For this assignment, I balconied (verb) both the Membership Development Committee and Steering meetings for BuckeyeThon, which is also conveniently the organization that I will be auditing for my final project. However, for the sake of this blog, I am going to comment only on the Steering meeting, as I believe it best paints a holistic picture of the BuckeyeThon organization.
Q: Who
is the leader of the meeting?
A: The meeting was lead off by advisor, Felix Alonso, followed by a welcome from President, Suraj Hinduja, and then sequential speakers were then prompted by a Prezi operated by Vice President, Kiersten McCartney.
Q: What
have previous leaders been like? How have they been viewed by members and
participants? Why are they viewed this way?
A: Last year's President, Mark Mangia, was admired for his professionalism, passion for the organization, ability to work with all people, and love for the BuckeyeThon cause. To the extent of my knowledge, he was well-received and well-respected not only by BuckeyeThon, but also the larger Ohio State community.
Q: What
does your organization value? What values are implicitly known? Explicitly
known? How do these values play into the success or failure of a meeting?
A: This organization, above all else, values people. They value each other, their donors, Ohio State, and, of course, the kids. They value raising money in creative ways all for the mission of ending childhood cancer and ensuring that children and families dealing with cancer can afford the highest level of care.
Q: Who
are the followers of the meeting? What do they value? What do they get from being a member of the
organization? Is there apathy among followers? How do you
know? Are there members who readily point out
problems but rarely offer solutions? How does this affect the organization?
A: The "followers" of the meeting are the 115 members of the BuckeyeThon Steering team. They are morale captains, fundraisers, committee members, and dancers. The organization runs entirely on its members. They get not only friendship and a traditional social experience from joining a student organization, but they also acquire skills such as communication, professional development (which the Membership Development team is currently crafting), sales and marketing experience, event planning, and leadership training. While it is hard to tell from one meeting, I have always admired BuckeyeThon from afar at their apparent lack of member apathy. And those members that do have a problem with something in BuckeyeThon are often very vocal about fixing it due to the open lines of communication between the members and Executive Board. This allows for a positive and healthy environment within BT.
Q: How
would you describe the context or environment? Is the organization doing a good job of
doing what it is intended to do? Are its activities and mission consistent with
each other? Are members and leaders happy? Is there pride in the organization? Is it
doing “well” in the eyes of its members and constituents? Is the campus community supportive of the
organization? Is the organization seen as a benefit or detriment to the
community?
A: BuckeyeThon fits perfectly within the context of Ohio State and the members the organization selects and attracts fits perfectly within that environment, as well. The social and fundraising activities BT holds align with its mission, both internally and externally, though the Membership Development committee recognizes that BT could be doing more internally for the betterment of its members. It seems as though both the members and leaders are so passionate and prideful about this cause, that simple feuds seem trivial. And the current 999 registered dancers tells me that this campus is fully on board with the mission and event of BuckeyeThon. The one question I still aim to answer is if the Executive Board and general members agree if the organization is successful or even have the same definition for success.
