This week, I’ve been thinking out loud on this blog about how to start a brand new international organization to serve the needs of marketers who work to advance an environmental agenda. It’s a big and complex task, and I’m hoping to take the time to get it right.
But this is not going to be my private fiefdom. It’s going to be a community, a support network, and a joint effort.
There are a lot of questions to hash out. I’ve posted some of them here in the last seven days, and here are a few more:
What is the process for adjudicating controversial memberships, and who does the adjudicating?
What skills are required for the first Executive Director of the International Association of Earth-Conscious Marketers? How is the Executive Director selected, what will that person’s duties and responsibilities be, and to whom/how will he/she be accountable? How many hours of that position can we fund, to start? (Disclosure: I might be a candidate)
What other types of infrastructure/staff support need to be in place?
What kind of financial structure and income do we need to support our activities, and how will we gain momentum while the early members don’t get much concrete benefit in the startup phase? (subquestions on this would include: Should dues be at different levels for different sizes or revenue levels of organizations? Is membership by company or by individual? Are there appropriate sources of startup capital besides dues, such as grants, VC, etc.? Do those who volunteer for the organization get reduced dues? what incentives can we provide to join immediately?
What do we want our public presence to most emphasize?
And some longer-term questions, like
How will regional and national chapters be structured?
What is sufficient critical mass to establish a chapter?
To grapple with these questions, we need some sort of structure. I propose a Steering Committee of between five and ten people who are willing to devote some energy to this. Ideally, we’d meet once or twice a week via teleconference or Skype for an hour or so and hash out some of these things, starting in mid- to late July (I’m about to go on vacation until then). If you’d like to be part of the exciting process of birthing a new organization, drop me a line: shel at principledprofit.com, and use the subject line: IAECM Steering Committee.
