Center for Association Resources

The Center for Association Resources supports mission-oriented organizations, assisting them in increasing relevance and accomplishing goals.

Association Resources

Learning About Non-Profits

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

This article is about a specific non-profit organization, the Eastern Illinois Food Bank.

The nonprofit agency I chose to write about is the Eastern Illinois Food Bank. They are trying to simply trying to prevent hunger by providing food for food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other programs to feed the hungry. They accept discounted and donated food and distribute it to 220 emergency food programs, as well as operate two programs: the BackPack Program and the Foodmobile program. The first helps hunger in low-income school districts and the later increases access to food in rural and under-resourced communities. There are food banks all over the country and I feel like their attempts to provide food and eliminate hunger are very effective.

The Eastern Illinois Food bank is having a program called “lose weight and feed your community” which donates 11 cents to Feeding America for every pound a person pledges to lose through March 31, 2011. This is a beneficial cause which can encourage families who may have overweight parents or kids to exercise and donate money for their good efforts. Kids need strong, healthy, role models so it is important that they see the parents exercise and eat right and this program could give those parents more incentive to do so. At a local level these programs can help advocate a healthy lifestyle as well as stopping hunger. Since there are food banks all over, they work together to implement change on a national level yet each one focuses solely on their areas.

Non-profit organizations are very important because they usually work in order to benefit basic human needs instead of focusing on their own profits! Especially organizations such as the Eastern Illinois Food Bank, they help to provide food to needy families as well as school districts of poor communities. They work hard to help people in need which I think is a very valuable asset to a company’s success! Fund raising proposals are important in non-profits such as the food bank because they do not make money on their own. Therefore, these companies need to focus on charity projects and getting donations in order to raise money. At the Eastern Illinois Food Bank, both monetary and food donations are always welcome!

Eastern Illinois Food Bank,The Center for Association Resources

Finding (and Keeping) Great Volunteers for Non-Profits

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

Tips on how to recruit and retain volunteers in non-profit organizations.

Finding (and Keeping) Great Volunteers for Non-Profits

Good managers in non-profit organizations have always known that people are their greatest resource. In today’s challenging economy, non-profit groups are becoming increasingly reliant upon their volunteers to continue operations. Many tasks and roles previously filled by paid staffers are now filled by volunteers, and the new challenge facing non-profit managers and boards is how to attract and retain high-quality volunteers.

When looking for volunteers, non-profits need to be very clear about what type of person or group they are looking for, what specific task or role they would like accomplished and how unpaid workers will fit into their organizational team and objectives. It’s important to develop a clear job description for volunteers so that all parties involved understand expectations up front. It’s not uncommon for potential volunteers, especially highly skilled ones, to have a number of opportunities to choose from. Make sure your organization looks appealing and professional when soliciting help.

Think about what is going to inspire a bright, motivated individual to spend unpaid time helping your organization. Think about why someone would choose your non-profit to work with, and what benefits and experiences you can offer to a volunteer. Also, make plans for how to retain a great volunteer. Set up an ongoing volunteer recognition system to encourage people to continue with your organization. Things like thank-you cards and homemade gifts are usually appreciated, however it’s also important to take the time to get to know what’s really important to your volunteers. For example, if a person is trying to gain admission to a college, offer to write a recommendation letter for them. This type of ‘thank-you’ doesn’t cost your organization anything, but it can go a long way towards generating positive thoughts among volunteers.

Other considerations…

If you manage in a unionized organization, make sure to explore any possible concerns with using unpaid staff relative to the current union contract. Few things will drive away volunteers faster than becoming involved in labor disputes. Also, make sure that all your paid staff are clear about the need for, and roles of volunteers. Talking openly with the staff members of your non-profit will help alleviate any concerns they have about being replaced by unpaid workers. It’s important that all members of your organization, paid and unpaid, clearly understand their role within the staff team.

Volunteer, Non-Profit, Unpaid Workers, Organizations, Skilled volunteers,The Center for Association Resources

Testimonials for The Center for Association Resources

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

The Center for Association Resources helps many non-profit organizations and associations to operate efficiently and effectively to reach your organization’s goals by providing comprehensive management services that enable them to focus on providing benefit to those who need their services.

Testimonials from a few of the people we work with shows the results best, and can be found at http://association-resources.com/testimonials.php . The Center for Association Resources welcomes feedback and requests from your non-profit organization.

