Building Sustainable Extension Advisory Councils Steps to Recruiting and Engaging Members

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Building SustainableExtension Advisory
CouncilsSteps to Recruiting and Engaging Members
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Building Your Advisory Group
The Board Building Cycle---BoardSource
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Building A Diverse Group
Identify

• Avoid tokenism
• Accept that inclusivity will widen perspectives
  and opinions
• Ask What do we need and what do we want?
• Evaluate
• What is the current composition?
• What characteristics, skills, and
  backgrounds
• do we need?
• What are the gaps?
• What are our priorities for recruiting?

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Member Characteristics to Consider
Identify

• Ability to . . .
• Willingness to . . .
• Willingness to develop . . .
• Possess . . .

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How and Where to Find Council Members
Cultivate

• Where to find suggestions for members
• Colleagues, other groups, media, staff, other
  members, volunteer and leadership groups,
  subordinate or collaborative groups
• Whom to consider for membership
• Current or past clientele and collaborators,
  community leaders, representatives of clientele
  groups, corporate volunteers, people in
  professions related to your mission, people with
  needed traits, skills, interests, etc.
• Where to look for prospective members
• Faith-based groups, professional and civic
• associations, organizations representing
  other groups

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Motives to Join an Advisory Group
Recruit

• to help others
• to give back to the community
• to meet new people
• to fill a personal void
• because it is a tradition
• to learn new skills
• the ability to influence others
• Volunteer
  Management 101 John Lipp

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Orienting New Members
Orient

• Current programs
• Finances
• History
• Plan of work
• Organizational structure
• Roles and responsibilities of members
• Operations of the group
• Membership lists
• Skills to possess or develop

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Engaging Advisory Council Members
Involve

• Train them
• Build trust, relationship, and communications
• Identify interests and skills and assign
  accordingly
• Level the field
• Engage new members early
• Involve them in meaningful activity and wisely
  use their time (committee work is important)

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Extension Program Committees
Involve

• Task forces
• Educational activities

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Barriers to Member Involvement
Involve

• Group is too large for the work to be
  doneunder-working
• The overall group is too smallover-working
• Subordinate groups are overshadowed by the larger
  group
• Insufficient communication and orientation
• Weak agendas or no agenda
• Feelings of not being involved gainfully
• Lack of social glue

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Developing Members by Education
Educate

• Council assessment
• Review of the mission statement
• Formal trainings
• Retreats
• Electronic teleconferencing, e-mail, web sites
• Staff

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Evaluation
Evaluate

• Council reflection
• Evaluation forms for the group and for the
  individual

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Rotate
Rotate

• Keeping the group fresh
• Using term limits
• Saying good-bye
• Removing a difficult advisory member

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Celebrate
Celebrate

• Appreciation and Recognition

In conscious celebration we create moments that
illuminate the deeper meaning of our lives and
guide our footsteps for the future. Cathy
DeForest
Transforming Leadership from Vision to
Results
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Credits

• -BoardSource (formerly National Center for
  Nonprofit Boards, www.boardsource.org)
• -Nonprofit Leadership Initiative at the
  University of Kentucky, www.kynonprofits.org,
  danielle.clore_at_uky.edu, [phone]
• -Kentucky Advisory Council System web site,
  http//ces.ca.uky.edu/advisorycouncil/,
  ralph.prince_at_uky.edu, [phone], Ext. 220