ACE is the only dedicated Conference and Exhibition for not-for-profit professionals organised by not-for-profit professionals and it's on in five weeks! Will you be there?

Register now to take advantage of this unmissable, professional development program featuring over 30 not-for-profit leaders from association and charity organisations across Australia. Take a look below at the impressive range of professionals who will share with you their expertise and knowledge in the intensive, educational streams over two days. This group of sector professionals include award-winners, leaders in their field and top authorities within their organisations. Speakers will present on a broad range of topics including advocacy, governance, sponsorship and leadership. Other topics include communications, technology, events and membership. 

2015 ACE Not-For-Profit Speakers (listed A - Z by surname)

Volunteering Australia’s new National Standards for Volunteer Involvement were launched on Monday 11 May 2015 to mark the beginning of National Volunteer Week 2015 (11-17 May). The new Standards incorporate significant changes to the original standards in order to reflect best practice in volunteer management in Australia’s current work environment.

The Standards provide a sound framework for supporting the volunteer sector in Australia. The Standards are much easier to follow and are adaptable to different organisation types and different forms of volunteering which reflect the diversity of this growing sector.

Direct benefits to organisations:

• They provide good practice guidance and benchmarks to help organisations attract, manage and retain volunteers, and
• Help manage risk and safety in their work with volunteers.

Direct benefits to volunteers:

• They help improve the volunteer experience.

The new National Standards for Volunteer Involvement are available here for free download.

Guidance on applying the Standards will be provided via comprehensive implementation resources.

Additionally, Volunteering Australia will be developing a flexible, tiered voluntary certification, or ‘Quality Mark’ system to enable organisations to check how they are tracking in implementing the Standards.

Process

The development of the new Standards has been an inclusive project led by the CEOs of Volunteering S&NT, Volunteering Tasmania and Volunteering WA. Following the establishment of this working group, and a sector wide reference group comprising representatives from all states and territories, a draft document was prepared and presented to the sector for feedback via a survey and series of consultations across Australia.

From that process a set of revised Standards was created that were easier to understand and use, contained clear criteria and relevant content, and had wide applicability to different types of organisations and volunteer situations.

History

The first Australian National Standards were developed for Volunteering Australia by Volunteering Victoria in 1996. Sector consultation took place in 1996 and 1997 and the Standards were formally adopted in February 1998.

Following that time Volunteering Australia actively sought feedback on the functionality of the first set of Standards and as a result of feedback Volunteering Australia developed a new second set of standards that truly embraced the full diversity of volunteer-involving organisations and of volunteering.

This second set of standards was launched in 2001, the International Year of Volunteers, and remained in use until today.

Find out more information here.

National Volunteer Week (11-17 May) is the perfect time for State Premier Will Hodgman to announce that Volunteering Tasmania has been officially recognised as a Peak body.

At Volunteering Tasmania’s Meet and Greet in Elizabeth St Mall today, Premier Hodgman announced that the Government will be providing $260,000 funding per annum, in perpetuity. A component of the funding will be core funding, with the rest being project funding.

Volunteering Tasmania CEO Adrienne Picone is jubilant about the decision, which has been aptly announced in line with the National Volunteer Week theme: ‘Give Happy, Live Happy’.

“This is a significant achievement for Volunteering Tasmania. Staff and board members, past and present, have worked really hard for this recognition,” she said.

“We are so pleased that the Government acknowledges the value in volunteering, as well as the value we provide as a supporter of effective volunteering in the state,” she said.

“This announcement shows the Government’s commitment to volunteering and the positive impact it has on Tasmanian communities,” she said.

According to the State of Volunteering Report: Tasmania 2014, four out of every five Tasmanians volunteer.

“For every one dollar invested in volunteering, at least four dollars in benefits are returned to the Tasmanian community. Investing makes great business sense,” said Ms Picone.

www.volunteeringtas.org.au

A number of non-profit membership organisations − including unions and professional bodies – are being targeted by phishing attacks directed at junior-level administrative employees. Scammers are sending employees fake emails that claim to be requests for copies of organisations' membership lists.

The emails look genuine. The ‘from’ field in each email lists the address of the organisation’s boss, and the email ends with an authentic-looking signature block.

