Purposefully Managing Projects
So, you and/or your volunteer group developed a Project Plan in the Fall and now your first quarterly Status Report is almost due... have you made progress on your goals and responsibilities or are you struggling to figure out where to start? This article, orginally featured in the Association Management magazine, provides an excellent outline for managing projects particularly when working with distance volunteers.
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Thank you for your active involvement within AFA this year. The time and talent that you share with the Association will help us all build a brighter future for the profession of fraternity/sorority advising and for the overall fraternal movement. This newsletter, The AFA Volunteer, is designed to accomplish a few things: provide you with resources to assist in your development as a fraternity/sorority professional and your development as an AFA volunteer; provide you with information about the Association to assist you in framing your volunteer projects and objectives; and recognize volunteers who role model above and beyond the call of duty performance. Past articles cover a variety of topics from managing and motivating individuals/groups to creativity and strategic planning and can all be found online.

To learn more about AFA's commitment to our volunteers, you can read past articles about the Volunteer Management Plan (January 2006) and The Volunteer Experience (August 2006). We are excited to continue improving volunteers' experiences in 2007!

Did You Know... The Informed Volunteer
This new feature of The AFA Volunteer will provide brief tidbits about AFA policies and procedures to help you become more knowledgable about the Association and ultimately have greater success in your volunteer role. We have two things to share with you this month:

• Those of you who attended the 30th Anniversary Banquet at the Annual Meeting are already aware that the Distinguished Service Award has been renamed the Sue Kraft Fussell Distinguished Service Award in honor of our outgoing Executive Director to recognize her many years of distinguished service to the Association.
• The following policy has been added to the Correspondence section of the Procedures Manual (page 6):
  • AFA committees or AFA related groups are not to be formed in online social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace. The AFA name, logo, mission, tagline, or any other information owned by AFA should not be posted on such sites. Discussing AFA business, services, products, etc. on such sites could lead to issues of intellectual property and trademark infringement. Any group wishing to establish an online communication tool should contact the Central Office to explore alternative options.

The Standard Operating Procedures Manual has been updated to reflect both of these changes. You can download the new Manual from the Volunteer Resources website.

Volunteer of the Month - Tanya McGinn Paolo
Last fall, AFA charged Tanya McGinn Paolo with the daunting task of publishing the 2nd edition of Ideas for Practice. She jumped into this role wholeheartedly - developing a thorough project plan, delegating responsibility to the workgroup members, and tackling tasks. She even convinced her institution, Johnson & Wales University, to print and mail postcards to AFA members promoting the call for submissions (go here to learn how you can contribute to Ideas for Practice!). Thanks to Tanya's initiative and dedication, AFA is well on the way to having the 2nd edition of this important resource. Thank you Tanya!

Please contact the Central Office to recomend a Volunteer of the Month.

Central Office Staffing Update
AFA is now accepting applications for Executive Director. This senior level position manages all areas of the Association including: supervising Central Office staff; overseeing the budget and annual audit of the Association; and working closely with the AFA Executive Board, Central Office staff and volunteers to fulfill the mission and vision of the Association through the implementation of the strategic plan. Applications are due January 30, 2007.

We are excited to announce the addition of a third full-time professional position to the AFA staff. As a volunteer dedicated to the advancement of the Association, we wanted you to be among the first to see the position description for the new Director of Programs. Applications for this position will be accepted through March 16, 2007. Look for a formal announcement of this position to be made to the entire AFA membership soon.

Volunteer Announcements

• Status Reports due February 1: Volunteer leaders' first quarterly Status Reports are due February 1st. Executive Board Members, Regional Directors, Committee Chairs, Liaisons, Editors, and Workgroup Chairs should submit Status Reports to their volunteer supervisor. The Exective Board is committed to review all Status Reports and providing volunteers with the guidance, feedback, and support necessary to accomplish their goals.
• Volunteer Website: The Getting Involved section of the AFA website has a great deal of information for current and future volunteers. You can find position descriptions, handouts from volunteer training programs, articles from past issues of The AFA Volunteer, the 2007 Procedures Manual, Association bylaws, and much more.
• AFA Archives: If you inherited boxes of outdated information from your predecessor, you may find that you don't need most of it to carry out your volunteer responsibilities. Once you figure out what is necessary for you to keep on hand, please send any historical information to the AFA Archives. You can find instructions for doing so on page 10 of the Procedures Manual.