By Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group I was at a networking event and chatting with someone about post-COVID challenges, and he suggested that I should look into the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). He gave me the name and number for an agency that had helped his large company receive hundreds of thousands of dollars back from the CARES Act. The next day, I called that company and learned they wanted to charge me a $10,000 fee just for a review. If I qualified for the program, they would charge a large fee per employee. My heart...
By Cat Donovan Executive Assistant Employee wellness continues to be a topic circulating at the forefront of nonprofits and associations. The pandemic has escalated workplace pressures and shifted expectations placed on employees by both supervisors and also the employees themselves. For example, working from home has made it much easier for employees to check email at all hours of the day and night. Without the real separation of office and home, employees may be off the clock but essentially still “working” and may feel pressure to constantly check in, fearful that others are doing the same and, thus, they might...
By Cat Donovan Executive Assistant Big Buzz Idea Group “It’s been a long … a long time coming. But I know a change is gonna come.” Sam Cooke took his real-life experience of being turned away from a whites-only motel in Louisiana during the Civil Rights era and turned it into the 1964 smash hit, “A Change Is Gonna Come.” The message of his song – equal treatment for all – has carried through the airwaves in the decades since. And while significant strides have been put into action by the Black Lives Matters movement, there are still many areas...
By Brad Ball Big Buzz Idea Group Vice President It should go without saying that sponsorship can be a great tool for associations to increase revenue, but what goes into any well-planned program may vary widely depending on context. For example, sponsorship for a single event will likely look very different from an annual sponsorship. There are many excellent resources on sponsorship across the web (including these articles from the Big Buzz Idea Group blog). However, one point that doesn’t seem to get much attention is the touchy subject of whether to include membership dues in your sponsorship packages. This...
By Melissa Lagowski Big Buzz Idea Group CEO/Founder/Queen Bee It is a moment that every nonprofit executive hopes will never come: Your day is flowing like most days, and all is well when, in a blink, a single phone call disrupts the status quo and turns your world upside down. Dazed and confused now, how do you react? What are the next steps? Who ya gonna call? As part of your fiduciary responsibilities to your association, it is prudent to have a crisis communication plan in place. This is a task that many organizations put on their to-do list, but...
By Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group What does it mean to manifest something? The spiritual definition of manifestation is “the public display of emotion or feeling, or something theoretical made real.” This concept is part of the Laws of Attraction where positive thoughts beget positive outcomes. So, are you a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty type of person? Throughout the pandemic, we and many of our clients have continued trying to be optimistic, to roll with the punches, to make lemonade out of lemons. But have you seen this recent meme: Enough is enough already! We at Big Buzz...
