All Things Related to nonprofits
06.25.2008
Today I published my first post for the Connection Cafe, Convio’s company blog. I’m hoping it gets some energetic and passionate comments so head over there and start a dialogue. Connection Cafe is largely written to the nonprofit audience, but if you’re from the corporate world don’t let that scare you off. I’ll be dealing [...]
06.23.2008
Here’s a question that I’ve been pondering for a while and it just resurfaced lately. When management makes a person or a department responsible for customer satisfaction as their primary function, does that inadvertently absolve others of that responsibility? It was an issue I always struggled with as a membership development professional in the non-profit [...]
01.03.2008
Once upon a time, I worked in the professional association world as a membership development professional. While I may no longer be working in nonprofits or this particular field, I do continue to promote the value of joining and participating in a shared community of professional practice. As Barbara Safani mentioned a couple of days [...]
11.17.2005
Are making a difference and happiness linked? Curt Rosengren points to recent research supporting the connection. Lately, I’ve been having watercooler chats with my staff, trying to get a better grasp of what we can do together to create the kind of workplace that inspires and excites folks. Working in non-profits, you come to understand [...]
11.07.2005
Here’s a little fact about me: I don’t like trade shows. From the visitor side, they make me uncomfortable. I’m always afraid to make eye contact with an exhibitor for fear that I’m going to get the full-on sales blitz. And usually it’s for a service or product that I really don’t need. Ever try [...]
08.23.2005
When it comes to creating a passionate custo/member experience, there will always be some who just don’t get it or don’t want it. From one perspective or another, they can be considered to be abusive. What’s one to do with these folks? I would suggest that they be given the boot. Not literally, but when [...]
08.03.2005
Our experience is not what happens to us, but what we make of what happens to us. –Aldous Huxley I have this written on the large whiteboard that hangs directly in front of my desk at work. It is an honest reminder that the experience of the individual custo/member is not within our control. Our [...]
07.20.2005
Sue at Face2Face has been challenged to give her blog a title transformation. What I dig is how it all came about. She, like me, finds the use of Xtreme in ASAE’s Annual Conference title Xtremely tired and unhip (actually, it all reminds me of that old Simpson’s episode where they try to hip up [...]
07.19.2005
I’ve written before about my dear friend Rosa Say and her book Managing With Aloha. While it is largely intended for organizational managers who want to create vibrant values-based relationships with their staff, I’m beginning to re-read it again from a slightly different perspective. As an association executive, one of the more challenging relationships we [...]
07.18.2005
I’m remembering one of the things that I dislike passionately about associations – the constant dues haggling. Here are just a few of scenarios: A member complains that their dues are too high and wants a discount. A potential member says he has a handful of people to bring into the association and wants to [...]
