Hiring and using a paid administrator can increase the effectiveness of your chapter's board. In today's busy world, just juggling work and family can be quite challenging—even without the added responsibilities of serving as a volunteer. Many very successful chapters have found that using a paid administrator can take a lot of the burden off the chapter board members, and at the same time increase the value of the chapter to the local members.
Benefits of Using a Paid Administrator:
- Frees up chapter board members so they can focus their time more appropriately.
- Creates a greater awareness of RMA among your member institutions.
- Improves communication among chapter board members, with RMAHQ, and with the chapter's membership base.
- Provides continuity and an institutional memory so someone always knows how the chapter has done things in the past.
- Makes it easier to recruit new board members and retain existing ones because an administrator handles a substantial portion of the workload.
How to Get Started:
- Select a chapter board member to spearhead the effort.
- Appoint a board member or a committee to look into hiring a chapter administrator.
- Learn from exisitng chapters. Many chapters are already successfully using chapter administrators. There are RMAHQ resources available to assist paid administrators:
Resources for Finding a Paid Administrator:
- Several of the paid administrators currently working for RMA chapters are willing to take on other chapters. Consult with your RE.
- Ask board members and your general membership for referrals.
- Look for prior board members of the chapter that have left the work force. Might be a perfect fit for a stay-at-home parent.
- Contact an administrative services firm. (See if you can get a referral from another nonprofit organization, or check your local yellow pages.)
- Contact local affiliates of the American Society of Association Executives.
- Some state/regional banking associations may be able to assist you.
Typical Duties of a Paid Administrator:
Listed below are duties sometimes performed by a chapter administrator. Every chapter needs to determine what best suits their needs. Some administrators perform all of these duties, while others do just a few.
- Updates and maintains membership lists to improve overall communications.
- Creates meeting notices and other flyers in a timely, professional manner.
- Sends out promotional/informational mailings for all chapter events.
- Collects dues and meeting fees.
- Coordinates registrations.
- Records and distributes minutes from chapter board meetings.
- Provides A/V, catering, and other support for educational courses and seminars.
- Collects articles and edits/publishes the chapter newsletter.
- Prepares nametags and helps with registration and other administrative duties for chapter events.
- Creates and updates board rosters and submits them to RMAHQ.
Tips for Managing Your Paid Administrator Effectively:
- Set your goals and expectations early on. Clarify what you want from the paid administrator in a bullet-point job description.
- Establish an annually renewable contract (Word).
- Have the administrator set up a chapter calendar at the beginning of the year with all meeting and training course dates. This will allow for timely e-mail notices to be sent to board members and general membership.
- Assign one person on the board as the direct report for your administrator. (First VP is a good candidate for this responsibility.) This organizational structure will ensure that communications with the board are efficient and clear.
- Include your paid administrator in all chapter board meetings.
- Print business cards for the administrator and make them available at general meetings.
- Establish expectations about the maximum # of hours you need and expect each month of the contract. This will enable the chapter to budget for the expense of the new administrator.
- Be prepared to renegotiate the hourly wage. (Many chapters have found that administrators quickly realize their value to the chapter after the first annual contract expires!)
For more information and for additional resources, please contact Maryann Yurkonis at myurkonis@rmahq.org or 215-446-4051 or contact the Regional Manager for your area.