Chapters use their communications (newsletters, social media, etc.) to remind their membership that the chapter ballot is coming soon. Sample message that could be used:
“Action Required: Your Voice, Your Leadership—It’s Time to Vote!
Once a year, every HFMA chapter counts on its members to shape the future by voting on the upcoming leadership roster. This is your chance to have a direct impact on the direction of your chapter.
Be on the lookout for an email from your chapter to cast your vote starting in January. Every vote is important as the chapter needs to have a quorum of members vote to elect the new slate of Chapter Leaders.
Spread the word—encourage your fellow members to participate!”
- HFMA Enterprise Team posts message on Enterprise web page (enterprise contacts and members have access to this page) setting the stage for the chapter ballot emails that are forthcoming.
Chapters finalize ballots and submit Chapter Ballot survey request (if requesting HFMA Volunteer Experience Team to help with setup).
HFMA Volunteer Experience Team receives ballot setup requests and sets up chapter ballot surveys as requested by chapters.
- HFMA Volunteer Experience Team sends out ballot emails from Cvent to chapter membership and provides continual updates to chapter leadership (whoever requested the ballot setup) on progress towards quorum. Volunteer Experience team sends out emails on a cadence specified by the chapter.
- Chapters engage their board and any other applicable chapter members to get out the vote! A best practice is for chapter leaders/members from organizations with many members to send out a personalized email to their colleagues with the voting link. To identify members from a certain organization, simply pull the Chapter Member Roster (in the Chapter Portal) and filter by organization
- Chapters use their social media platforms to promote the chapter ballot voting survey.
- As needed, chapters reach out to the HFMA Enterprise Team ([email protected]) for assistance in reaching enterprise organizations. Chapters provide any specific messaging to provide to organizations.
If chapters have not yet met quorum, document their “good faith effort” (see informational document on process) and submit to Volunteer Experience Team.
Presidents Elect: Leadership Roster Process
Identify Candidates for Officer and Director Positions
Your Chapter’s Nominating committee is the first step since their responsibility is to recommend individuals for the Officer and Director positions. To verify the officers and directors needed to be in compliance with your bylaws, review the Board Composition requirements in Section 5.3.
Develop Ballot for Voting
Once the candidates are identified, then the ballot is prepared and sent out to chapter members. If it is done by email vote and you would like the Volunteer Experience Team to set it up, complete the ballot request form. Please allow 3-5 business days for a response from our team.
Because of the March 1st deadline for the Leadership Roster, it is recommended to submit the ballot request form no later than February 1st.
Conduct Voting
Use the Chapter Member Roster on the Chapter Portal for the most current list of chapter members. If the Volunteer Experience Team sends the ballot, the list will be provided to the chapter for additional outreach/follow up.
A quorum is required based on the number of members in the chapter the day the vote starts (see Section 3.7 of the bylaws):
- Up to 499 members – 10%
- Up to 2,499 members – 7.5%
- Up to 4,999 members – 5%
- 5000+ members – 2.5%
Actions to demonstrate Good Faith Effort to achieve quorum.
Enter Chapter Leadership and Committee Roster
By March 1st: Enter your Chapter Leadership and Committee Roster. Submitting your incoming leadership team now gets them in the information loop early.
The following positions must be entered by March 1:
- President
- President-elect
- Past President (voting) or Past President (non-voting)
- Directors (voting)
- Directors (non-voting), if applicable
- Vice President, if applicable
- Secretary
- Treasurer
Other positions recommended to enter:
- Awards Contact
- Certification Contact
- Communications Chair
- Membership Chair
- Program Chair
- Sponsorship Chair
Additional leaders and committees may also need to be entered, depending on your chapter activities. Examples may be women’s event committee, individual event committees, an administrative assistant, etc. Review the current year roster for any of these types of roles.
Please allow at least 24 hours for entries to appear in the HFMA database. Presidents-elect can make new entries only. For changes or deletions, contact [email protected].
Announce the Leadership Team
Once your new chapter leadership is elected, you can announce it to members. Here is a Chapter leadership press release template to help you get started. For the officers, you can use this Officer Installation template. You can also announce just the president. Please send a copy to [email protected] so we can direct any inquiries we might receive.
Current Presidents
If your current leadership team has some new faces, make sure you enter the members in this year’s roster to ensure they receive email notifications they may need to fulfill their job responsibilities and to be awarded their Member Engagement points for service. If there are names that need to be deleted because they are no longer performing the tasks, send an email to [email protected] and we will remove them from your roster. Your incoming Awards Contact will appreciate it.
For assistance or inquiries, email the Volunteer Experience Team.