About the Nonprofit
The Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership corporation founded to develop a national market for home energy rating systems and energy-efficient mortgages. It maintains a national index of home energy performance, supports training, certification, and quality assurance standards for Home Energy Raters, and is a recognized national standards-making body.
Nonprofit Resources delivered coordination and management of a nonprofit’s emerging leadership council.
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The Opportunity
In 2016, the RESNET Executive Committee of the Board of Directors voted to create the Emerging Leadership Council (ELC) with a mission to recruit, mentor, and motivate the future leaders of RESNET and the home building performance industry. With this mission in mind and significant interest expressed by young professionals, the next steps were to formalize and organize the group’s efforts to propel momentum.
Our Approach
Three major themes were identified for the ELC:
1. Recruitment of new Raters
2. Retention of existing Raters
3. Membership opportunities within the ELC
To keep ELC members engaged, Nonprofit Resources facilitates monthly meetings via GoToMeeting, which allows members to call in by phone or computer, and also share content as needed.
Task groups were formed, so that each ELC member could stay engaged in a topic of their interest. Each task group has its own chair(s), who are responsible for reporting back to the greater ELC group on progress. As of today, there are five active Task Groups focused on a variety of areas:
- 2021 ELC Video Competition
- 2022 ELC Fellows Program
- 2021 ELC Volunteer Event
- Standards Working Group
- Rater Advocacy Group
The Nonprofit Resources Team has helped in leveraging new technologies and innovations and providing ideas to these task groups to further their goals. An ELC Members page was created to showcase ELC members to the greater RESNET community.
The Results
The RESNET Emerging Leadership Council (ELC) to date has accomplished many of its goals and continues to work towards its mission.
Each year, the ELC organizes a video competition that culminates in recognition and awards during the general session of the annual RESNET Building Performance Conference. The Nonprofit Resources Team helps set up and facilitate the brainstorming, submission, and grading processes. This includes rules and regulations, judging rubrics, submission forms, graphics, and organizing voting.
The Fellows program is another opportunity for the ELC to grow its membership and connect with the RESNET community. Each year, raters apply for a fellowship through a written application, and Nonprofit Resources works with RESNET staff to review these applicants. Winners are announced at the next annual conference and are involved with the ELC thereafter.
Recruitment has been a top priority for the ELC to focus on younger individuals learning the potential opportunities in the Building Science industry. With that in mind, Nonprofit Resources has helped the ELC with creating recruitment infographics and toolkits for interested individuals. See the figures below.
In response to member feedback, a Speaker Series was initiated. Industry experts and elite professionals were invited to speak at monthly ELC meetings. These provided an intimate opportunity for ELC members to ask questions to these experts, while also covering the important and innovative issues that members found most relevant.
Finally, the ELC Volunteer Event group coordinates a yearly community-related volunteer event in the host city of the conference each year. Last year, at the 2021 RESNET Virtual Conference, a Virtual 5K to raise money for Habitat for Humanity raised Previous years’ events included volunteer building events with unCommon Construction in New Orleans, and Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona in Scottsdale.
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Conclusion
The value of starting and maintaining a young professionals program, such as RESNET’s Emerging Leadership Council (ELC), is indisputable. Nonprofit Resources program management team has identified the following steps for creating a similar program:
1. Recruiting
2. Assigning roles and responsibilities
3. Defining mission and goals
4. Creating strategy and task groups
5. Maintaining membership and participation, and identifying new opportunities