The email asks the employee to send a copy of the organisation’s membership lists to a work email address and a 'home' email address, which is a web mail account (such as Yahoo or Gmail).

However, the 'home' email accounts are fake.

A sample email is set out below.

From:                    [Organisation CEO]

To:                        [Staff member]

Subject:                Membership list (All members)

Hi [name],

I need a copy of our membership list, just name and email contact. Please compile all membership type in Microsoft-word or Excel, attach and send to me as your reply.

Please send to the 2 email addresses below: 

 [Authentic email address of the organisation CEO]

[CEO’s name]@yahoo.com 

Kind regards,

[CEO’s signature block]

It is not known how the scammers intend to use the information they obtain. However, the people whose details are exposed might become the target for future scams.

Staying safe

Query unusual requests for information received by phone and email. Before complying with a request that seems odd or out of character, double check with the person making the request, even if it is from your boss.

If you are asked to transmit valuable or personal information to a webmail account that you do not know, think twice before doing so.

Organisations should limit how many people have access to valuable and personal information. Fewer employees with access to that information means fewer targets for these types of attacks.

If you receive a request that purports to be from an organisation that you are a member of, and that asks for personal information such as credit card details, be cautious in responding.

Responding appropriately if information is unintentionally disclosed

If an organisation experiences an incident in which personal information is unintentionally disclosed to a third party (a ‘data breach incident’), it should consider notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). If there is a real risk of serious harm as a result of a data breach, the affected individuals should be notified.

Notifying people whose personal information has been unintentionally disclosed can often help those people guard against the risks that come from this type of incident. 

The OAIC publishes a guide entitled Data Breach Notification Guide: A Guide to Handling Personal Information Security. This guide provides details of how to respond to a data breach incident that may involve personal information.

More information

Stay Smart Online has more information here about avoiding scams and hoaxes.

Information for this Alert has been provided by the OAIC.

The information provided here is of a general nature. Everyone's circumstances are different. If you require specific advice you should contact your local technical support provider.

Find out more.

On behalf of the AuSAE Board, management and staff, we are pleased to advise members of some important changes and outcomes which occurred over and around the period of our AGM and Board meetings on Monday 27th April. We have a new Board line-up and operationally AuSAE is undergoing change. The following highlights will allow you an overview of these important changes:

Annual Update

• AuSAE Annual Update Publication 2014-2015 – This year’s Annual Update is a special publication providing an overview of the year just gone, the new Board makeup, exciting changes AuSAE has undergone over recent years, a snapshot of AuSAE over the last 60 years and other information that may be of interest. 

Changes to the Board

• New President and Vice-President – Congratulations to our incoming President and Vice-President. Nick Hill (CEO, Building Officials Institute of New Zealand) has been appointed as President of AuSAE. Graham Catt (CEO, Australian Veterinary Association) has been appointed as Vice-President.

• New Board members – We are pleased to welcome two new Board members, Chris McGeown (COO, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand) and Lauretta Stace (CEO, Fitness Australia), to the AuSAE Board. 

• Departing Board members - The terms of two valued and long serving Board members, Tony Steven (CEO, Australian Medical Association Tasmania and AuSAE Immediate Past President) and Jon Bisset (CEO, Community Broadcasting Association of Australia), have concluded. We thank both these board members for their valuable commitment and service to AuSAE and wish them both all the best for the future.

Operational Changes

• Transfer of AuSAE operations to AuSAE Ltd control – Many members would already be aware that Strategic Membership Solutions (SMS) has been running AuSAE through a secretariat arrangement at their financial risk since October 2012. Prior to the 2015 AGM, an agreement was signed whereby SMS agreed to transfer all secretariat arrangements, staff and assets, over to AuSAE Ltd. This decision predicates the Boards and SMS’s views to expand member support and continue its growth strategy across New Zealand and Australia. This is good news for AuSAE and a background to this transition can be found in the CEO Report section of the AuSAE Annual Update Publication 2014-2015.

