization’s traditional power structure. This is truly a disappointment to mature organizational value seekers.

Member Generated

There are no better organizational communities of reciprocity than the ones that are member founded. While these communities are all too frequently feared by the ensconced organizational leadership, they are nevertheless conduits of high member value. Dynamic individuals drive the creation of communities that they want, need, and desire.

If a contingent of your members want a particular community and develop it, they will value it and remain engaged as long as the community delivers value to them. It would only be a low-esteem, paranoid personality that would want to squelch this kind of community participation. Association leadership must embrace these emerging communities or chance the repercussion of member anger and drop-off.

Since these members generated communities deliver additional organizational value to members, association and society leaders really should be looking to put in place strategy and tactics that foster these communities rather than try to limit them. Frequently, geographical communities can evolve into formal “chapter” structure far quicker and more successfully than can or does organization developed structure.

Organization Generated

As I mentioned earlier, control is one of the primary reasons that organizational leadership will squelch member generated communities in favor of official organization created communities. Organizational created communities are fine and can deliver high levels of value if created for the correct reasons; primarily to deliver additional value to members. If revenue generation is the primary organizational driver, the communities have a higher propensity for failure.

Organizational created communities must serve the needs of members rather than the needs of the organization.  There also is the important challenge of relevance. Since member created communities are relevant to member needs, organizational created communities must do the same. The challenge with surveying members using an online system like Survey Monkey to determine wanted communities is that all to often members will state, give me this—and when created by the organization, the members never participate. This is because they have no skin in the game. Then association leaders surmise that members really do not want the communities.

Better, is for association leaders and staff to listen intently to off-handed remarks made by members during a variety of events and when enough members make a similar remark about a needed community—build that. This method is much more effective than the traditional leadership structure saying, “We need X, Y or Z” and then going out and building those communities without a champion.

Organization Assisted

Regarding a community that I personally built, even though the entrenched leadership of a particular association continually tried to kill the community; my good friend, W. Mitchell, frequently said to me, “The market decides.” With this in mind, the leadership could have and should have embraced a community being developed that gave scores of members an additional reason to attend the annual convention but fear of absolute control paralyzed any thoughts of collaboration, much less cooperation. Is this what you want?

A valuable hybrid approach will generally serve most organizations and their members well. This is where member generated communities are encouraged and assisted through a flexible support system put in place by the board of directors and administrated by the organization’s staff.

My urging to all association and society leaders, volunteer or paid, is to embrace communities of reciprocity that sprout within and around your organization. These communities should not be feared but rather embraced, nourished, and encouraged. The natural byproduct is additional perceived value your members will experience from membership in your organization, additional reasons to be engaged, and the organic development of member evangelists, singing the praises of your organization. Gosh, isn’t that so much better than animosity, distrust, and ambivalence?
Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

The Reluctant Board of Directors (1037 words)

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Membership organizations absolutely deliver ROI (return on investment) to their members. What are you afraid of, is the question I frequently find myself asking non-profit organization governing board members. I have observed, over the years, an alarming propensity of board members being remiss in their fiduciary responsibility to their organizations. Fiduciary encompasses more than simply financial good sense; also trust, loyalty, and prudence are crucial elements. I’ll get into this in a bit.

Do you really believe that your member value proposition is so low that you are afraid to measure it, is frequently my follow up query. I am truly amazed at the levels of fear board members exhibit in the area of articulating the value their organization delivers to its members. Many have such a deep-seated fear of revealing the ROI truth—that the number would be so low, thereby giving current membership justification to abandon ship. In my experience, reality is almost always the exact opposite. Organizations do deliver great ROI; they just have no clue as to how to measure it.

At the Core of Member Recruitment and Retention

I have been using my proprietary version of the active qualitative research method for over a decade to help associations and societies prove to their members and prospective members that membership is a good decision. I can categorically state that I have never worked with an organization that failed to deliver more real-dollar value than they charged for membership.

Unfortunately, out-dated and erroneous thinking obfuscates board members’ ability to engage in fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility to their organizations. What I mean by this is simply that board members of non-profit organizations are just as responsible to the members as they are to the organization. This means that some board members will find it uncomfortable (but it is absolutely necessary) to stretch their awareness and understanding of available organizational growth and management tools—like proving ROI.

