Association Chat: Thanking Volunteers

Thank You Charm by Beth on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/7vybea

How do we show our volunteers that we appreciate them throughout the year? Certainly there are the reminders on our calendars. In April we celebrate National Volunteer Month (with National Volunteer Week taking the spotlight) and in November we celebrate Thanksgiving, which is a natural time to show our gratitude for all sorts of things including volunteers.

Some associations have created dynamic volunteer programs that do a good job of making the volunteer feel appreciated on a regular basis, but how do they do that? What kind of acknowledgement are volunteers really expecting from their associations? Why is it important that associations put thought into their volunteer programs?

We'll be discussing the importance of thanking volunteers throughout the year during this Association Chat.


Questions I'll ask:

1. What key features must a healthy volunteer program possess?
2. Why is thanking volunteers so important for organizations?
3. What kind of recognition do volunteers expect from an organization?
4. In what creative ways have you seen organizations thanking their volunteers?
5. How often should organizations thank their volunteers? 
6. How can organizations recognize different levels of volunteerism?
7. What would delight you as a volunteer?
8. How can you thank a volunteer today?
9. In what ways can you help your organization better thank volunteers in the future?

How to participate in Association Chat:
If you'd like to check out Association Chat, just remember to jump onto Twitter on Tuesdays at 2 pm EST using the hashtag #assnchat.

If you'd like an easy and relaxing experience with the chat, I like to use Nurph for easily following along. The Nurph link to use for Association Chat is http://nurph.com/assnchat.

Next Week's Chat Topic: Mentoring and Your Personal Growth (in honor of national "Thank a Teacher Day!")

Volunteer Poll: What Should KiKi Do Next?

I am the outgoing chair of the ASAE Component Relations Section Council and I currently serve on the ASAE Foundation Development Committee. I love my professional society and I want to stay involved...what is the next volunteer position I should think about for ASAE? Fill in the blank with your best answer and thanks for your time!

*I should add that I reserve the right to decide for myself. I am just curious how others in the community feel I might best serve the association community in a volunteer capacity at ASAE. Would love to hear your thoughts!

The 3 Most Important Benefits I Get For My Membership Dues

I just spent a couple of days in Providence, RI, with ASAE & The Center association leaders and I have come away from it with more connections, knowledge, and motivation to help get me revved up again to live life like I mean it. If anyone wants to know what they get for their membership dollars, I can tell you what my membership dollars pay for:

• Knowledge - The listservs, section councils, education sessions, publications, and other ongoing communications that add to the overall industry knowledge that is available has helped me from the very beginning of my association career. Much as the platform for the listserv conversation needs to be made more efficient, it was the first ASAE product I was drawn into and it provided the most learning for me in the early days. It also helped acquaint me with some of the big names in the association world.
  
• Connections -I love the Annual Meeting, with all of its ups and downs, because I get to learn from the most experienced and interesting minds in the community in the hallways and at the social functions. I back up what Jeff Hurt said recently about challenging conference attendees and speakers to put more effort into making the best of the learning sessions and opportunities available for teaching at the meetings. I have never walked away from a conference or workshop without learning something extremely valuable to help me do better in my career and for the industry. The times when I have learned the least have been when I haven't participated as fully as I should have in one way or another.
  
• Experience - ASAE & The Center has afforded me the opportunities to volunteer for councils, task forces, and all kinds of activities which have enabled me to learn detailed data about studies related to my work and have helped me to hone a variety of leadership skills. Through my volunteer efforts I have been able to fully embrace the importance of what all of us do for our organizations' members and in that way I think I will always find myself evangelizing membership. Passion is not too emotional of a word to use.  If a person isn't passionate about their industry, learning, career, community, money, or anything else influenced by the power of an association; then what else? 

While I was at the ASAE & The Center Leadership Retreat I received valuable career advice from friends who make hundreds of dollars per hour for consulting. This isn't the first time that has happened (and I'm fairly certain it won't be the last). But what am I giving back to ASAE as a result of their help in making this exchange possible on an ongoing basis?

• My energy and time - Because of ASAE & The Center's investment in me, I am going back to my council (I am vice-chair for the Component Relations Section Council) with a new commitment to helping the rest of the group get the most out of their time as possible by leading in a way that will help them and the Society.
• My money - I recently donated to the Annual Fund for Research & Innovation and I am going to be posting and tweeting occasionally about this on an ongoing basis to see if I can get my friends to do it, too.  [I'd like to check in with ASAE and see if there is a way that I could prove to ASAE that the association blogger and Twitter community can put up some serious dough...maybe get a code and more price points at which to donate online ($100 is the least amount you can donate easily online right now) so that we could show our strength. I'll let you know if anything like that comes together. :)]
• My attention - I will care about ASAE. I will talk about ASAE. I will share news about ASAE and with that attention others will see how much value I place with my involvement. If people see how much I get from my experience, then maybe they will join or participate more, too. This may seem like the most passive of the three ways I am giving back, but it could be the most valuable in the long run.

What do you get from your memberships? What do you give back?

Tagged! Volunteer Jobs for Minimal Commitment/Time

I've been tagged by the effervescent and hugely popular Maddie Grant (part of the "A-List Bloggers Network") to comment on one of Peggy Hoffman's meme challenges!

Peggy asks:

"To get the conversation going, I’m tagging the following bloggers to help answer a nagging question – how can we create volunteer jobs that don’t require being on a committee, a long-term commitment or gobs of time? So, share five short-term, ad-hoc volunteer jobs you’d love to have and then tag five more bloggers".

Hmmm...interesting! I like to be involved, but I must admit to being a person who tends to wait for someone to ask me (according to the Decision to Volunteer study, I am not alone!). My answers below are the kind of thing I would respond to:

1. Guest blogger
2. Regular blog commenter
3. Author an article
4. Provide regular and thorough feedback on programs
5. Attending a council meeting as an invited participant (not a regular member)

While I am definitely active and look for opportunities to get involved in volunteer activities, I tend to wait sometimes for people to approach me. The idea that the community wants me appeals to me, although I have had the most success with taking matters into my own hands.

Here are my tags!

Sandra Giarde
Dave Sabol
Beth Ziesenis
Sarah Grace McCandless
Lynn Morton