• Resignation of Belinda Moore, AuSAE CEO – Belinda Moore as CEO of AuSAE and Director of SMS has been at the forefront of the drive to bring about an AuSAE turnaround. With the transition of the secretariat to AuSAE ownership, Belinda will step down from the position of CEO on 11th May 2015 and take a co-opted director position on the AuSAE Board. AuSAE looks forward to her continued involvement in maintaining the strong growth experienced in recent years. AuSAE will be advertising for a CEO within the next couple of weeks .  

So as you can see, we have exciting times ahead, with AuSAE committed to continuing to support and grow the careers of all individuals who work in the not-for-profit sector. Increasingly AuSAE is becoming more relevant to our members across New Zealand and Australia, our wide range of organisational stakeholders and to regulators. The year ahead is part of paving the way to add more value to you our members.

We look forward to being part of this next phase of AuSAE. For the current list of board members, positions and biographies please click here.

Warm regards, 

Belinda Moore (CEO) and Nick Hill (President)

Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE)

Four Kiwi charities - working with troubled teens, assistance dogs, young carers and fair food distribution - will pitch for dollars at The Funding Network’s next crowdfunding event.

To be held in Auckland at AUT University on Thursday, June 4, the event will raise tens of thousands of dollars in a fun and philanthropic way.www.thefundingnetwork.org.nz

Popular broadcaster Trudi Nelson will be the MC for the night.

Last year’s TFN event, a first for New Zealand, saw dozens of generous Kiwis pledge more than $50,000 in just half an hour. Subsequent donations saw the total swell to more than $160,000.

In the running this time are:

• Assistance Dogs New Zealand - trains dogs to enrich the lives of adults and children living with multiple disabilities. The dogs help give their owners independence, mobility, confidence and the ability to participate in their communities.

• The Crescendo Trust of Aotearoa - supports young people who are not responding well to traditional education by giving them training and mentoring in music, media and communication. This fosters their creativity and builds life skills.

• Fair Food - Auckland’s first food rescue charity which is both a social and environmental organisation. It rescues fit-to-consume food from retailers and producers that would otherwise go to landfill and redirects it to those most in need through various community groups.

• Young Carers NZ is a network for Kiwi children and young people who look after ill, elderly or disabled love ones. About 8% of young people up to the age of 24 are young carers and the charity provides them with information, support and advice.

“These four terrific organisations are all doing amazing work in their respective areas and are truly worthy of support,” says Hilary Sumpter, CEO of Auckland Communities Foundation which helps run The Funding Network, with support from Philanthropy New Zealand and The Gift Trust.

“Our aim is to support small to medium-sized organisations, for which $10,000 would make a genuinely useful contribution.”

Often described as “Dragon’s Den for charities”, The Funding Network was launched in London in 2002 by philanthropist and art dealer Dr Frederick Mulder. It has since spread around the world, with more than 150 TFN events held, 750 charities supported and at least NZD $13 million raised. Pledges start at $100.

Dr Mulder, who came to Auckland for the first NZ event last September, says The Funding Network aims to democratise philanthropy by providing an attractive and easy way in for new givers.

“The environment we create inspires people to raise more as a group than they could as individuals,” says Dr Mulder. “It also encourages people to give more than just money. Our guests hear about new solutions to community issues, they ask questions, and then they pledge support to social entrepreneurs who have big ideas but limited resources.”

Hilary Sumpter says that is exactly what happened in Auckland last year. “One donor, who pledged $3,000 on the night, was so impressed with the concept they came back to us afterwards and made another $80,000 donation - $40,000 each for two of the charities. Now that is truly big-hearted philanthropy.”

The Macquarie Group Foundation and Macquarie Private Wealth NZ are key supporters of The Funding Network in New Zealand, with the Macquarie Group Foundation matching a third of the donations at the last event.

“We were thrilled by the success of the first TFN NZ event, where the charities and the audience came together to make a real difference in a few short hours. We’re delighted that more New Zealanders will have the opportunity to share in this remarkable giving experience,” says Laurence Fitzpatrick, Head of Macquarie Private Wealth NZ.

After Auckland in June, The Funding Network plans to hold a third event in Wellington later this year and then take the concept to other regional cities around the country.

Sourced directly from Association Adviser by Brianna Lawson

There’s no doubt that video is a powerful communications tool. Using social media, email, digital publications and events to promote your videos will help you inform members of this wonderful benefit you offer.

