There are so many contributing factors to consider while assembling the budget.  Many of these factors such as mission relevance, strategic positioning, critical partnerships, service to constituents and members, fulfilling donor intent, meeting sponsor expectations, generating public awareness, and such cannot be easily defined  in one simple mathematical equation.  There is no common denominator for all these factors.

There is a real temptation to use financial equations and link success or failure to budget comparisons and financial reports.  We do this because we are used to doing this.  Financial reports are prepared on a regular monthly basis, budgets are endlessly discussed and used as a built-in measure of success, and we all watch in anticipation each month as our organizations’ bank and investment accounts drift lower and lower during tough economic times and we hope they will rebound in the near future.

As a case in point; how do you select between two outstanding programs that provide wonderful needed services to the community but burn resources at different rates, have volatile funding bases, and the board is split on which program is the better endearment of their mission.  All the mathematicians in the world could not even agree on the variables yet alone build an equation that helps these well-meaning board members select the best program.

There are a few simple truths to hang your hat on.  First, you will annually go through the important process to build a budget for the next fiscal year.  Second, your organization will generate monthly financial reports and you will track your financial progress and third you will endlessly argue about the rate of success or failure depending on individual points of view.  All three of these truths are part of a healthy process to balance mission, resources and sustainability.

This is a fluid process without clear answers.  Every organization wants to do more, stabilize their funding sources and grow their net assets.  Only one problem it is very hard to do all three at the same time consistently over a period of many years.  Daily we must choose between these three factors favoring one over the other as circumstances dictate.

So what is the solution?  The solution lies at least through the annual budget building process in compromise and openness to conflict resolution by agreeing to give equal consideration to the importance and connection to mission, availability and reliability of resources and the impact on net assets in the future to see if efforts are sustainable and do not negatively impact the financial health of your organization over the long-run.

The order you consider these factors is important but recognize that the order can and will often change with circumstances that are constantly evolving.  Because the budget process of itself is an end point focused on resources and balancing the budget, I believe once a year you stop and go the other way and focus mission first as you consider what programs, activities and support structure is needed to support mission and direction the board has strategically directed staff and management to pursue for next year’s budget.

After you consider connections to mission, you next consider resources to fund these programs and activities.  Resources come from one of two broad sources; current in-flows of revenue and support (contributions, membership dues, registrations, grants, etc.) or from the balance sheet (bank and investment accounts if have funds or accounts payable and lines-of-credit if cash funds are short).  If funds needed to support programs and activities are in-flowing at the same pace or faster than you are expending them you will find your organization in a sustainable situation and the impact on your net assets and financial health will be either static balanced or growing if funds are in-flowing faster than you are expending.

However, organizations often find themselves building budgets for next year that include a growing level of expenditures for programs, staffing and supporting services while revenue and support in-flows are static or declining.  Although an organization might be able to sustain deficit spending in the short-run, it is not sustainable over the long-term especially if the organization has not built up substantial operating reserves.

Mission, resources and sustainability are all critical factors.  In the short-run we often make quick decisions to favor one factor over another but in the long-run only balance among these three factors insures long-term financial and organizational health.  Every day we are confronted with tough decisions which temporarily force us to favor one factor over another.

One day we must move quickly to meet community needs directly in-line with our mission even if current revenue and support is not available.  We are forced to spend out of operating reserves or worse borrow funds.  This is not sustainable for very long.  Another organization struggles to find meaningful programs that the community wants even though funding is present.  Although balance sheet assets will grow if they are not spending funds on programs as fast as they are in-flowing this also not sustainable over time as funders and donors will quickly become disillusioned and they will stop supporting the organization in the future.  In the end we need to find the most missioned based activities to support which we can balance with reliable in-flow of resources bringing us to a sustainable level of operations.  Keeping your eyes on this balancing act will allow you to make the best decisions possible as you work through short-term swings between mission and availability of resources.

