Board Development Packages

Board Planning & Development

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“I have a 25 year career in non-profit management; the last eight in the Chamber industry. One of the

things I am passionate about is getting non-profits to be clear about the fact that ‘non-profit’ is just a tax

status and NOT a philosophy for running the ‘business’ of their organization. Going through the exercise

of strategic planning is invaluable for organizational success in order to ensure sustainable growth,

effective reach and increased value. These results will, of course, directly affect your membership, but if

accountability and implementation of the plan are taken seriously, then the overarching result will be

your organization becoming a greater asset for the entire community.”

BOARD RETREAT

Action Plan

Board

Develo

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Board Development

The more aligned and strategic your board of directors is the more

successful your organization will be. The Executive and Staff can and

should handle the daily work of the organization, but they must be

supported by a strong BOD! Professional development for your BOD, in

a setting outside the normal “board meeting” space, resulting in a solid

program of work for your organization are a must for moving forward

effectively.

Board Retreat $2500 Full Day

$1500 Half Day

Board retreats are very individual and the agenda can and should

vary from year to year. Here are the components of your board

retreat:

• An agenda that reflects what you MOST need to work on for the

following year.

• A timeframe that will allow you to establish the goals that need to

be set. Half or full day depends on what you hope to accomplish.

• The agenda and retreat goals will be established in phone

meetings between the facilitator, Executive and Board Chair/Chair

Elect.

• Your board retreat will have a follow up report that will highlight

the work from the day, list established goals and objectives and

provide recommendations for next steps.

**In addition to fees for packages, the organization will cover

all travel expenses for the facilitator. A 50% deposit is required

at the execution of the contract.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

Getting from A to B

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Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. As we move through the process of strategic planning, in this document, start with the following infographic highlight of just what you are looking to accomplish. This will give you a visual memory as you get into the details following.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

Process

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Following is a proposed timeline for each phase including meeting dates, times and groups involved.

This table also includes fees and payment schedule.

Organization staff will be responsible for the following:

• Travel and meals for the facilitator. This will include mileage to and from Union County and meals

during on site visits.

• Securing locations for all scheduled meetings.

• Coordinating the planning committee; meeting schedule, reminders, materials.

• Sending out the membership survey using organization email/database.

• Setting up the interviews with local stakeholders identified in Phase 1.

• Disseminating information at the request of facilitator.

• IMPLEMENTATION!! We are creating a “living” document. The most important part of a strategic

plan is accountability. A scorecard and KPIs will be included in your final plan.

PLANNING PHASE DATE MEETING TIMES

FEE STRUCTURE

ATTENDEES

Phase 1:

Setting the Stage

Work begins upon

contract execution.

Ongoing

Fee:

$2500 due with

contract

Facilitator

Chamber President

Chairman of Board

Phase 2:

Asking the Questions

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

7:30-11:30 am

Fee:

$2500 due

10:30

TBD

4:00-5:30 pm

Board, Planning Committee, Staff

Survey to membership deploys from

Chamber.

Facilitator interviews with local

stakeholders.

Focus Group

Phase 3:

Plotting the Course

TBD

TBD

7:30-9:30 am

Email delivery of

review materials for

final presentation

Planning Committee

Chamber Staff

Board of Directors

Planning Committee

Phase 4:

Moving Ahead and

Keeping Score

TBD

TBD

7:30-9:30

Facilitator makes

revisions following

7/28 meeting.

Email Delivery of

Final Report

Final Fee:

$2500 due

Chamber Staff

Board of Directors

Planning Committee

Copies to:

Planning Committee

Board of Directors

Chamber Staff

Ph

ase 1

: S

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Upon execution of the contract Facilitator will conference with Chamber

President and Board Chair to set the stage for the planning.

Facilitator will require the following information from the Chamber:

Three years financial statement + current YTD statement

President’s reports to BOD; 18 months

Three years of Annual Reports

Value statements (Benefits of Membership)

# of investors at each level of investment

# of sponsors and at what total annual sponsorship investment

Current income sources

Definition of service area

Current business climate; urgent issues that are being undertaken or

pending.

Facilitator will:

Provide ongoing progress reports throughout the planning

Provide an agenda to Chamber staff for distribution to all attending

scheduled meetings.

