Leverage Your Membership

By using AFP programs as strategic tools to learn, inspire and create with others, you can leverage your membership. What do we mean by this?  It's simple. Take a look at the upcoming AFP programs and think about partners who might benefit by participating. Invite them to join you and use the program as a springboard for conversation. You're virtually guaranteed to bring home a few good ideas that will prove meaningful for your organization.

Here's one example:
 
AFP Charlotte brought renowned author Kay Sprinkel Grace to Charlotte as part of our Speakers of Significance series. Grace presented outstanding ideas for creating productive working relationships with board members.
 
Cindy Quinlan, Executive Director of The Lunch Project, realized that the event provided the perfect opportunity to leverage her AFP membership and engage her board chair in the conversation. Quinlan shared, "I invited our board chair to attend the AFP meeting with me so that, together, we could learn proven strategies and techniques to create a great experience for our board members. It was an inspiring session and we left with solid ideas to bring back to The Lunch Project."
 
Ideas for YOU to consider:
 
On June 22, AFP-Charlotte's lunch program features The Society Guide founder and several advisory council members who will share their recent findings about the Charlotte community's most-likely donors. Invaluable information for local nonprofits!!!  Consider inviting your philanthropy committee members, a board representative or perhaps your communications colleague to learn about how to market to and cultivate these prime prospects.
 
On the AFP international website, you'll find an upcoming webinar titled "Storyliving: Creating Transformational Donor Engagement Experiences to Inspire Major Gifts." Invite your volunteer engagement colleagues and your executive director to participate in the webinar and then discuss which good ideas should make it into your organizations' strategic plan.
 
And finally, don't forget about one of our community's premier philanthropic events - AFP Charlotte's National Philanthropy Day luncheon on November 15.  This event is the perfect opportunity to show your donors and volunteer leaders how much you value their support. Host a table at the luncheon and ensure that your key supporters get to know one another. Perhaps you invite everyone at the table to share why they care about the work of your nonprofit. They're guaranteed to leave feeling inspired and appreciated for the philanthropic gifts that they share with your organization and throughout our community.