By: A. Michael Gellman, CPA
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Michael is a CPA and consultant at Rubino & McGeehin. Michael concentrates his practice on non-profit organizations, including trade, professional and membership associations, public charities, and grant-based organizations (501 (c)(3), (c)(4) and (c)(6) organizations). His work is largely focused on management advisory services, including comprehensive budget systems, management reports and program analysis, trend analysis, forecast system documentation, as they relate to finance, boards of directors, and committee structures.

Let’s examine programming. Are you conducting the same programs you were when the YPO was started? If so, perhaps it’s time to measure the programmatic effectiveness. Coast Young Professionals (CYP), an organization of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce is committed to connecting, engaging and empowering young professionals on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. When the organization began the leaders determined the need for a professional development series. The group created “Shine On” a half day seminar addressing professional development topics like mentoring and how to sell yourself. The event was a success and it continued on for a few years. Soon, a trend was noticed- the same groups of people were attending “Shine On” and the endurance of the program dwindled. One of the problems was topics and speakers were being recycled. Half the audience was eliminated from when the program was introduced because they had already sat through the offered programs. It also became apparent that asking young professionals to take a half day from work was no longer feasible in today’s competitive work force. The following year, keeping the need for professional development in “Shine On” became an hour and a half lunch series held quarterly. The new model was not a success. So what did CYP do? They killed it. Acknowledging the need for continued professional development the group went to the Chamber and asked if they could partner with them on their professional development program. Working with the Chamber would allow CYP to deliver a more current and dynamic pool of speakers and topics.  The Chamber agreed and a happy partnership was born. The point of this story is that programs have to evolve as your organization does. It’s okay to try new formats and its okay if they fail, just don’t be afraid of change; change helps you remain relevant.

Speaking of professional development, YPOs typically do incorporate a degree of it in their programming, but are you offering the right seminars? If you don’t know your audience you can’t develop seminars and courses relevant to them. Knowing what your young professionals need and are looking for can ensure the success of your programs. For example, if you offer a professional series to YP’s on social media, your attendance might be slim because YP’s are familiar with and utilizes social media. They understand how it works and the importance of its incorporation into the workplace. You’ve heard the phrase “preaching to the choir?” When you’re implementing your professional development think bigger. Think about what might be hard to attend due to time constraints or financial commitments. Make sure your programming is relevant to your audience and strive to make it something unusually obtainable. This is the same for all programming, not just professional development.

Having a close, meaningful relationship with your association or chamber can enhance the relevance of an YPO. I remember hearing about an YPO’s Chamber board who allowed them a seat at the table, but not a vote. What are you saying to your YPO when you don’t allow it to have a voice? It is importance to have a close relationship with your “parent” organization. This allows for championing and illustrates a symbiotic relationship. When you are on difference pages, support is hard to come by. 

Evolving your programming, ensuring your target market is identified and creating a meaningful relationship with your Chamber or Association are just three suggestions on how to keep your YPO relevant. You know your organization better than anyone else. Take time to strategically analyze your organization and ensure it evolves with the times and continues to be relevant.

By: Kimberly Nastasi, IOM
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Kimberly Nastasi, IOM is the CEO of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and the founder of Coast Young Professionals. She is the Curriculum Chair for Institute For Organization Management and is on the Board of Regents for Winter Institute.

1. Agility: Speed of responsiveness to change is a competitive distinction. It requires moment-by-moment deductive reasoning, real-time monitoring of events and trends, and the ability to anticipate what's coming next before others even recognize the indicators. Organizational agility, however, is not synonymous with agile leadership. Are you subordinating effectiveness to existing structure? Insisting on certainty before taking any risk? Impeding change because you're comfortable with the status quo? Resolve today make fear your agility coach. Fear spawns innovation, reveals options, imposes efficacies, and helps achieve desired results if only you’re willing to respond to it. 

2. Unity: Leaders must make employees essential contributors to shared goals. Unity isn't cognitive. Even based upon shared rationale, unity is essentially an emotional state. And it’s palpable. It is built not through dogma or a series of completed transactions, but through a quality of leadership that resonates with those being led. Are you striving for mere compliance from your employees, or heartfelt buy-in? Resolve to lead in a way elicits voluntary, unified commitment. 

