Here's a blogging application we didn't consider in our recent report, Online Banking Report's Bank 2.0: Blogs and Feeds (here), a credit union board of directors creating a blog to communicate with the full membership.
The blog, which launched Jan. 1, is called The Boardcast <boardcast.typepad.com> and is written by Virginia Brady, VP on the board of directors at UFirst Credit Union <sunyplattsburghfcu.com>.
In response to my email, she outlined the goals of the blog along with her background:
I've been a director on the board for about 11 years. I work full time as an employment counselor with a local government agency. I've been following and reading my favorite blogs and podcasts for a number of years and developed an interest in doing one of my own. Our excellent credit union has grown in quality under our CEO and board over the last five years. We applied for and received a community charter three years ago and have made growing into that charter a priority. We are also building a new main branch that will allow us to grow in services to our members and reach out to those who are underserved in our geographic area. The board felt that now was the time to expand the ways that the BOD communicates with the membership, and I volunteered to take it on. Typepad presents a simple, ready-made structure, and I confer with our CEO and marketing director as well as professionals in the credit union movement for the content.
Virginia posted eight times during the blog's first month; right on target with our recommended range of two to three postings per week (for company blogs). Some of the postings give general financial advice, and some are updates on CU business.
UFirst publicizes the blog in two places on its homepage (see screenshot below):
Analysis
Overall, it's an excellent effort. I have a couple relatively minor suggestions:
- Provide more detailed disclosure of who is authoring the posts and to what extent the writing is vetted through CU management prior to being published online. This should be addressed in periodic posts and in the blog's About section.
- Improve the visibility of the "Add a Feed" option and use the standard RSS button
Blogs are a good way for volunteer boards at nonprofits to communicate with the full membership. They are inexpensive, timely, and promote two-way communication. In fact, we believe nearly every company and organization will eventually have one. However, they are not without risks and headaches; for example, here are a few issues that must be dealt with:
- risk of generating pubic controversy for the board member(s) writers
- the time commitment necessary to post at least weekly so the blog remains relevant
- making sure that board and management are on the same page before making the post
- monitoring and responding to comments
- conflicts of interest with the board member's day job or business
Thanks to OpenSourceCU for the first post on this new blog (link here).