The Benefits of Using Video

Ensure that your association is taking advantage of all the benefits that video has to offer. Here are just a few of the benefits that can come with integrating video into your current communication strategies:

1. Video can increase member engagement. Just like photos, videos draw people in instantly. Members are looking for quick and easy ways to access information that’s important to them and relevant to their industry of expertise. Developing videos will help your association maximize its communication and content strategy efforts while minimizing time spent on less effective methods.
   
   
2. Video can be promoted as an exclusive member benefit. MHEDA lists video as the first item under its member benefits. Both members and non-members are able to access videos listed under quick business tips, membership services, upcoming MHEDA events, convention presentations, and something worth sharing. But, members receive a discount on videos from MHEDA University. And, it has a video on their member benefits page that talks about the resources it has to offer and why the association is right for you. This video is the perfect example of how an association is using video as a teaser to entice potential members to join the organization and reinforcing the benefits of membership once they have joined.
   
   
3. Video can supply meaningful content in a new way. Your members have already shown you that they are interested in and will understand your message. Using video is a captivating way to present content to members that they will enjoy, especially if they are looking for a large amount of information in a short amount of time.
   
   
4. Video can attract new members, especially younger ones. Video can be an effective recruiting tool. Featuring videos of members from your association talking about what they are excited about that relates to the industry allows younger individuals to more easily identify with your association – because they share the same interests as your current members.
   
   Liz Richards, MHEDA’s executive vice president, stated, “Current and potential members are more likely to watch a video when they are hearing from and seeing their peers on screen. These are the people with whom they network and share the same challenges. Messages resonate much more when they can hear right from a member about how they are addressing a particular business situation or implementing a best practice.”
   
   Younger individuals will seriously consider joining your association if they see and hear what current members are doing and talking about.
   
   
5. Video can increase non-dues revenue. The promotion of video leads to greater exposure for advertisers. Therefore, the better you market your videos, the happier your advertisers will be and the more likely they’ll renew.
   
   When someone identifies with content then they will identify with the brand associated with the content. Therefore, video is a great opportunity to build brand awareness for associations themselves as well as their advertisers and sponsors. When a video is issue-related and not product-related, viewers can more closely associate themselves with what’s currently happening in the story. That’s another opportunity to incorporate your brand so that the viewer associates your product or service with the issue they are facing.
   
   WRLA provides a great example of an association using video to generate non-dues revenue. Their video channel home page has three advertisements to the right of the current video. If you poke around and select different videos, you can see that the ads change, but still remain in a prime location.

These are just a few of the reasons that more and more associations are turning to video. But, don’t just create videos to show you can “do” video; that won’t increase member engagement or revenue. Put yourself in your member’s shoes and develop videos that provide something meaningful to them, as MHEDA did with its training videos. 

See the full blog post here: http://www.associationadviser.com/index.php/video-to-engage-members/?

By Meeting Newz

The Australian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) held a Networking Breakfast in Wellington recently.

LIANZ executive director, Joanna Matthew, told more than 40 ‘not-for-profit’ professionals and AuSAE members how the partnership with Hells Pizza, known for its edgy advertising campaigns, had been a huge success.

Please see more photos from the event below.

Peter Benstead, NZ Veterinary Association; Lisa Blake, Rydges Wellington; Chris McGeown, Tourism Industry Association

Lorraine Kerr, NZ School Trustees Association; Martin Svehla, Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand; Raewyn Tse, Positively Wellington Venues

Rod Auton, Crane Association of NZ; Belinda Moore and Brett Jeffery, AuSAE

A new scheme designed to build stronger links between Small and Medium Enterprises and New Zealand’s largest Institutes of Technologies and Polytechnics was launched last night (May 6).

The Voucher Scheme is an initiative of the Metro Group, made up of the country’s six biggest ITPs – Unitec, Manukau Institute of Technology, Waikato Institute of Technology, Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec), Christchurch Polytechnic (CPIT) and Otago Polytechnic.

The scheme is a funding programme to allow SMEs and NGOs to tap into the research capability the institutes hold, and will see grants of up to $5,000 provided to a business willing to match that amount to create a research project. There is also space for not-for-profits and community groups to have the research fully funded by an institution.