3. Accountability: Establishing and meeting targeted business outcomes nourishes self esteem, enhances careers, and builds leadership capabilities. Are you dwarfing fledgling leaders by “rescuing” them from accountability? Are you depriving them of a sense of achievement by intervening with the right answers when they’re faltering? Resolve to develop confident, competent leaders by not providing all of the solutions. Instead, format constructive, critical feedback into Socratic questions so they have the gratification of fixing their own problems.

4. Community: Does your organization have an online, annotated human capital directory that is searchable by name, function, capabilities (whether part of current function or not), hobbies, affiliations, etc.? Have you tasked your existing staff with developing killer on-boarding programs? Do you and your managers conduct stay interviews? Assuming you have an intranet, are you regularly featuring employee accomplishments? Is there an employee "bulletin board"? If not, you have an employee base—not a community. Bases erode, but communities retain talent. 

5. Levity: Humor is the weapon of the powerful relationships. Are you alert to and actively seeking "the lighter side"? Nothing shows more confidence under dire circumstances than a moment of wit or an amusing perspective—so long as it's not at anyone's expense, of course. Recognize the rallying effect of humor, and use it as the powerful leadership tool it is. Resolve to laugh at yourself at least once daily—and invite your staff to laugh along. 

6. Approachability: An open-door policy, a suggestion box, an invitation delivered at an all-staff meeting to "come visit," or even a memo promising folksy charm isn't the kind of approachability employees want from their leaders. Get out there! Don't sit back passively waiting for staff to initiate contact; YOU have to do the approaching. Institute periodic breakfasts or lunches with hierarchically segmented groups, offering open and/or issue specific agendas. Task each of your direct reports with keeping you informed about the challenges and achievements of their employees. When you engage with those individuals later, surprise and delight them with your awareness of specific details. Resolve today to step out of your office and into the working lives of your employees. 

7. Responsibility: Take action to help the less fortunate, contribute to society, protect the earth, and more. Your role as leader not only requires you to model this behavior consistently, but also to foster it in others. Resolve to be conspicuous in exhibiting a sense of responsibility for the earth and its inhabitants. Better still: create opportunities for your employees to band together in doing likewise. 

8. Possibility: Leaders can be so absorbed in moving people and organizations from current state to desired state that they fail to inquire about "possible state". When was the last time you set aside time to just "wonder" together with your employees? "What could we do if…what should we do with…what next big step…what new idea…?" Resolve to engage your employees in possibility thinking. 

9. Versatility: Typically leaders create, apply and direct multiple types of capital simultaneously: financial, intellectual, natural, human, etc. There is another type of capital leaders also use every day, but perhaps with less fluency: social capital. More than just an indication of how well networked you are, this important component of your leadership portfolio reveals the ability to modify your style of leadership to be just as effective with your CTO, for example, as you are with your CMO. Successful leaders get good at packaging their messages to elicit what they need from engineering, sales, manufacturing, finance, etc. Resolve today to stop waiting for others to become who you wish they were, and instead develop the versatility to work effectively with who they actually are! 

10. Creativity: Without an explicit invitation for creative ideas to reduce workloads, you may never hear such ideas as reformatting deliverables, strategic abandonment, joint-venturing, portfolio workers, job sharing, virtual employment, etc. Resolve today to invite creative ideas from your employees on how to honor work/life balance. 

By: Francie Dalton
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Francie Dalton is founder and president of Dalton Alliances, Inc., a premier business consultancy specializing in the communication, management and behavioral sciences. For more information, visit www.daltonalliances.com.

High satisfaction rates don’t guarantee renewals or long term loyalty to an association. Satisfaction has more to do with the “rear view mirror” than it does with the “windshield” or the future. No one gets too far driving while using past success indicators. Although most associations employ a fiscal year based membership based on the join date, similar panic attacks can still occur. What can you do to ensure higher renewal rates in 2012?

