Good bye sweltering August, hello mild September!

 

I can hope,  right?

 

Since the last edition of Rebuilding Indiana Monthly, IACED completed the 2010 regional member meetings. Thank you to the 143 staff from member organizations, supporters, and guests who attended the 11 meetings across the state. I appreciate the time you shared to discuss your organizations and hear the latest happenings with IACED.

 

101 members took the time to complete the Member Needs and Satisfaction survey as a result of their regional meeting attendance or reminder emails. Survey respondents from non-profit agencies, 79.2 percent, significantly outnumbered all other respondents--government and other Associate members. More than 40 percent of respondents report their organization has been a member of IACED for more than five years. Satisfaction with IACED was 92 percent of all respondents with 62 percent responding that you were very satisfied. Thank you for the positive feedback. For those who rated your satisfaction as anything other than very satisfied, the IACED staff and I will endeavor to win your confidence and exceed your expectations during the next year.

 

In terms of value for your membership dollar, 68 percent report public policy advocacy is a very important benefit delivered by IACED. 48 percent of members act on policy actions by contacting their elected representatives when encouraged by IACED. The reason most frequently sighted for not advocating is the sheer number of other daily responsibilities. Please remember that advocacy on behalf of your work and mission is fundamental to successful outcomes. It is crucial your voice is heard.

 

Networking was the next highly valued benefit, followed by discounts on training and conferences. One respondent summarized their experience, "The networking opportunities has shown to be very rewarding. The trainings that are provided have been put to great use."

 

Networking and communication are important to members. IACED uses a number of strategies including the IACED blog, this and other emails, peer-to-peer networks, and social networks. Members continue to rely on emails for communication. 75 percent rate email as a very important communication tool and 70 percent are very satisfied with IACED emails. This was followed by peer-to-peer networking at nearly 44 percent, think the affinity groups. You know as a loyal reader that this email is a summary of the content on the IACED blog.

 

Surprising to me, 58 percent rated the IACED blog as not important to them; however nearly 72 percent did not now about their level of satisfaction with the blog and even more so the Facebook and LinkedIn sites. Given the correspondence from members about receiving too many emails from IACED, it is surprising that the communications channel which provides the most timely information in the least intrusive manner is also least important. As you consider content from IACED, I encourage you to read this February 28, 2008 story from Newsweek, Social Media Will Change Your Business. Specific to non-profit  organizations and social media, I suggest 4-Ways Social Media is Changing the Non-Profit World.

 

Given your feedback, IACED will summarize more of the blog content in this monthly email. Please know the available content on the blog is too numerous to place everything in the newsletter. The blog will continue to be the primary strategy for timely regular communication. You can connect with the blog content via a daily read at http://www.iaced.org/blog, an RSS feed of the blog to your favorite news reader, LinkedIn, and Facebook. IACED will deliver the most urgent information via email.

 

In the coming weeks and months, you will hear about IACED's public policy priorities and new strategies to meet member needs as a result of the survey and IACED's strategic planning. Stay tuned. Thank you again to the members who took the time to complete the survey.

Regards,

Andy Fraizer

Executive Director