Ronni sent a long proposal to the list, and I can’t say that I’ve absorbed all of it yet. But here are some initial reactions.

The model we’ve been using in NC breaks the state activities down into 6 areas:

1. Advocacy (includes international, ed. equity, etc. as well as public policy)
2. Events
3. Communication (newsletter, web site, public information)
4. Membership/Leadership development
5. Fundraising
6. Administration (e.g. prepare the budget, compile the officer directory, handle bylaws and policies)

When I describe this model to the branches (“The Branch as a Bookshelf” PPT , PDF) I encourage adding another area:

1. Action

After reading (but not, I’m afraid, entirely digesting) Ronni’s document, I’m wondering about an alternate structure that would apply to the states as well as branches (or local presences as well as larger groups, in the “new speak”).

1. Advocacy – efforts to change the world through persuasion
2. Action – efforts to change the world through events, education, research
3. Communications
4. Fundraising
5. Human resources (bad name)
6. Administration

#5 needs more attention and is not really different from the “membership/leadership development” group that we’ve got.

My thoughts on this are, in part, informed by the Good to Great model – and particularly the issue of how to get “the right people on the bus” in an organization such as ours.

Okay, but the next step is to use a model like the one proposed to help define what groups get to use the name AAUW. Would it make any sense at all to have, say the branches commit to filling all 6 roles? Can we define a way for groups to sign up for a lesser commitment (say just #3 and #1 – a group of half a dozen folks who commit to staying up to date with AAUW issues and publishing letters to the editor over the AAUW name) and still call themselves an AAUW group? What would they offload (to whom?) if they did this?

It’ll take more thought, but it may be a workable way to add flexibility, encourage stakeholders to concentrate on what they do well, and still allow for some control over who’s allowed to use the AAUW name.