The first 5 of these tips are ways you can increase renewal rates by changing the process or payment options. The other 5 require more commitment to focus on proactive, long term retention strategies. Consider using all or some of these tips to increase member renewal outcomes:

1. Allow 24/7 online renewals—Send out renewal reminders via e-mail with a link for members to renew online through a secured shopping cart. Allow members to update their profile and their preferences.
2. Offer renewal incentives—Some members are enticed with getting something extra by acting with a sense of urgency. Offer a free seminar or webinar, small ad in a future publication, or an enhanced listing on the web site if renewals occur before a stated deadline.
3. Enclose postage paid envelopes—Make it easy for members who want to mail in their renewals by providing an easy way to do so. You’d be surprised what stays on someone’s desk top because there are no stamps readily available!

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By: Cathi Hight
Faculty, Insitute for Organization Management

Cathi Hight is president of Hight Performance Group and has over 20 years experience in performance improvement. She helps organizations build sustainable futures, improve processes, increase productivity,and develop staff & member loyalty. Hight Performance Group is the developer of the MemberRetention Kit.
 

Since I began teaching technology courses at Institute, I have reviewed and assessed hundreds of associations’ web sites, including chambers, CVB’s and trade associations. During my review, I evaluate web site features, functionality and design. To date, 23 percent of all companies who have had a staff member take IOM courses incorporate some type of video into their sites. This percentage should and can be higher. Web video is unquestionably effective and affordable but is often overlooked due to time, perceived cost and/or having a clear strategic purpose. Here I address some quick facts on video usage, common reasons I have heard for not integrating videos, some potential strategic directions and quick tips to get you started.

Job one for mission driven organizations is to create an effective and engaged membership. Web video is unique as a medium to communicate and connect, in that it combines the best aspects of television (sight, motion and sound) with the fourth dimension of the internet, interactivity. Interactivity has been shown to increase engagement with a given audience and thereby build a higher degree of connectivity to a particular brand or organization.

 Web video has grown exponentially over the last few years. Here are a few statistics:

• 172 million U.S. viewers watched an average of 14.6 hours of video each week.
• *Over 40 percent of consumers watch online videos on a weekly basis – Over 70 percent watch monthly.
• YouTube serves over 1 billion videos per day.
• YouTube (owned by Google) is expected to hit $2 billion in ad revenue during 2011.
• Viral video marketing campaigns increase click through rates by 750 percent.

*Source: SiteProNews October 7, 2011, Marketingexperiments.com Nov 2006

The bottom line, according to Web Marketer Diana Huff, is this, “video, when done right, shows your prospects and customers that your company has some personality. After all, it’s run by people . . . and people do business with people they know and trust – not buildings” Editor's note: This comment in particular is amusing to me, as I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen pictures of “buildings” –an association’s headquarters – presented as a main visual on a web home page.

 Some common excuses…

• Cost: Video production is too expensive. With the rise of YouTube and other video sharing sites, the bar for production has come way down. It is not necessary to hire a company to shoot simple videos. For an investment of less than  $1200 (camera, microphone and basic editing software), an “in-house” video production solution can be deployed inside your organization. Movie Plus and Correl Video Studio are examples of editing software for under $100. For a complete list and system requirements, check out the comparison in Wikipedia http://tinyurl.com/6sloaxn. Videos of three minute or less are fairly simple to shoot and edit, especially if you have a staff resource with an interest or background in creating video.
• Time: All of my staff is tasked to the max. If you have time to update your web site, send out invoices and/or organize a mixer, you have the time to communicate with video. Testimonials can be shot at mixers simply by creating a quiet space and pulling members out one by one and shooting a couple of minutes with simple scripted questions. If you have a staff member with an interest, assign them to develop the video program.
• Complexity of integration: I run an association not an IT department. Once upon a time adding flash video to a web site was a cumbersome process. But the rise of video sharing sites like YouTube allows any company to create a YouTube channel and link it to their home page using an embedded link. For a more personal integration, very inexpensive software is available that can embed code into your website for a “do it yourself” approach. Finally, many association software systems specialize in and have a video feature built in to their platforms.