At the core of any membership organization is the criticality of proving that membership is a good personal or business decision—based on the organization’s stated mission. Most membership organizations, especially trade associations and professional societies deliver far more real-dollar value than they realize—but unfortunately rely on the fictitious MasterCard commercial phrase, believing that membership is: PRICELESS. FYI; membership is not priceless, unless of course it is free. Priceless sold to the Baby Boomers, but does not sell to the GenY stakeholders in your industry. The GenY crowd only buys ROI.

Let’s Talk Real Measurement

I applaud organizations in which staff members have gone through the soft research process of comparing member benefits value to what might be available in the marketplace or by other organizations. However there is a problem with this process. It is a simple problem. People believe that which they help to create. If staff did it alone, the research numbers are generally a no-sale, or fail to pass the all-important “smell test.” Staff-driven is an excellent first step but it does fall short of being an effective member recruitment tool.

When a reasonable sampling of members are facilitated through the active qualitative research method for determining what they believe to be the yearly sustainable real-dollar ROI of membership, the organization and its members can tout—our members have told us…

As an example, after three years and six qualitative research sessions, the American Society for Quality can confidently state that their members have told them that for every dollar invested in membership, members get over $50 back in real-dollar value. Can your organization make such a claim?

Selling Membership—Whose Job is it?

Membership is everybody’s business, not just the members, not just the staff, but member recruitment must be a partnership among both. Each group inherently has several advantages and disadvantages in their quest to recruit new members. As an example, members can access colleague prospects far easier and faster than can staff, conversely staff generally has more dedicated resources and tends to me more consistent in selling membership. However, when there is a cooperative effort, a partnership, among staff, board of directors, and members, the machine is literally unstoppable. Neither group can successfully go it alone.

Fiduciary Responsibility to Help the Organization Grow

I cannot tell you how many times an executive director has called me after attending one of my member ROI workshops and stated that they could not get their board to agree to doing, or budgeting for, the ROI research project they desired to launch. Was it that the executive director was awful at selling the value of determining the real-dollar ROI that the organization delivers? Or, might it have been that the board members were so petrified that if they measured the member ROI they wouldn’t make the grade?

Either way, the board members individually, have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization they govern to seek out and engage the available cost-effective tools to help and allow their organization to grow and prosper, thereby serving the organization’s stated mission. It saddens me, inadvertently as may be, how many board members shirk this responsibility of loyalty to their organization.

Release the Fear; It Doesn’t Become You

I believe that every membership organization should go through the process of determining the yearly sustainable real-dollar value it delivers to members. The next natural step might be to explore possibilities, strategies, and tactics for increasing the real-dollar value of membership. Do this because it helps in the long-term growth effort, but do not overlook the important immediate step of creating new tools to support the efforts of staff and members in their endeavors to evangelize and recruit new members.

My recommended tool is a simple, single-sheet, tri-fold brochure that lists the real-dollar value and various benefits (not features) of membership to the different membership stakeholder categories (vendors, allied, related professions, customers). The propensity of information gained through an active qualitative research method will be the core of this brochure. You want a tool that will dazzle your prospects with brilliance rather than to baffle them with bulk—the pounds of paper you mail out that they will never read. I believe in this tool at such a high-level that I will give you my brochure template at no charge, just email your request to ed@rigsbee.com.

Mission Driven Associations; Are they Dying? (1043 words)

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Ed Rigsbee, top speaker on Membership Growth

Mission Driven Over Member-ROI-Centric Organizations Might be Spending too much Time Looking Backwards

Mission Driven Associations, is that the magic elixir? There seems to be a continual “old guard/new guard” debate as to the purpose of associations. This might mean paid staff, volunteer leaders, or rank and file members. The old guard position is generally, people in the industry or profession need to join the organization to serve and give back—our job is to advocate for the industry/profession. The new guard position seems to be, to prove our relevance in the industry and today’s marketplace; we need to demonstrate a stellar member value proposition.

Erroneous Beliefs of Mission Driven Associations

Just for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that the new guard is more in touch with their peers than the old Mission Driven Associations guard. Continuing on this line of thinking, how in the world will the old guard effectively recruit new members—those beyond the age of baby boomers? How will the “join because you should” sales presentation influence the up and coming business leaders that associations so dearly need in order to survive and prosper? Perhaps conventional wisdom has become stale? If so, how will the mindset of the old guard transition to that of those they are trying to influence? Might the term “mission driven organization” simply be code for “we are not going to evolve” regardless of what the marketplace is telling us?

