Chapter Ambassadors Help NIGP Demonstrate Its Value to Members

Rick believes in a value-first approach to chapter membership. “Chapters are where the knowledge sharing and networking happens,” he said. “Don’t get hung up on whether chapter members are members of the National association or not. People will find the money for membership if they see the value in what you provide.”

He believes associations are missing an opportunity and doing a disservice to their professional community by not supporting their chapters. “I’ve heard some associations say: ‘Let the chapters do their own thing. They’re separate from us. There doesn’t need to be a synergy between the chapters and National.’ I totally disagree with that,” he said. “Our role is to make sure chapters are successful in delivering member services at the local level because that’s where the connection occurs. You’ve got to invest in chapters and provide them with resources and tools they can use with their own members.”

NIGP provides training for chapter ambassadors primarily so they understand and achieve the program’s objective: demonstrating the value of NIGP membership. Ambassadors visit each chapter every two years to educate their leaders and members about NIGP services. They now have a consistent approach and message thanks to a standard presentation provided by NIGP that can be adapted to the culture of the chapter they’re visiting.

Chapter ambassadors spend a day and a half to two days at the chapter. “They’re either taking vacation time to make the visits, or their agency says, ‘This is really important, go and do the visit,’ and gives them time off,” said Rick.

NIGP covers the travel and training expenses for chapter ambassadors. Each visit is budgeted at about $750 to $1000 a person. For 36 visits, that’s about $27,000 to $36,000 a year, “a great investment for the relationship building and feedback you get,” said Rick.

Chapter ambassadors meet with chapter officers and, when possible, the board. “It’s a liaison relationship,” said Rick. “They ask: ‘What’s working well? What’s not working well that we can help fix for you?’ Chapter leaders tell the ambassadors about the struggles they’re having. Ambassadors are familiar with our resource library so they can suggest resources that can help leaders address those issues.”

The chapter ambassadors gather information and report back to Jennifer Steffan, NIGP’s chapter relations manager, with a detailed assessment of their visit. These reports help NIGP know where to take action, for example, by developing new resources or strengthening specific areas of communication.

Another result of NIGP’s governance restructure was a new Talent Council. This group acts as NIGP’s “HR arm for volunteers.” The philosophy driving the Talent Council is to lead with the volunteer, not the vacancy. Rick explained: “One of the mistakes associations make is saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a vacancy on the finance council. Is anyone interested?’ People volunteer without really knowing what they’re getting into.”

When people indicate they’re interested in volunteering for NIGP, someone on the Talent Council schedules a conversation with them to find out about their passions, interests and preferences for how they want to serve. “Members want to serve in different capacities,” said Rick. “Some like a long-term commitment, say, for three years because they have the time, some people want to serve on a short-term task force, get it done and then back away, and some of them want to do something episodic.”