Four strategic approaches to web video

1. Testimonials: Can anyone doubt the power of a good testimonial? The new distribution that the web provides for content in our society makes the concept of “word of mouth” (once immeasurable) now measurable and in some cases monetized. The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce is an excellent example of the use of testimonials on their own OKC.TV channel.  http://tinyurl.com/85ow6bq

2. Promotion: Plug an event, hype a mixer, show clips from the annual lunch/dinner (check out this link from the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce and a famous “alum”   http://vimeo.com/30383951 ). Remember, people like to look and listen to people. Better to have a video with a personal invitation than a static “web link”.

3. Education: This is a very common use of video with associations. Many organizations have provided some form of training and/or continuing education for years as a core function of their mission. If you have a large library of content in older formats (VHS or beta), it can be quickly and inexpensively converted to digital format and uploaded onto your site. Best practice in this area is to create a special library section for training and education linked by a tab off of your main navigation.

4. Advocacy: Instead of providing a scorecard of advocacy wins and losses, why not film your CEO detailing those same wins and losses? If you have had success with a particular community project (e.g. graffiti abatement), make a before and after video to show that success. Create a video with your point of view on a particular issue, and feature it prominently on your site home page

Six quick tips to add video to your site

 1. Use a video sharing service. The days of building an embedded flash player into your site are long over. An additional benefit of using a video sharing service is it will increase your search rankings. According to Google, their search algorithm takes into consideration the total number of views; that includes all views on You Tube as well as all views from your site. For of the most popular video sharing sites are:

• You Tube: Free and the best known. Customize your brand with your own YouTube channel . Add your logos, colors and other customized brand communication elements.
• Viddler: Free. Load up to 500 MB at a time (store up to 2 GB a month).  If you sign up for partnership account, you get ads on your site but the  storage and bandwidth restrictions are lifted.
• Daily Motion: Free. Load videos up to 1 GB in size.
• Vimeo:  Free for 500 MB per video per week.  Plus members receive 5 GB per week for uploads for a $60 per year membership. Vimeo offers the ability to place your video into “groups,” which allows for additional exposure for your content.

2. Location, location, location: If you incorporate video in your web site, remember to give it prominent placement on your home page. This can be done using a video box or picture link. A video box appears as a screen with the first frame of your video set to play. If you cannot devote the space for a box, use a link in your upper navigation or a still picture from your video that can link to your video sharing site. Try to place your box or link squarely in the center of the home page, “above the fold” (think newspaper fold…when you open a web site, everything you can see on your screen, without scrolling, is considered “above the fold”).

 3. Create a video library on your site. Doing so will allow Google to know where to find your video content. You can further increase your search rankings in your video library if you add keyword-rich annotations for each video. For additional information, check out Google Video Sitemaps.

 4. Make your video “international”: If your association is composed of members who speak multiple languages, you can customize your video using subtitles. Auto Gordian Knot is free and can be found here http://tinyurl.com/au4lg.

 5. Insert keywords into your video filenames. A simple way to do this is to write keywords into your videos' titles, descriptions and tags. Instead of titling a video “March Mixer,” use “Green Bay Chamber of Commerce March 2011 mixer at (location name)”. The more information you provide, the better your search rankings will be in Google.

6. Keep it short: Users prefer short formats of 1-3 minutes. Exceptions are for training and professional education.

Bottom line: Incorporating a web video can make your site work harder to meet your mission goals by allowing you to connect better with your members and share your message to a broader audience.

By: Brian Baker
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Brian Baker is a managing partner at Cultivar Marketing.
 

A step in the right direction would be to view your treasurer relationship as a business partnership.  For-profit business partnerships, in general, have all the elements that are necessary to create an effective working and interactive treasurer environment that will be both beneficial to the organization and be rewarding to the volunteer treasurer who is giving of his/her valuable time and expertise.

Let’s explore this concept a little.  Effective business partnerships have many elements in common with a trust filled relationship between a nonprofit organization and its treasurer.  Business partnerships are built upon trust, common purpose, shared expertise, oversight and transparency.  Each of these elements needs to exist in a successful nonprofit organization relationship with its treasurer.  Designing systems and procedures around these elements will maximize the relationship for both parties.

