Transcript The New Culture of New Members

The New(?) Trends & Culture
of Volunteerism
Presented to ECNE
on
December 8th 2004
© 2004, Peter de Jager
For bookings contact Peter at [email protected]
The Survey Results
• What Opportunities?
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Increase Membership
Become more of a Lobbying Organization
Increase Educational Opportunities
Increase Prominence
Reach out to Members
Items in Red, are central to our focus.
The Results
• What Likely Trends?
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Declining Economy
Declining Membership
Increased Access to Information
Consolidation of Industry
Decline in Volunteerism
Demographic Shift
The Results
• What Threats?
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Competition
Decline in Membership
Lack of Change
Decline in Economy
Demographic Shift
Regulation
Consolidation
Decline in Volunteerism
Increased Access to Information
Relevance
Initial Observations
• Volunteerism isn’t dying…
…but the competition for time has increased
• The primary objective of any Association
now more than ever…
…is to be relevant to their members.
• Relevance to Members drives all success factors;
– Membership Numbers
– Participation
– Long Term Involvement
“Volunteerism” on the Rise
• Dr. Patrick Dixon – Futurist
– Approximately 60% of Americans work without pay
for some cause or other.
– Average volunteer gives 200 hours annually
– 4.5% of USA GDP arises from Volunteerism
“Volunteerism” is Legitimate
• LBG Associates
– 100% of Executives believe Senior Mgmt. should
volunteer
– 100% of Executives believe their companies should
financially support volunteerism
– 85% of companies allow volunteers to use their
workday
– 60% of Executives believe that volunteerism is part
of being a good corporate citizen
The Commentaries
• Relevance: Pg 3 – Item 5
– What is an association but an organizational manifestation of
"we"?
– What is the modern association's role in defining, strengthening
and leveraging "we"?
i.e.
Why do ‘we’ choose to associate…?
The Commentaries
• Relevance: P 4 – I 7
– Become a strategically aligned responsive industry
resource. After 70+ years we are struggling with our
identity, our structure, and remaining relevant to our
target audience.
– If we don't, we won't be here in 5-10 years.
– Right now we're doing little constructively to achieve
it.
The Commentaries
• Increased access to Information:
– P 5 – I 8: The growing dominance of the gray and white
space, where a lot of people are finding community and
education and advocacy, and which is outside the field of
vision (let alone the realm of control) of traditional
associations.
– P 5 – I 11: Internet = alternative means of communicating,
coalescing and gathering information, which are(?) the
cornerstones of association work and therefore association
relevance.
The Commentaries
• Declining Volunteerism
– P 5 – I 2: We need members to step up and become
involved with the association, which will provide a
new cadre of association leaders in the future.
– P 5 – I 3: Weak leadership will cause a ripple effect
in our membership
The Commentaries
• Demographic Shift
– P 7 – I 6: Younger educators are less inclined to
become principals, given the stress, hours, longer
working year, etc.
– P 7 - I 7: Culturally, in the US, we do not join
organizations like our parent's generation did.
The Commentaries
• Decline in Membership
– P 7 – I 2: Association membership used to be a
“take it for granted, of course you do that” thing.
Now in such a tight budget environment, we have to
justify our existence with many firms every year.
“Why should we pay those dues again?”
– P 7 – I 5: In spite of large amounts of money and
programs and recruitment campaigns, membership
continues to decline
The Commentaries
• Increase Membership
P 7 – I 2: Develop new or enhance existing
member benefits to maximize the
membership value proposition. This is
important because future member value
perceptions will determine whether
associations retain and add members, or
whether they experience a shrinking
membership base.
The Commentaries
• Increase Membership
– P 8 – I 3: Double our membership - that drives
everything else in the association (seminars, non
dues revenue, impact on the legislature, etc.) holding membership campaigns, incentive programs,
more activities at local level, surveying members, etc.
The Commentaries
• Competition
– P 10 – I 4: Increasing ease of using the web,
increasing ease of creating coalitions/interest groups
through the web and other sources.
– P 10 – I 6: Competitors that were once thought of
as niche groups, expanding their offerings to entice
our members to join their organization.
The Commentaries
• Educational opportunities
– P 12 – I 2: An ongoing series of educational
programs to develop leadership skills within
our membership. People graduate with little if
any leadership skills. They are take positions
of leadership within their organization and in
voluntary associations and have no idea what
to do.
American Cultural Drivers
• Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis
– Individuals should determine their own destiny
– Individuals should control their social and physical
environment
– Actions should be judged in a moral light
– Authority/bigness should be viewed with suspicion
– We should have as many choices as possible
– Anything can, and should be improved
– The Future should be better than the past
Why People Volunteer
• Incentives for Volunteering
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Achievement
Recognition and Feedback
Personal Growth
Giving Something Back
Bringing about Social Change
Family Ties
Friendship, Support and a feeling of belonging
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Employees’ personal values, attitudes, and
objectives
– A strong sense of the value of ‘Giving Back’ to their
community.
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• The nature of the program
– Time off work was a major motivating factor
– The ability to work with their peers on a non-work
related project was seen as extremely positive team
building.
– Although… some individuals did prefer to work
alone.
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Kinds of opportunities available
– The opportunities available were seen as desirable,
because they were different.
– The opportunity to suggest their own projects
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Company Support for Participation
– Not only were people allowed to Volunteer, but their
workloads were modified to accommodate the hours
spent on Volunteering.
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Personal Support for Participation
– Support by family, friends, peers was crucial to the
willingness to volunteer.
– Allowing family members to be involved increased
the willingness to volunteer
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Degree of satisfaction with the Volunteer
experience
– Support during the project was a major motivating
factor for repeat volunteerism
– The work must be seen by the volunteer as
worthwhile
– Recognition for effort was also crucial to the sense
of accomplishment.
Ford Volunteerism Case Study
• Conclusion
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Create positive attitudes towards Volunteering
Make it as appealing as possible
Create interesting and meaningful opportunities
Make it easy for employees to volunteer and then
support their efforts
– Build on personal and co-worker support
– Ensure that they have a positive volunteer
experience
Why People don’t, or stop Volunteering
• The disincentives
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Disorganized management
Lack of board support
Staff indifference
Limited training and orientation
Lack of contact and support
Wrong assignment
Perks that are withdrawn
Insufficient funding
The trends is a nutshell
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Decline in number of volunteers
Increase in hours of volunteerism
Pareto’s rule still in effect – 80/20 Rule
Increase in ‘Lack of Time’ as primary reason for not
volunteering
Increase in Job Skill Acquisition as a motivator
Increase in employer support for volunteering
“What’s in it for me” is still the challenge
The rise of ‘Virtual Volunteering’
So What?
• #1 – There is huge competition for our time
and attention.
• #2 – People will, and do, give freely of their
time for something they believe in.
• #3 – Most associations have lost their relevance
to membership… which compounds the
negative impacts of #1 & #2
Now What?
• Two Challenges face all Associations
–Regaining Relevance for
members
–Instilling Focus throughout the
Organization
How What? The Hedgehog Strategy
• Decide Discover the one thing that
– You can become the best at…
– That you are passionate about…
– That powers your economic engine…
And…
(the difficult part) STOP doing everything else!
Peter de Jager
www.Technobility.com
© 2004, Peter de Jager
For bookings contact Peter at [email protected]