“I’ll take Chapter Leaders for $200”
“Answer: the most engaging financial management training we’ve encountered”
“What is Finance 101 Jeopardy?”
You win by turning a potentially boring presentation into a fun game. CAMFT’s Jeopardy categories were taxes, insurance, reports, leadership transitions, and basic roles. They played a round and then spent a few minutes diving deeper into the biggest issues.
Nabil said the room was full of engaged, smiling, and laughing attendees—and I’ll remind you, this was a session on financial management! There’s science behind the fun: learning is more sticky when it’s enjoyable. You know what else happened? Finance came out of the treasurer silo. As fellow officers increased their understanding of finance, the treasurer’s isolation decreased.
How can you turn a boring topic into a fun experience for chapter leaders? Which topic will you start with?
ATTRACT AND PREPARE MEMBERS FOR VOLUNTEERING
Wesley Carr, director of stakeholder engagement at Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), told us about their five-step volunteer continuum. With each step, the level of commitment and time increases. RAPS puts every volunteer opportunity into one of the five buckets:
- Engaged Member
- RAPS Champion
- Subject Matter Expert
- Thought Leader
- Strategic Leader
In two years, they’ve gone from 500 to nearly 2,000 volunteers. The percentage of members volunteering increased from 6 to nearly 24%. Wes did what many CRPs haven’t: he attached a monetary value to that volunteer contribution and made a business case for more investment in RAPS’ volunteer program.
This growth in volunteers revealed a new challenge: volunteers weren’t familiar with the organization and its chapters. To fix that problem, RAPS is creating learning pathways for volunteers in their LMS. Each online course matches one of the five volunteering levels. For example, level 3 for Subject Matter Experts will include modules for speakers and authors on reimbursement practices, code of ethics, and copyright. The mix of videos and reading makes training “an easy lift” for volunteers so they can do it on their own time.
The response to the pathways that RAPS has built so far—levels 1 and 2—has been huge. The LMS allows staff to track volunteer engagement with the pathways. For example, they can see if someone has read the volunteer code of conduct, which is required at the lower levels.
Wes’ colleagues are excited about the LMS’ potential for other programs, like board orientation. The professional development team loves seeing more members using the LMS so they’re completely bought in.
Do these five levels of volunteering make sense for your association? Have you identified microvolunteering jobs? How can you use your LMS to provide volunteer and leadership training?