Trust is always the first and most important element.  Trust drives everything; consequently, trust must be built into each aspect of the treasurer relationship.  Also trust is hard to keep and easy to lose so we must be constantly vigilant making sure that the relationship stays on a high plane.  The best way to build trust is to make sure both the treasurer and the organization are on the same page.  You accomplish this by having a set of clear working rules with defined responsibilities that are linked to deliverables and due dates.  So often all the treasurer knows is the date their term of office begins and the date it ends.  Everything in between is a big mystery.

The big mystery can be solved by defining common purpose.  The common purpose is to safeguard the financial assets of the organization.  The roadmap is a set of working rules for the treasurer and the finance committee to follow that will ensure an orderly due process with a purpose of safeguarding financial assets.  The components of this process should include a job description for the treasurer and the finance committee defining expectations for both and the mechanism for the exchange of information.  The exchange of information is core to the process.

The exchange of information highlights the next two ingredients shared expertise and oversight.  A key element of a working treasurer relationship is ensuring that specific financial information flows to the treasurer and the finance committee on a regular and defined basis.  The treasurer job description and the working rules for the finance committee should have these elements clearly listed.  The flow of information is best organized around natural reporting time periods or cycles:

• Monthly Cycles – this cycle melds closely with the regular flow of financial reporting from the organization and its accounting/finance department.  The information starts with standard financial reports that also include comparison to budget and any special purpose management reports that the organization relies on to manage programs, operations and mission.  These special purpose reports can include cash flow reports, projections, program specific reports (annual meeting, grants, fundraising events, etc.) and line-item specific reports (membership, contributions, investment income, etc. for revenue and labor, scholarships, professional fees, etc. for expenses).
• Board Meeting Cycles – this includes financial information needed by the board to fulfill its fiduciary role.
• Annual Cycles – this includes major financial operations that happen on an annual basis for example; preparation of next fiscal year’s budget, preparation for fiscal year-end, financial statement audit (mostly an audit committee function), and other financial cycles like compensation, loan and line-of-credit approvals, federal form 990 and grant and contract approvals.  

The treasurer along with the finance committee performs an oversight function regularly reviewing the above information with the CFO or controller or the appropriate accounting staff person for a smaller organization.  The review process is centered on an open dialogue where the reports are discussed between the accounting department and the treasurer using their shared expertise as a platform.  Ulitimately, the treasurer’s questions are answered and treasurer approval for passing along the information to the finance committee and to the board is obtained and documented. 

This end product of passing along financial information sounds simple as a goal but is the end result of a highly complex process that is built upon trust between the treasurer and the organization’s accounting personnel generating the information.  The trust comes from an open dialogue between these two parties respecting and sharing each other’s expertise in a manner that plays tribute to transparency.  By keeping transparency as part of the process we also gain trust from all other observers and users of the financial information generated.

All of these elements discussed are in place in a successful for-profit business partnership.  In the nonprofit world we replace common purpose of making a profit with a high level of respect for mission and a great appreciation of highly motivated volunteers giving of their time and expertise.  The result is a working business partnership between your organization and its treasurer based in trust and beneficial to all.

By: A. Michael Gellman, CPA
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Michael is a CPA and consultant at Rubino & McGeehin. Michael concentrates his practice on non-profit organizations, including trade, professional and membership associations, public charities, and grant-based organizations (501 (c)(3), (c)(4) and (c)(6) organizations). His work is largely focused on management advisory services, including comprehensive budget systems, management reports and program analysis, trend analysis, forecast system documentation, as they relate to finance, boards of directors, and committee structures.

Now in this post Sarbanes-Oxley era along with the impact it has had on governance and even on the Federal Form 990, we as representatives of our nonprofit organizations have to be prepared to transparently defend our decisions in an ethical context.  I am not implying that ethics did not exist in the past.  But, I am finally admitting that this sometimes cursed legislation has some real virtues and one is that Ethical Financial Behavior must become not only more transparent but actually become ingrained into best business practices and into our personal business decision making life.

