Da Plan, Da Plan!

There was a very good discussion on Strategic Planning today on HPR's weekly program, Business of the Arts. Listen to this discussion here.

It was one of the better discussions and explanations of Strategic Planning that I've heard. The program's focus is non-profit arts organizations, but business is business and many of the topics are relevant to any business. Especially so with today's discussion.

I would have added a few points, but the only thing I felt was really lacking was a discussion of a Performance Measurement System that will keep the plan on track and keep everyone aligned with the goals defined in the Strategic Plan.

A very good show, though, and well worth a listen.

Tips for Managing Your Small Non-profit Organization

I was prompted to write this article, Tips for Managing Your Small Non-profit Organization, by a post by Wendy at Your Scrumhalf Connection. It seems that USA Rugby has started this new feature where people who want to volunteer in some capacity can sign up in a database at USA Rugby, and, I'm guessing, rugby clubs, territorial unions, and other rugby groups can search the database for people in their area, then contact them. A good idea, but I'm wondering about the execution of it. I read about in Wendy's post, but when I went to USA Rugby's site, I couldn't find it anywhere. It needs some heavy marketing to make it work, but we'll see what happens. I signed up, just to see what happens, and so far I got one nonsensical email. Hmm.

But I digress. If people are volunteering to help with administration of rugby clubs and unions, there are bound to be people who haven't worked in this type of organization before. There are also many other types of similar organizations, small, non-profit organizations. And they all face similar issues. So I wrote this article to help. Even if you've worked in a non-profit for a while, these tips should help you. Give it a read, and contact me if you have any questions. I'm offering to help any rugby clubs and other rugby organizations, free of charge, with operational and organizational issues, until I get overwhelmed with requests.

Since it's a several pages long document, I saved it in PDF format. And, since there isn't a way to add a PDF document to this blog, you'll have to follow this link to my website, where I've posted it, or to EzineArticles.com, where I've submitted it, but it won't show up there for a few days.

Am I out of the loop?

I guess I've been out the rugby loop for a long time and haven't been paying much attention to the whole wide world of rugby. Of course, it could be I'm just clueless and never knew what was going on, but we won't go there. I "found" eRugbyNews so I can get some news there, when I remember to look. I need to subscribe to Rugby News, since I'm a hold something in my hand kind of guy and it just comes to my house without me having to think about it. And there's Saturday's a Rugby Day for women's rugby news. But here's a couple of things I found that I did not know about and find very interesting.

Did you know there's a non-profit foundation with the sole purpose of promoting rugby? They primarily support youth rugby, from the really small fry through high school, but also offer support for coaches and some other things? Well, I didn't. The United States Rugby Football Foundation. They were founded in 1963. How come I've never heard of them? And another question, why aren't they associated with USA Rugby? They are separate organizations, but they're too separate. They can remain separate but still be sister organizations. The missions overlap to a great extent, and I think the Foundation would gain a lot more exposure (and therefore, money) if they were officially associated with USA Rugby. I've been involved with plenty of organizations that have a non-profit arm that acts as a support mechanism and funnels donations into a variety of programs. Something to think about. But check them out, or if you know more about them, let me know. I signed up for their newsletter, so maybe I'll find out more.

And here's something I found quite interesting. Did you know you can take a course in Rugby Management? Now you do. Maybe you can even get college credit for it. This company, Sports Management Worldwide offers and 8-week online course in managing professional or amateur rugby teams. Now, since I just found this I can't vouch for them, I just think it's pretty darn interesting. When you visit their site, read the article from the Portland Business Journal (on their home page) to get a better perspective on the company. When I'm done with my MBA (which I'm finishing up, ugh!) I might look into this just because it sounds cool. Whether you could ever get a job in managing a rugby team after taking this course is another matter, but since that's not what I'm interested in, it doesn't matter to me. If I do take the course I'll let you know what I think about it. If you've taken it, please share your thoughts.

That leads me into a whole other line of thought, but that's for another post.

I'm adding a link to the Quad Rugby site over in the links, because I think it's so cool. I saw the movie Murder Ball a couple of years ago and was very impressed. Not too much similarity to rugby as a game, but very much so in attitude.