The Affiliate Workshop is Wednesday, November 14, 2007, and is part of the full NAAEE conference but requires separate registration. This year the workshop is designed specifically to meet the needs of emerging affiliates and their leaders. The network defines “emerging affiliates” as organizations which are new to the Affiliate Network, or are taking on a more prominent role in leadership and capacity building in their state, province or region. The Affiliate Workshop was previously called the Affiliates Pre-conference.

The workshop will offer four scheduled sessions:

• A The Life Cycle of a Nonprofit: Where is your organization? (Sue McGuire)

  It often feels like our organizations are caught on a treadmill of trying to survive, of doing the same things in the same way while wishing the organization could grow and become “more professional.” In this session we’ll take a step off the treadmill by doing an honest assessment of each affiliate’s strengths and needs. You will identify what stage your organization is at in its lifecycle. Then you will consider capacity-building options that can get your affiliate moving ahead.

• B Policies and Planning: What do you have, what do you need, where can you get it? (Gareth Thomson)
  Funders need to see them, Board members may insist on them, and not having them can mean that your ‘stub your toe’ as you go about your work. No, they are necessarily exciting things, but they are essential to you as an organization and as a non-profit to ensure that you can do your important work.  In this session you’ll review the different kinds of policies and plans, inventory those that you already have, and get copies of useful documents that you should have by now but don’t (because you’ve been too busy trying to save the world through EE).  You’ll learn more about the usefulness of all these documents, and bring back enough goodies to your organization that your entire Board and staff will finally recognize you for what you are – a star.
• C Volunteer Recruitment, management and tracking (Kristen Nelson) 
  Volunteers are a valuable asset to any nonprofit organization, giving of their time and energy to help organizations serve their communities. They provide thousands of service hours across the country every year.  Is your organization maximizing volunteer resources to fulfill your mission?  In this session, learn how to plan your organization’s volunteer program and identify elements of successful programs.  Examine effective volunteer recruitment strategies, key messages and position descriptions to develop projects that are engaging for volunteers.  Learn tips to screen, interview, place and train volunteers in order to build active involvement and learn to define and communicate expectations to track volunteer results and community impact.
• D Cultivating relationships with donors, members and funders (Laura Downey)
  From membership to money, it's all about relationships.  When your board members are asked to help raise money and support for the organization, do they wring their hands and break into a sweat?   There's no degree required to developed relationships—this is something that we all can do!  In this session, we'll explore real life case studies of relationship building and the ways it has paid off either through increased membership or funding.  Then we'll work with some Affiliate specific tools that will help you spur the rest of your organization into action when you get back home, so you too can make sure your organization's efforts PAY OFF!

Affiliate Workshop Facilitator and Coordinator Bios

An open space will also be offered, in which participants come up with topics of interest to themselves, and then select the open space session they will attend. This is a chance to discuss and learn about topics not covered in the four scheduled sessions. Each topic will be facilitated by a person strongly interested in the topic, not necessarily an expert, but the lead workshop facilitator will make a strong effort to identify expertise for each topic.

Though the workshop is designed for emerging affiliates and their leaders, any interested person may register. Existing affiliate leaders may also drop in to meet the emerging affiliates and leaders, and to provide expertise and perspective. We recognize many existing affiliate leaders will be facilitating or participating in the other workshops offered at the same time as the Affiliate Workshop, but hope you can join us for a bit. Only those registered for the workshop may participate in the luncheon and take advantage of the beverage and snack service.

NAAEE Board of Directors members, and staff when they are available, have traditionally attended the Affiliate Workshop luncheon. Though we are unsure how this will play our in the new scenario where all workshops share the same lunch service and eating area, we will do our best to make this very valuable connection happen.

The Affiliate Network “Gathering”, previously called the business meeting, is part of the workshop. The gathering offers a chance for all affiliate leaders (whether they attended the workshop or not) to catch up on the activities of the Affiliate Network, to suggest ideas and priorities for the coming year, to ask questions and raise concerns, and to identify individuals interested in being Affiliate Network Steering Committee members. With the transition to a two-year term of office for the Steering Committee Chair, there will not be an election of the Chair-Elect this year.

Schedule

• 8:00 Introductions, icebreaker, expectations
• 9:00 First sessions (two concurrent sessions of two hours)
• 11:00 Second sessions start (two concurrent sessions of two hours)
• 12:00 Lunch
• 1:00 Second sessions continue
• 2:00 Open space
• 3:30 Reflection, next steps
• 4:00 paperwork
• 4:15 Affiliate Network Gathering
• 5:00 workshop ends

Affiliate Workshop Scholarship >>

Call for Affiliate Workshop Facilitators >>