crowe_effective local association practices and tools

7/29/2019 CROWE_effective Local Association Practices and Tools

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/croweeffective-local-association-practices-and-tools 1/3MichiganPharmacists.org 39 2013 Jan./Feb./Mar. | Vol. 51, Issue 1

LOCAL LEVE

How do we create thriving local phar-macy associations? As a ormer Kent County

Pharmacists Association Board member anda current member o the MPA’s Local As-sociation Development Committee (LADC),this is a question I’ve heard many times.Ater moving home to Genesee County, anddeciding to start the process o reviving adormant local, it’s a question I would ndmysel asking or the next several years.

In September 2010, I began the processo reactivating the Genesee County Phar-macists Association (GCPA). The bulk o thisprocess involved developing a Web site andcompiling a list o potential members. InFebruary 2011, we held our rst meeting,during which bylaws were approved and 12

members willingly volunteered to serve onthe Board.

With a ew additional steps, we wereready to apply or reactivation with LADC,and on May 17, 2011, we were grantedactive status once again. Since then, we’vemore than doubled our membership, held agol outing that raised three times our goal,and oered numerous continuing education(CE) and legislative programs.

Going through the reactivation processand our eorts since then has involved manytrials and errors. We’ve established some

standard practices that seem to work well,but have also discontinued others that werenot a good t. The same goes or tools; somewe couldn’t operate without, while otherswere ineective or too costly. We wanted toshare the eective practices and tools withactive local association members and with

MPA members that may be in a position toestablish a new local association.

Effective Practices

Communications Communicating with your local member-

ship can be a challenge. First, you have tomake sure you are reaching the right people.Which communications go to members andwhich go to potential members? You alsohave to make sure you’re using the rightchannels and not overwhelming members.We limit our communication to a once-weekly news blast, which highlights upcom-ing local and state events. This communica-tion goes out via ax to all pharmacies in ourterritory and via e-mail to members and non-members. Our quarterly newsletter includesa more in-depth review o past and upcom-ing events and goes out to members only.We try to limit physical mailings to savecosts, but when we do mail, we have oundthat a lot can be saved by using a postcardormat instead o a letter. Genesee County’sholiday party save-the-date cost less than$60 to mail to about 150 members, and thisincluded materials and postage.

Legislative Events Bringing together legislators and lo-

cal members can be intimidating, but itshouldn’t be. Most legislators want to hearrom their constituents. We held our rstlegislative event at a local conerence centeand provided a catered breakast. While

it was a great venue, and GCPA memberswere able to discuss many pharmacy is-sues, it was too costly to hold as oten aswe wanted. Thereore, we decided to takea note rom other proessions and holdlegislative coee hours. For our rst coeehour, we selected a Friday morning at a locConey Island, and personally invited each oour local legislators. Nearly every legisla-tor attended and each was very receptive oattendees’ concerns. As you can imagine,picking up the check or breakast or ve to10 legislators was much less costly than acatered conerence room.

EducationOering CE to members is another great

way to provide value as a local. But, whatis the best ormat? GCPA has learned thatoering one to two hours o live CE everyquarter on a weekday evening seems to bethe best t or our members. Providing reedinner typically helps increase attendancetoo. In providing CE, there are three maincosts to account or: speaker honorarium($250 to $500), CE processing ($7 per hourper person) and ood/venue ($12-15 perperson). On the high end, this can add up t

Effective Local AssociationPractices and Tools

By MIKE CROWE

Pharm.D.; president, Genesee County Pharmacists Association

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LOCAL LEVEL

$1,000 or an hour o CE given to 25 mem-bers; however, there are ways to signicantlyreduce the costs to your local. First, look orspeakers that may be willing to present orree or at a reduced cost. Pharmacy internsand residents are great or this, and it canbe worked into their curriculum. Anotherstrategy to reduce costs is to oer boothsoutside o the event or sales representativesto purchase. I the program is related to theirproducts, it’s not unreasonable to charge$500 per booth. With a reduced speakercost and/or booth sponsors, your local canbring its cost down to $300 or less, which is

much more palatable.

Member vs. Nonmember Fees For every MPA member aliated with

your local, you receive a portion o theirdues (approximately $25 per pharmacistand $6 per technician). At least a portiono this allocation is intended or each localto provide value to that member; however,what about nonmembers? For most o theevents that GCPA organizes that have costsassociated with them, the local chargesnonmembers at least the per-person cost o putting the event on. With a little persuasion,

nonmembers may decide it’s better to jointhan to continue paying this premium, so beprepared with membership applications.

State-Level Involvement MPA supports each local, so it only

makes sense that each local should supportMPA. GCPA supports Michigan PharmacyFoundation (MPF) by sending a chili cookto the Annual Fall Fest and by donatingauction items to the Charity Auction at theAnnual Convention (this year’s event is Feb.22-24, 2013). We also support the Michigan

Pharmacy Political Action Committee (PAC)by sponsoring a hole at the annual MPF andPAC Gol Classic, typically held in June.Whenever possible, we also try to sendmembers to MPA events such as PharmacyDay at the Capitol in September and Legisla-tive Day in the spring.