Chamber President and Staff will:

Send all materials required by Facilitator

Make housing arrangements for Facilitator’s on-site visits

Keep an excel workbook with a tab for each group in the process with their

contact information; staff, BOD, Planning Committee, Stakeholders for

interviews, Focus Group participants

Send timely invitations and reminders for meetings

Send task reminders throughout the process as tasks are assigned

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Ph

ase 1

: S

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Chamber President and Board Chair will select members of planning

committee. A group of no more than 15, selected from the following:

Board Members

Chamber Staff

Upper Level Investors

Small Business Investors

Past BOD Chairs

Community Partners

THE PLANNING TEAM

Strategic planning should be conducted by a planning team. Consider the

following guidelines when developing the team:

The group should be a manageable size, preferably around 15 and should

be a cross section of staff, board leadership, organization members,

organization partners, community stakeholders.

The Chamber President should be included in the planning group, and

should drive development and implementation of the plan.

Involve someone to administrate the process, including arranging meetings,

helping to record key information, helping with flipcharts, monitoring status of

preparation, etc.

Establish clear expectations and clarify roles for participants; there are roles

for those directly involved in planning, those who will provide key information

(interviews and focus group participants) to the process, those who will

review the plan document (Staff, BOD and Planning Committee), those who

will authorize the document (BOD), etc. Each participant should understand

the overall direction of the process and her/his independent roles.

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Ph

ase 2

: A

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This will be a 4 hour workshop of the Planning Committee intended to determine

answers to the following:

• Where are we?

• What do we have to work with?

• Where do we want to be?

• How do we get there?

Workshop Tasks:

• Review Statements of Purpose; Mission, Vision, Core Values

• SWOT analysis

• Environmental Scan

Internal Audit:

HR including succession planning for President

Operation Systems (Policy & Procedure)

Communications Systems

Programs and Events

Committees

Board succession planning

External Audit:

Community dynamics

Organization relationships/partnerships

Geographical challenges

Industry overview

Economic climate

Leadership

Governments

Perception of Chamber

Define the competition

• Identify community stakeholders for interviews with facilitator.

• Identify members for focus group.

• Determine questions for membership survey.

Outcomes:

Facilitator Compile data

Email progress reports to Planning Committee

Chamber President Set stakeholder appointments

Invitations to Focus Group

Lay out member survey

Email member survey

Ph

ase 3

: P

lott

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ou

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A two hour Planning Committee session to work through all collected data and set

up goals, objectives and measurements for success.

Review:

Membership survey results

Interview results

Focus Groups feedback

Data collected to date

SWOT results

Facilitator recommendations

Establish the following:

Organizational profile

Customer profile (member)

Set goals, objectives and priorities

Connect strategies directly to needs, assets and desired outcomes

Action items and assignments

Timeline

Scorecard

Outcomes:

Documents developed for each of the elements listed above.

Facilitator progress report with documents distributed to all to be read and

ready to discuss at final meeting.

Ph

ase 4

: M

ovin

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head

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d

Keep

ing

Sco

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Following the presentation of the report in final meetings, the report will be

edited, completed and disseminated.

Completion Date: TBD

Tasks for this Phase:

• Facilitator will make any revisions to the report that are discussed in the

final meeting.

• Facilitator will email the final report in a print ready format, to the Chamber

President.

• Chamber President will generate spiral bound copies of the report and

distribute a copy to all members of each of the following groups:

Chamber Staff

Planning Committee

Board of Directors

• Facilitator will schedule check in calls for six months and 12 months to

encourage follow through of the plan.

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Ab

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Annette Medlin, IOM Annette has been in non-profit management for over

25 years; the last eight years as a chamber

Executive. Honored as the South Carolina Chamber

Executive of the year in 2009, she has held

leadership roles in industry professional

organizations including the Carolina’s Association of

Chamber of Commerce Executives and with the US

Chamber Institute for Organization Management as

a student, a class advisor, a member of the Board of

Regents and this coming summer as faculty at the

Villanova Campus for North East.

Annette has recently been added to the team of the

Women Speakers Association, promoting the voice

of women in 120 countries on 6 continents. In

addition to her work in membership development,

Annette brings training to clients in the areas of

board development, strategic planning, executive

coaching, risk management, women and

community, leadership and diversity. She also

manages her own coaching business for both

personal and business coaching.

annette@membership180.com

(866) 960 9789 ext. 101

Blog: http://annettemedlin.blogspot.com

LinkeIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annettemedlin/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/coachmedlin

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https://www.facebook.com/MedlinInYourBusiness

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Twitter: @annette_medlin

phone: 866-960-9789/ www.membership180.com/email: info@membership180.com