By Bruce Newman
Mid-Atlantic Bureau Chief
(New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, Virginia)
Events: Comments?
In last month’s article, I presented a networking group with chapters in several states that schedules many events for its members. It raised an interesting question, Given today’s the rapidly increasing networking online opportunities, how important is it to attend events? Please feel free to respond to this question on my blog at prodinst.blogspot.com. I will provide a summary based on the feedback I receive in next month’s article.
This month’s article: A NAWBO chapter that excels.
This month, I caught up with Jane Barr Pino, Executive Director of The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Philadelphia Chapter and Kayte Connelly, a relatively new NAWBO member and the person who referred me to Jane. Jane discussed NAWBO with me and elaborated on several key NAWBO functions in the
Part 1 – Jane Barr Pino
What is NAWBO?
NAWBO is the National Association of Women Business Owners. Incorporated in 1975, NAWBO has grown to over 9,000 members and 80 chapters across the
How long have you been involved with NAWBO?
I have been NAWBO’s Executive Director since 2001. I am currently the Executive Director or Administrator of thirteen associations and professional groups in the
How has your NAWBO chapter changed since you have been a member?
It has grown more than twofold and now has over 200 members and has become one of the most active and visible chapters in the country. I really enjoy working with the board members – they are great people and terrific worker bees.
What makes NAWBO,
Unlike the many organizations out there serving professional business women, NAWBO is focused on supporting women entrepreneurs. The number of women starting their own businesses is increasing. NAWBO tailors its programs and member benefits specifically to the needs of these women.
You speak very highly of the board. What is its role?
The board consists of the officers and committee chairs. It sets the tone for the whole organization including the direction, goals, what they want to sponsor and strategic planning.
There are several committees including: membership, technology, public relations, public policy, programs, education and marketing. We’re currently working at obtaining 501C3 (charitable foundation) status to be able to extend our educational services and receive funding from corporate sponsors who give to 501C3’s. Many corporations only sponsor charitable organizations. Becoming a 501C3 organization will open up a new pool of potential sponsors and enable us to expand the educational programs we offer our members. We will also receive tax exemption benefits and lower postal rates.
What educational services do you offer?
We try to provide as much educational services as possible. In addition to our regular educational programs that range from topics on marketing on a shoestring or technology issues and trends to valuing your business or obtained particular business certifications, we offer a unique service called our CEO Roundtables. These roundtables are one of our most popular offerings. They provide an opportunity for women business owners to share their concerns and tap into the knowledge, experience and objective viewpoints of other business owners.
They are led by a professional facilitator and are limited to eight members per group. There are groups for new businesses, ones based on specific revenue classes and one for family-owned businesses. We have offered our CEO Roundtables for years and have women that continue to participate in them year after year.
We also have our ATHENAPowerLink program that is a joint venture with between the
What events do you offer your members?
Every month, we offer either networking or education seminars. They are well attended. We also have free networking meetings on the first Friday of every month that cover all the counties in our area. These are excellent opportunities to network and also share best practices for running a successful business.
This October, we will have our regularly scheduled Technology program in which we expect 30 – 40 attendees.
Last May, we had a terrific leadership conference. Our honored guests included: the president of Southwest Airlines, the founder and president of Build a Bear Workshop and the president of Acme Markets (all women). They discussed leadership qualities with real-world examples (through first person story telling) in this day long and well attended conference.
It is this type of conference that helps make our organization special.
What special events do you do?
We offer our BizOps procurement fair every other year. Our next one will be in April. The event is focused on women and minority businesses and how supplier diversity can help their businesses.
And our Leadership Conference, mentioned above, is the other special event we offer every other year.
Is there something else that makes your organization special?
I would say the strong relationships and trust between our members. Women like to do business with other women. And, our members make it a point to work with other NAWBO members whenever possible. They reach out to each other in their time of need and it is for this reason that 75 of our long term members pre-date my arrival in 2000.
Part 2 – Kayte Connelly
Why NAWBO? What programs have you participated in?
I became a member of NAWBO April, 2007. I was just rolling out my business and it made sense for me to join this organization compared to others in the Greater Philadelphia Region. Although there were more than 45 women's groups, each with their own specific mission, requirements, affiliations, etc., I selected this chapter because of what it had to offer.
In NAWBO - which is designed by and for women business owners, there were classes, some similar networking opportunities but only NAWBO provided the opportunity to participate in CEO roundtables with similar businesses. For six months, small groups of WBO under 3 years old or with gross revenues under $100,000, or family owned businesses or corporations with over $1 million in revenues are given an opportunity to meet with like-minded members and explore issues that are of significance to them and with an executive coach to help steer them.
In addition, our chapter has an Athena Program, which provides WBO with their own board of directors to support and direct their business growth.
We also have regularly scheduled satellite meetings that are free and open to all members and potential members.
I joined the Public Policy Committee and support distribution and advocacy on legislative issues that have a bearing on Women Business Owners. That committee is represented on the National Public Policy Committee and our committee interchanges our representation.
This year, that committee explored the possibility of expanding our services through the initiation and development of a charitable arm, the NAWBO Greater Philadelphia Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs, which is expected to be fully functional by the end of the year. A task force was developed to study NAWBO Chapters across the country to determine which programs worked and which did not.
One outcome was the mentoring program. Recognizing that 50% of businesses go out of business within one year and that 95% fail within their first five years, NAWBO Philadelphia wanted to do more. The SISTORS -
Sisterly
Introduction to
Supporting your efforts
Towards
Obtaining
Riches
Successfully -
program will pair an incoming member with a more experienced member to show them the ropes who acts as a mentor. This is yet another way that this group of women reaches out and makes a difference in the business climate in our region.
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NAWBO can be found at: www.nawbo.org . The
Jane Barr Pino: Jane Barr Pino & Associates (www.janebarrpino.com) assists associations, foundations and membership organizations with a variety of administrative and project management services enabling them to focus on the mission of their work while she and her team facilitate efficient back office management. In the ultimate show of confidence, Jane is honored to serve as a trusted member of the executive team of three of her client organizations. She can be reached at jane@barrpino.com or 215-628-9844.
Kayte Connelly: Kayte Connelly CCP is the President of Best Principled Solutions LLC (www.bestprincipledsolutions.com) located near
Any networking group or organization that has a special meeting or conference they wish to announce, relevant articles or topics they wish to discuss, or would like to be featured by me (if possible), please email me at: bnewman@prodinst.com .
Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC (http://www.prodinst.com) which provides prodinst by matching the specific software products and services needs of companies to rated outstanding consultants who can meet those needs. Any company that wishes to improve their productivity can sign up for this free service and be contacted by up to five rated outstanding consultants.
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