Valuable Tools

Google Apps Perhaps the most helpul tools we’ve taken

advantage o are those provided by Google.GCPA would highly encourage all localassociations to establish a Google account.The only cost is an optional $5 per year ee

or 20 GB o cloud storage. Google allowsGCPA to centralize all e-mail correspon-dence, contacts, calendar o events, photos(Picasa) and documents. These tools maketransitioning Boards at the end o each term just a matter o sharing the Google pass-word. Keeping your contacts organized inGoogle really simplies communications. Youcan easily create groups and name them (e.g.,Local Members), which makes e-mailingmultiple contacts much easier. You can alsostore contact inormation or all your mem-bers. Then, when it comes time or a physical

mailing, you can export the current addresseo your members and mail merge them to address labels. I you want an easy way to keepyour local records in one place, Google alsoprovides a place or photos and documents.We keep our meeting minutes, proo o incorporation, bylaws, newsletters and everyother GCPA document on Google Drive.The calendar eature is great or not onlyorganizing and advertising events, but whenit comes time or the annual report, you caneasily look back at the details o each event.You can even attach your Google document(e.g., a meeting agenda) to a particular event

and invite your Google contacts or groups.

Fax Tool When GCPA decided that we wanted to

expand our local reach by using ax blasts,we researched many dierent services.The one we selected was Nextiva Fax.This allows us to send up to 500 pages per

month or less than $60 per year, and itdoesn’t require us to have a ax machine.For any pharmacy ax number (e.g., 555-555-5555) we can create a Google contactor that pharmacy using the e-mail [email protected]. We group ao these pharmacies together in an e-mailgroup, and then when we have a documentsuch as a fyer that we want to ax out, wesimply attach it to an e-mail and send it outto this group. The pharmacy receives thefyer right on its ax machine.

© i S t o c k p h o t o . c o m / s n a p p h o t o



LOCAL LEVE

Social MediaBecause they are ree and relatively easy to use, we recommend

taking ull advantage o the social media applications Facebook andTwitter. You can link the two accounts, so you really only need tomanage your Facebook page, and let members decide which platormthey will ollow. A Facebook page can almost replace the need or aWeb site; it shows up in searches, has an about section, a place tokeep photos, and an events section. The only downall is that not allmembers are Facebook users and, thereore, they won’t receive theinteractive experience. Be sure to use other routes o communicationto connect with all your members.

Form-Building Software To collect inormation and

payments, we needed tond orm-building sotware.

We ound JotForm. Withit, anyone can build ormsvery easily, and our members could quickly click on a link, sign upand pay or our events. The ree version allows you to create unlim-ited orms, accept up to 100 submissions per month and up to 10payments per month. I you’d like the option to accept up to 1,000submissions and payments per month, you can upgrade to a two-yearmembership or $69.95.

E-Commerce O course, i you’re going

to accept payments, themoney has to be processedand routed. With JotForm,

there are several options,including PayPal and GoogleCheckout. The one wepreer is Stripe. With Stripe,payments made using a JotForm orm are automati-cally transerred to our bank account every seven days. Each paymentprocessed costs $0.30 plus 2.9 percent, which is basically a standardtransaction processing charge. This may seem like a big cut, but byoering this convenient way to pay, we’re able to attract more regis-trants and managing our payments is much easier.

Additional ResourcesThere are many more resources available or local associations.

LADC has several listed on their Web site at MichiganPharmacists.org/ mpa/locals/resources, and I hope the ones provided in this article andthe examples rom GCPA have proved valuable. One resource oeredby LADC that is especially valuable is the local grant. LADC reviewsgrant applications on a quarterly basis or local legislative and mem-bership projects and events. Visit MichiganPharmacists.org/mpa/locals/ grants or more inormation on applying. Funds can even be requestedby those interested in organizing a new local association!

I you have any general local resource questions, please contact LADCat [email protected]. For questions regarding any o thepractices or tools discussed within this article, please eel ree to contactme at [email protected].

Where to GetMore Information

Google AppsGoogle Apps oers communication, collaboration and publish-ing tools, including e-mail accounts on your organization’s do-main (like [email protected]). It’s quick and easy to get started!Google oers deployment resources to help you get started or tryit out with a 30-day ree trial rst. Visit www.Google.com/appsor additional inormation.

Nextiva FaxWith Nextiva, all you need is an Internet connection in order tosend and receive axes. Their online ax service is easy to use,aordable and gives you great fexibility. Nextiva’s online axservice enables you to ax by e-mail, via Microsot Oce, romyour online control panel or continue sending axes throughyour ax machine with a Nextiva ax adapter. The cost is as lowas $4.95 per month. Visit www.NextivaFax.com or additionalinormation.

Social MediaFacebook allows organizations to create pages to share theirstories and connect with people. Whether your page is or abusiness, a brand, a cause or a public gure, Facebook makes it

easy or you to build a closer relationship with your customers,members or ans. Visit www.Facebook.com/pages/create.php oradditional inormation.

Twitter is a real-time inormation network that connects you tothe latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you ndinteresting. Businesses and organizations use Twitter to quicklyshare inormation with people interested in their products andservices, and build relationships with customers, partners,members and infuencers. Visit www.Twitter.com or additionalinormation.

JotForm JotForm’s online orm builder helps you create and publish weborms anywhere, anytime. Use it to collect payments, registra-

tions, leads and uploads. JotForm oers a ree package or severalsubscription options. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancelyour service at any time, and even i you cancel, you don’tlose any previous data! Visit www.JotForm.com or additionalinormation.

StripeStripe is a simple, developer-riendly way to accept payments on-line. Stripe charges 2.9 percent + 30 cents per successul transac-tion. There are no setup ees, monthly ees, card storage ees orhidden costs: you only get charged when you earn money. Earn-ings are transerred to your bank account on a seven-day rollingbasis. Visit www.Stripe.com or additional inormation.

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