Dear Colleagues and Friends,

With the IKA / Culinary Olympics’08 around the corner many of us are busy preparing for the big challenge ahead. The prestigious competition in Erfurt always takes a great deal of effort, not only from the competing chefs, but also from the chefs associations, as they are often the ones responsible for raising the needed funds and coordinating the logistics behind the scenes to make sure their National Teams and delegations can compete in Germany.

After ten years working at the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA), which gave me the great opportunity to meet and share ideas with many colleagues worldwide, I came to realize that time pressure and finances are some of the main challenges for most us who are managing an association. Therefore, I wish to take this opportunity to share some thoughts and experiences, which might be helpful to some of my colleagues around the globe.

I believe the only real remedy for time pressure is the ability to delegate and prioritize well. Now, if you don’t have a great team of staff members around you to delegate to, then you do need to find more volunteers that can assist you. I also had only one colleague back in 1998 when we established the ECA. However, at present, with the steady growth throughout the years, we are seven full-time staff members.

When we talk about setting priorities, we must first realize that we most likely can’t accomplish every single item on our "to do" or "wish" list. I once attended a time management workshop in where the trainer started out by asking the attendees which of us had a "NOT to do" list. Of course none of us had! He advised us to take our "to do" list, which we all seemed to have, and cross out all the things that had been on there for weeks or months on end, and we knew we would not get to anyway in the near future. By doing so we were already halfway toward solving the problem of too much time pressure.

Last but not least, the pressure of finances. For some associations a real hurdle for survival. I know how it feels, as at the ECA during the starting up years it was the same. Not knowing if you would survive the next month, receiving a sponsor payment at the last moment, so you just could pay the salaries on time. At the ECA, we grew from an annual operating budget of 98,000 Egyptian pounds (18,500 $US) in 1998 and no financial reserves in the bank to an annual operating budget of 1.5 million Egyptian pounds (285,000 $US) in 2007 and 1/4 million (55,000 $US) financial reserves in the bank. Our operation budget is still small compared to many other associations; however, we do have a steady growth and are very active in generating funds out of a diverse pool of resources. For instance, I often hear my colleagues at other associations complaining that sponsor companies don’t give money as easily anymore and that they want more and more exposure in return for their money. This might very well be true, however, I also think that some associations have been depending in the past too much on one or two main sponsors, which might make your life easier, but is not sound financial management for an association. Diverse revenue generation is the key to any association’s financial survival and well-being. Associations should not depend financially on one or two main sponsors and membership dues only.

Remember also that members wish to see their association active and dynamic, otherwise why be a member and pay dues if there are no activities to participate in or services offered by the association? In addition, it is often easier to convince companies to sponsor a specific event or activity for smaller amounts, than to convince them to pay one big lump sum. Yes, it is more work, but by being active as an association you will generate more financial means, while serving your members better at the same time.

To build a structure of diverse revenue generation one has to be a bit innovative. For instance, at the ECA we did not like the plastic bags we gave to chefs when they purchase books or jackets at the office. We wanted to make our own ECA Carry Bags, but this of course costs a lot of money. So, why not ask some companies if they wish to put their logo on the ECA Carry Bags against paying a small fee of $US 275? With ten companies joining we had our own ECA Carry Bags and even made some money. You need to be innovative, or better said, think outside the box beyond membership dues and big sponsor money, and then you will find many ways to add on services and generate funds.

I strongly believe that every chefs association needs chefs in their board of directors to set the direction for the association’s development. However, at the office, an association would need first of all somebody knowledgeable about association management, and second, a person good at marketing and sales to make the board wishes and dreams a reality. Therefore at WACS Congresses, let us devote some time, not only to voting, competitions, lectures and cooking demos; but also to issues that address how we can manage our associations better. It is only when the WACS member countries develop their associations into well-established organizations, that WACS itself will grow and develop. Maybe we, as association managers, have to work together in the future to make WACS Congresses not only a platform for culinarians to meet and share ideas; but also the place to meet for all of us who wish to develop and operate their national chefs associations better.

Anyone interested in learning more about association’s management I can advise to visit the website of the American Society of Association Executives, ASAE, www.asaecenter.org. ASAE also publishes a magazine "Associations Now", which has great articles on association’s management and is an excellent source of ideas and inspiration.