Ethics is such a big topic.  Just pick-up a Code of Ethics Statement from almost any organization and you will see broad statements of context with very little individual specific action steps or guidance.  In other words, the code of ethics statement sounds good but does not give you a specific road map for action.

After talking about code of ethic statements for years and how important these statements are to organizations, I have toyed with a decision model that at least for me appears to help un-muddy the waters somewhat and move me more quickly to a decision. The result is a decision that I am better prepared to explain in a financial memo or defend when challenged or confronted.

Ethics can be viewed through three aspects; Compliance, Public Perception and Your Own Core Values.  Each of these three aspects has real concrete substance and they also each have vast areas of grayness.  For a business decision each of these three areas can be explored individually with great depth and the solace of a single focus.  The melding of the three areas in coming to a final decision is what is challenging.  The simple act of giving order to the three aspects helps to add an element of clarity to the process.

I call the process a “Working Ethical Decision Making Model”.  The model works well for decisions that impact your organization and strengthens decisions that have a financial component.  The model breaks down as follows with the order being critical:

First – Compliance which covers areas of law, regulations, codifications, permits, licenses or any other statue of conduct.  The compliance area at first appears to be an area of rights and wrongs strictly black and white but as we all know there are areas of grayness where you would assume they should not exist.  This is why regulations and laws and the IRS tax code are constantly being rewritten and changed.

Second – Public Perception which by definition is all about levels of grayness.  The only black and white issues that come out of public perception are that you are a fool if you ignore public perception and a bigger fool if you let it totally dominate your decision making process.

Third – Your Own Core Values is so gray because most of us cannot often succinctly explain them to people let alone to ourselves.  However, we each know when a decision feels right and we are at peace with that decision.

Now take a decision and tackle it by exploring each of the above aspects in this order.  First compliance and what areas of laws, regulations, etc. do I have to address and are there any conflicts and interpretations to settle.  Next explore separately public perception to simple understand and best recognize what the general public is thinking to gain insight, knowledge and perspective.  Finally, for your own core values, balance the first two aspects by seeing how well what you have learned from compliance and public perception sits in your own belly.

Take comfort from this decision model by following the three-aspect thought steps in the specific order of first know the compliance issues and then understand the depth and breath of public perception and finally align this knowledge with your own core values arriving at a decision that both feels right and can be explained and supported in a comprehensive and succinct manner.

By: A. Michael Gellman, CPA
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Michael is a CPA and consultant at Rubino & McGeehin. Michael concentrates his practice on non-profit organizations, including trade, professional and membership associations, public charities, and grant-based organizations (501 (c)(3), (c)(4) and (c)(6) organizations). His work is largely focused on management advisory services, including comprehensive budget systems, management reports and program analysis, trend analysis, forecast system documentation, as they relate to finance, boards of directors, and committee structures.

Different people and different groups have different "stories" about the Chamber, it's initiatives, successes, and positions. Their opinion is based on the story they believe to be true. The "story" that is most persuasive wins the most votes, garners the most support, moves the most people to action.

What "stories" are you telling about yourself, your Chamber, your community? Do they give insight into what you're all about? Are they meaningful, memorable, and easily repeatable? And most of all, are they true?

Think about the story that is being created, each time member calls for help, the public hears a chamber exec speak, the chamber supports a particular political issue. Everyday we are part of an ongoing story, each day writing a new chapter through what we say and do.

Tap into the power of story. Listen to the story of others and tell yours. You'll reach people hearts and minds–and what can be more persuasive than that.

By: Barbara Wirtz
Faculty, Institute for Organization Management

Barbara ventured off into opening her own business, Wirtz Consulting, which she has been running for 23 years, after working 10 years in public education. Her work has always focused on helping people get their ideas accepted by others and thereby get things done. She has shown leaders how to engage their people in organizational improvements, staff how to win support of management for innovations, and employees how to influence decisions of clients.