AJLI workshop D5 at the 20TH IAVE WORLD VOLUNTEER CONFERENCE, Panama 2008

Workshop Leader: Susan Danish, Executive Director, The Association of Junior Leagues International sdanish@ajli.org

Profile:
Susan Danish serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Junior Leagues International, (AJLI), an organization of 165,000 women in four countries (Canada, Mexico, The United Kingdom and the United States,) who volunteer to improve their communities.  Her background combines nonprofit and corporate marketing and management expertise.

Workshop Title: How to Communicate About Your Organization

Relevance: Volunteers and volunteer leaders often think that ‘good works’ speak for themselves, but a well thought out communication plan is key to success in attracting volunteers, grants, sponsors, media coverage  and more.

Methodology: This workshop will be highly interactive.  Participants will gain skills and practice in small groups.

Targeted Participants: Leaders at any level of a volunteer organization.  This workshop can accommodate any number of participants.

Practical Applications:  This workshop will provide specific tools in the form of handouts to encourage participants to think about who their many internal and external audiences are, how to reach them, and what the messages need to be.  Every country and NGO is different, yet this basic approach can work for everyone.  Participants will return to their countries with concrete skills they can use.

Objectives: Participants will:

• Better understand the importance of communication to accomplishing their mission
• Have a framework for developing a communication plan
• Develop a short statement they can use with multiple audiences (we call it the ‘elevator speech’)

Language: English 

AJLI delivers a version of the proposed workshop to all of our emerging leaders every year.  The proposed workshop would share our best practices with an international audience.  We believe that in the increasingly competitive nonprofit landscape, communicating what is unique about your organization is more important than ever before.