The Distinction

It seems very difficult for the old guard to understand the difference between “industry benefit” activities and “member-only” services. When a Mission Driven Associations membership organization embarks on activities that serve both members and non-members—those activities cease to be considered “member-only” benefit. That does not necessarily mean that the activities are bad or should be discontinued—it simply means those activities deliver benefit to all. As such, the activities or services are not true “features of membership,” as one does not have to hold membership to gain the benefit. The old guard tends to hold onto these “all industry benefit” activities and expects the new guard to value these activities the way the old guard has.

New Era Benefit

The tendency of the new guard business leader or professional that might consider membership in their industry/professional organization is to seek honest value in return for their investment of time and money. Since many were raised with computers and used to finding much of the information they seek via a quick Google search on their mobile device (not the desktop computer), the paradigm has clearly shifted— in many cases, to the blind eye of the old guard. The new guard expects and demands, beyond Mission Driven Associations, this reasonable return—something far beyond the old, “join because you should.”  With this in mind, there is an exceptional opportunity for today’s membership organizations to experience explosive growth through calculating and communicating the return on investment (ROI) of membership—and doing it in actual-dollar numbers. Within this opportunity is the need for organizations to take a very hard look at what resources are being used for the entire industry and what are being invested into member-only activities, services, and products. These progressive organizations are sometimes misguidedly referred to as “retail” associations—meaning that they only “sell” to their members.

Walking the Tight-Rope

Many Mission Driven Associations are struggling with the need for “old guard” activities that generally tend to satisfy the long-term member. Fair enough, that is an honest member retention challenge. Organizations should never ignore the wishes of their long-term members, however those wished should be overlaid with both cost-benefit analyses and the desires of the new guard members. It can be difficult for organizations to sunset ineffective or costly activities that are championed by long-term respected members. Yet, this is the charge of the board of directors from a strategic perspective and of the staff from an operational perspective. While there is nothing wrong with an organization touting their “industry benefit” successes, these successes rarely influence non-members to join the organization.

The Answer for Mission Driven Associations

Member ROI is a compelling argument for the decision to join, even in Mission Driven Associations. Today’s successful membership organizations are going to great lengths to calculate and communicate the ROI of membership. This return is what will influence new guard non-members into making the decision to join. This clearly does not mean that organizations must abandon their stated mission to become “retail” organizations. What it means is that membership organizations must understand the needs, wants, and desires of the new guard in order to influence the decision to join. Smart organizations are writing better “sales copy” for their websites and marketing materials focusing more on the benefits and less on features. Organizations are learning to “sell” (okay to say recruit if it makes you feel better) based on new guard non-member buying motives. Learn to write benefit-driven sales copy through the window of non-member buying motives and your organization will be unstoppable.

Dazzle ‘em with Brilliance

Thankfully, the days of mailing out 10-pound member recruitment packages have faded like the Oldsmobile. However, the idea still lingers on in some dark corners of the association world. Some organizations have not yet abandoned the “baffle with bulk” when it comes to member recruitment. The conventional wisdom of “send ‘em all we have” is still alive in many organizations. Honestly, do you really believe the prospective member has the time or desire to wade through all that paper to glean the valuable reasons that might compel membership? I’m here to tell you that they will not! Get better and tighter with your sales message. Drill down to the core, “here’s what’s in it for you” from membership in your organization. Dazzle prospective members with tight and effective benefit copy. Dazzle them with real-dollar ROI of membership numbers. It is simply not that hard—it just takes thought. Build a simple and to the point, new member recruitment brochure. Check out the video below. For my “how to on a single sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper” template and samples, email your request to ed@rigsbee.com

Title Question

Are mission driven associations and societies dying? They are surviving. As more old guard staff and volunteer leaders are accepting new guard thinking, or retiring, these mission-driven organizations are finding new ways to serve their mission and their paid members simultaneously—these organizations are thriving. The key is this, recruit members (selling) with your features of membership (member-only) and retain members (customer service) with all your activities, even those that are industry benefit.