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Nursing Associations Module
Steps to Building an Association (continued)
5. Securing and managing finances
To help with start-up costs and to fund major activities such as conferences, the association can seek funding from outside sources, including grants from international organizations and the Ministry of Health, or even conduct its own fundraising activities.You may be asked by these potential supporters to provide a letter outlining your goals for the association, and what you require from them. If such documentation is requested, AIHA recommends you draft a letter in the following manner:
First, read through the materials in this module and select data that will strengthen your proposal before writing the letter. For best results, keep the letter brief and follow this format:
Paragraph 1: Describe what a nursing association is.
Paragraph 2: Give some specific examples of how other cities/regions/nations have benefited from having a nursing association.
Paragraph 3: Describe how your city/region/nation will benefit from a nursing association.
Paragraph 4: Briefly summarize how you plan to establish the association.
Paragraph 5: Describe what you need and ask for support.
Some ideas for fundraising activities might be to:
- Conduct community health fairs where small fees can be charged for diagnostic screenings.
- Hold a raffle among the membership for some nursing equipment.
- Offer continuing education courses for nurses.
Once your association is in operation, member dues will help provide on-going financial support. See the section setting reasonable dues and fees for more information about this topic.
6. Selecting leadership
There are several ways you can select your leadership. Some associations begin by creating task forces and appointing their primary leaders. Others solicit candidates and hold elections.Whichever route you choose, AIHA recommends creating a board of directors to govern your association, keeping the number of individuals to a manageable size of 15 or fewer people. It should be a diverse group that can pose and effectively debate the big questions that will need to be asked and answered to help ensure your success.
When seeking out board members, try to include committed individuals who will contribute to the association in unique and valuable ways—for example, in addition to a core group of healthcare leaders, you may wish to include individuals with expertise in finance, law, local government, and business.
Your mission statement should help guide you in selecting the appropriate board members who can help you build your association over time.
7. Training leaders
Through the International Nursing Leadership Institute, AIHA trained many current and emerging nurse leaders in topics necessary for positions of leadership. Many of these nurses went on to fill leadership positions in their country’s new associations. When seeking out nurse leaders for your new association, you would want to look for both nurses who are already in positions of power and younger nurses who show potential to rise to those levels.
8. Promoting the association
Although most associations rely on word-of-mouth advertising and informal promotional techniques, using a few simple, low- or no-cost tools can help you generate greater interest in your association. Some successful techniques that have been used by associations AIHA has worked with include:- Sending formal announcements about the formation of the association to the city or regional health representatives, including head nurses and local and regional hospitals;
- Contacting the media—television, newspapers and credible online news sources—and asking them to do a story;
- Holding a kick-off event to celebrate the formation of the association and inviting the media and other stakeholders to attend;
- Contacting and encouraging recent nursing school graduates to join as an effective way to begin their careers; and
- Contacting and encouraging nurses at all stages of their career to join as an effective way to network, discover new opportunities and move their careers to the next level.
Continue reading about AIHA's Nursing Associations program.