Closer links between the institutes and the industries, government agencies and community groups they work with will have benefits for all parties. Researchers gain valuable experience from working on projects that are answering specific questions for industry, while external partners receive funding, support and guidance on research projects.

One recent project had WelTec assisting Creek Grange ACE Limited to adapt an already successful product for new markets. The company had developed a gas-powered projectile used for avalanche control in New Zealand and many countries overseas and had been approached to see if the device could be modified to control weeds and gorse in difficult-to-access areas and for wider coverage. This became a research and development project, ideal for Wellington Institute of Technology New Zealand Diploma in Engineering student, James Wu (who is now working as an R&D Engineer at Miracle Electronic). As a result of this collaboration, a new electronic activator was developed by WelTec for field testing.

Generally, we’d all agree that using a channel of communication like an e-newsletter is a cost-effective way to:

• keep members, supporters and prospects informed about your organization

• drive traffic to your website

• maintain regular exposure for your organization with external audiences (e.g., media, government, other non-profits, etc.)

So, whether you have a newsletter in place or you’re just starting to develop one, it might be helpful to hear some valuable insight offered from the participants of our Membership Advisory Group sessions on e-newsletters.

Three Member Insights

1. Know your audience

Some practical thinking from your board and leaders should be able to generate some general ideas on what your readers would be interested in. Think about why they joined your organization, what they expect from you, and what they may find useful.

2. Content is still king

While the subject matter will depend on your organization’s scope or mission as well as your communications objectives, here are some guidelines you might want to consider when developing your newsletter/email content:

• Get their attention: First impressions DO COUNT when it comes to your email subject line and newsletter headlines. You’ve heard it all before – you need to offer interesting and intriguing subject lines to get your email opened. This doesn’t mean being too clever or controversial – since the title needs to be linked to your newsletter topic or lead story to let the reader know what to expect.
  
  

• How much content?: The nature of an e-newsletter dictates brevity. Many e-newsletters (including Wild Apricot’s) offer three to five brief overview paragraphs with links to the rest of the article through a “read more” link back to your web site. This is an effective way to drive traffic to your web site. Alternately, you can include short articles and updates and refer readers to other areas of your website for more detail.
  
  

• Be genuine: Your e-newsletter is not the Wall Street Journal! While you need to write tight and concise copy, your readers are subscribing to, and hopefully reading, this newsletter for a reason, so be sure your organization’s unique culture or voice isn’t sacrificed through attempts to sound professional. On the other hand, be sure you don’t lay the industry jargon on too thick. Try to find a balance – with a clean crisp writing style that also suits your organization’s style or persona.
  
  

• Have a call to action: Every newsletter should have a call to action. To make the most of your newsletter, try getting across to your recipient a clear idea of what to do next. Whether you want them to click on a link, engage with you on social media or buy a ticket, keep your call to action brief and straightforward. An effective call to action is between two to five words. However, whatever the desired action, it is important you create some urgency around it. So try using some active language. For example if you want your recipient to donate money, “Donate Now” would be effective. If you want them to follow you on Twitter, “Follow us on Twitter” works.

3. Timing is everything

You may have established circulation timelines to suit your production schedule. But have you ever considered which day and time are best for sending your e-newsletter? The quick answer is –  it depends on your audience. For example, the majority of business-related emails are opened between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday –  with 11 am being a suggested sweet spot. But your recipients may want to read your e-newsletter at home or on the weekend, depending on your content and their profile (e.g., men, women, students, type of career, etc.).

One Community Advisory Member added what worked for him:

“ Monday morning first thing? Not as good, because other things are going on. Tuesday morning, early in the morning all the way up to maybe 10 AM, for our group, a very good time for a high response rate.”

One of the strengths of electronic messaging is that it offers analytics. Most email platforms (including Wild Apricot)  automatically produce some or all of the following data:

• Open rates

• Reports on who clicked on links in your newsletter (e.g., links to your website)

• Subscription information - e.g., unsubscribe and new subscriptions

Track this data when sending your newsletters at different times and days of the week to uncover what is the most effective day and time for your organization and audience.

This post first appeared on the Wild Apricot blog here: http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2015/04/02/3-key-insights-on-e-newsletters