---

Gary Miller
Vice President
Business and Media Development
New Zealand Chefs Association
PO BOX 58-756
Greenmount
Auckland
New Zealand
0064 800 692 433 (National Office)
0064 275 918 777 (Mobile)
vicepresident@nzchefs.org.nz
www.nzchefs.org.nz

Partnerships

Following on from the previous message from Mirjam van IJssel, Executive Director of the Egyptian Chefs Association I would like to share with fellow chefs and colleagues of WACS some thoughts and tips on dealing with and seeking ‘sponsorship/partnerships that at some point all of us within the WACS community find ourselves pursuing.

Sponsorship is not a dirty word, but if not attended too properly and without due care and consideration for those people and organizations that believe in supporting you as an individual or a collective group, it can leave a very sour taste.

When setting out to seek support, firstly ask “What can we do for ourselves”? demonstrate to those that you are seeking support from that you have put time and effort in to supporting yourselves first and that seeking their assistance is because you need that little bit of extra help to help you achieve your goal.

Make sure and demonstrate that there will be an ‘ROI’ Return on Investment for those supporting you. You single-handedly will not increase sales or volume for a company or organization, but you can offer ‘Brand Awareness and Profile’ from which your partners can leverage off of this. This is worth a lot to any company or organisation. Chefs, especially those that command media attention are wearing the equivalent of a walking advertising platform, offer to have members wear your partner’s logo on their chefs jacket, for specific targeted events/initiatives this can be the best investment they have ever made.

Make sure you demonstrate “Brand Loyalty” when representing your partners, if you are supported by Joe Bloggs Beverage, make sure you are seen drinking their beverage. If Josey Y supports you-support them, use their products. If you do not believe that their products are of a high enough quality, do not go into partnership with them.

Partnerships should be viewed as a long term investment of Time and Energy and not just a short term ‘Cash Top UP’ get to know the company, what their strategies are, discuss ways that you can help them to achieve their goals. Look for ways that you can best ‘Represent’ your partners, report back to them after an event, provide them with copies of any media that you may have attracted, keep them informed every step of the way.

Remember also that YOU are not the only person or organisation seeking support, don’t get emotive if they turn you down, Partnership decisions are made purely on Business Grounds, if it doesn’t work for your intended partner, or does not fit in with their business needs, they are not going to offer the support that you seek. Also make sure you give them as much information as possible when seeking their support, and more importantly as much lead in time as possible. Most companies set their budgets 12 months or more in advance, it’s no use going to them 6 weeks prior to you needing support expecting them to just be able to release funds or resources. If you have established working partnerships you will also be thinking a year ahead, you’ll be able to give them an outline of events that you would like to be involved in and require assistance with.

Some simple steps that I follow when seeking support for the NZCA.

The Proposal – This is very much like a CV, it needs to stand out and it needs to gain the recipients attention immediately. A good proposal will explain

• who your organisation are
• what they have achieved previously
• what they are setting out to do
• how they will go about this
• what the potential ROI (Return On Investment) and benefits are for the partner
• explain how their investment is going to lead to success that will be measurable and achievable
• why they, the potential partner, would be a good fit for this particular event/initiative
• And finally, what sort of support you (the organisation) are seeking.

Never start a proposal saying we would like to secure XYZ from you so that we may do ABC.

Make sure you know WHO the correct person is within the organisation that you are seeking support from to send the proposal to. If you don’t, contact their main office and ask to speak with the marketing manager. Sometimes a brief phone call to introduce yourself and ‘Pitch’ an idea will open the door – or at least get your proposal opened when it arrives.

Be prepared to be flexible – If a potential partner wishes to help but they can’t come in at a level that you have asked for, be prepared to negotiate. Discuss what they can do to assist and what you can do in return for that. Sometimes less is more and though at this instance the level of support you are seeking is not available, think long-term. The more success you can demonstrate to a partner, the likelihood of increased support over time is greater.

Nurture the relationship - keep the partner informed, regular updates, copies of media attention, invite them to participate in the event/initiative in some way. Seek their feedback at completion of the event/initiative.

If your partner has successes with their business, make sure you contact them to congratulate them. This shows that you are interested in them, and their successes are just as important as your successes.

Confidentiality – Once an agreement has been reached ensure that you or your organisation respects the confidentiality of the agreement. Never pass on or inform others’ of the content of an agreement. This can be very damaging in so many ways, and can lead to distrust throughout the market place and make it more difficult to gain support in the future not only from your existing partners, but also from potential future partners.

Under Promise and Over Deliver – An old adage. Don’t hype up your proposal with promises that are going to be out of your control. Only outline those results that you have direct control and influence over.

Partnerships/Sponsorships are about working together, not just ‘What’s in it For Me’