Establishing a social media policy for your non-profit

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

Social Media is a very hot topic these days. In fact, it has become an indispensable means of marketing for corporations as well as non-profit organizations. Most non-profit organizations that utilize social media have formulated best practices and policies to get the most out of this valuable tool. It is best to first use social media sites in your personal life to get an idea of how the various sites operate, and get an understanding of the culture of social media networks. Once an understanding of social media networks is realized it is important to develop some goals and a strategy for using social media.

First off, you should determine what you want to accomplish by using social media. Specifically, looking at your organization’s mission statement and values will help you strategize to gain the most out of social media. Thinking in terms of content you will provide, and how you will interact with your audience will help you develop a strategy.

Things like what type of information you will provide as well as the image you want to promote will help you develop a plan. Other factors such as who will be in charge of monitoring comments, and releasing information should be planned out in advance. Next it is important to implement a short term as well as a long term plan to achieve your organization’s goals. Developing metrics to evaluate success of a social media policy is an important part of your strategy. Things like donations and overall hits on a particular website will tell you how well you are reaching your target audience. Sites with few followers or friends will need to be reassessed.

Creativity and an engaging style are very important when using social media to achieve your goals. The possibilities when using sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are nearly endless and always evolving. Coming up with creative ideas on how to appeal to your audience will determine, in part, your success. Keep in mind that keeping your page up to date as well as professional is very important.

Things like a “listen, learn, and adapt” policy will help you become better and better at social media, as social media is an iterative process. Finally maintaining and monitoring your social media page is important. It is vital that you allocate resources and time to making sure your page is up to date and keeping people engaged in your cause.

Social media looks like it is here to stay, and has proven invaluable to many organizations.

Relationship between Full time Executives or paid staff and the board members of a Non-Profit body

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

Any non-profit organization will have two different sections of employees associated with it. One is the paid full time staff called the Executives and the other is the part time unpaid board members. The responsibilities of these two groups of people are completely different. But many a times, the full time executives consider the board members as a hindrance to their day to day functioning. They find it irritating when the board members questions them about their progress. These full time executives have a feeling that they know much more than the board members who work only on a part time basis. Full time executives often fail to understand the background of the board members. The board members usually have double the experience of the full time executives. The board members usually have the responsibility of laying down the objectives, recruiting the full time staff executives and monitoring their progress. If the board finds a particular executive not performing well, then they have every right to question the executive and advise him to improve his performance. This will not be taken easily by the executives. The executives might think that the board members are just acting wildly. This leads to the full time executive taking a grudge against the board members. This will definitely affect the performance of the executive. Hence the board members have to be extremely sensitive to these issues and use all their experience to handle the situation in a careful manner. Their years and years of corporate experience will come in handy.

Now with more and more mentors being employed by the board members to coach the executives of the non profit body, the executives are slowly trying to understand the responsibility of the board members. The mentors will make the executives understand that their responsibilities are completely different from the executive board members. They will make the executives realize that the board members perform their duties from a strategic perspective, whereas the executives perform their jobs from a daily operational perspective. The mentors also advise the board members to show more openness in their decision making approach. This will help to strengthen the bond and improve the trust level between the board members and the executives.

What Do They Mean by “Non-Profit Organization”?

Another in a series of articles related to association management selected from our reading list by:
Robert O. Patterson, JD
CEO/ Principal
The Center for Association Resources, Inc.

Some of you may not know what a non-profit organization is in its entirety. You may wonder, “why do they call themselves non-profit organizations?” or “what’s the point of telling everyone that they’re non-profit?” The reason is because non-profits and for-profits have different sets of laws that they must abide by. The main difference between a for-profit and non-profit organization is ownership. Non-profit organizations don’t have owners, so they can’t sell their shares or personally benefit in any way. All profits gained by a non-profit organization would have to go into the organization for its self-preservation, expansion and future plans. None of the members are allowed to benefit financially from it. Non-profit organizations are often charities or service organizations, founded and supported by people who are dedicated and want to support a certain cause. Those causes are often charities or service organizations.

Nowadays, many non-profit organizations follow the same structure as for-profit organizations by using corporate leadership and managing their volunteers the same way for-profit organizations would. Foundations could give grants to non-profit organizations to support their cause. The performance of non-profit organizations is strongly dependent on its management, so some of them want experienced managers who have worked for for-profit organizations before. For a non-profit organization to be known, there are multiple ways for them to speak up. One of them is called community advocacy, which may involve changing the ideas and attitudes of the public through education, publications, websites, and by other means. Some non-profit organizations would even use legal advocacy, whereas they find the idea of having lawsuits would be a more effective method to gain public attention. This is because the complaints must be heard as long as it is presented properly.

Through these ways and some others, non-profit organizations can become well-known and benefit more from the donations of the general public.