Motivating Nonprofit Volunteers

Motivation and Team Effectiveness in
Nonprofit Organizations
For
Sons of Hermann Hall
May 2015
University of Texas at Arlington
College of Business Administration
KLB Consulting Group
Sayali Kurdukar
Hong Lu
Priyamvada Bhalerao

Motivation and Team Effectiveness in Nonprofit Organizations
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................2
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
The Client.......................................................................................................................................3
The Problem...................................................................................................................................5
Objective of the Study.....................................................................................................................6
Background of Project Topic................................................................................................................7
Organizational learning...................................................................................................................8
Culture...........................................................................................................................................9
Motivation ...................................................................................................................................10
Key organizational players.................................................................................................................11
Boards and executives...................................................................................................................11
Volunteers and members..............................................................................................................12
Approach to the study ......................................................................................................................12
The Consulting Team.....................................................................................................................13
Activity Summary and Tentative Schedule..........................................................................................15
Research with the Client ...................................................................................................................16
Initial communication with client:..................................................................................................16
Group Meetings and Client Communications..................................................................................16
Survey Methodology- Survey/ Interview ............................................................................................17
Survey Tools and Data Collection...................................................................................................17
Interviews ....................................................................................................................................17
Challenges........................................................................................................................................19
Challenges within the Team...........................................................................................................19
Challenges within the Client ..........................................................................................................20
Findings...........................................................................................................................................22
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................25

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Executive Summary
This paper summarizes the results of our research on Motivation and Team Effectiveness in
Nonprofit Organizations at Sons of Hermann Hall (SOHH) in Dallas, TX. The KLB consulting team
used several methods for research, including online research, personal interviews, paper surveys, and
online surveys. The Qualtrics survey tool was used as the online survey tool to poll the SOHH Board
and Committee members as well as Members and Guests. Two separate online surveys were
administered, one for each of the groups mentioned above. Personal interviews of Board and
Committee members were also conducted. Results of the interviews and evaluation of data from
interviews and online surveys have shown us that there is no structured volunteer recruitment process
in place or an effective way to hold volunteers accountable for their responsibilities. Based on these
findings, the consulting team has several recommendations for SOHH. Some of these included:
· Create a list of activities needing help/attention at the hall
· Discuss/publicize the need for help at lodge and board meetings and other events at the hall
· Publish a schedule of activities and help request help as needed
Our research was limited due to the time constraints on this project, in particular the time taken to get
the project ramped up. Although the SOHH membership pool is rather large (over 800 members)
only a small percentage of people actually live in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. An even smaller
number participate at lodge activities or have email access.

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Introduction
The Client
The Sons of Hermann, which was founded in New York in 1840, is a volunteer based fraternal
organization known as a Fraternal Benefit Society. A person becomes a member of Sons of
Hermann by purchasing a life insurance policy. At one time Sons of Hermann existed in all 50
states. Today there are nearly 140 lodges in Texas, 2 of which are in the Dallas area (Columbia
Lodge 66 and Dallas Lodge 22). The combined lodge membership is a little over 800 people, with
members ranging from age of 2 months up to age 84. Members do not need to reside in the Dallas -
Ft Worth Metroplex to be affiliated with either lodge. Both lodges operate from a historic building
owned by the Sons of Hermann Hall (SOHH) in Dallas' Deep Ellum district. The SOHH manages
numerous social activities and is open to the public. The hall features Indie Rock, Country,
Bluegrass and Blues, as well as weekly Swing dance lessons.
All members of the two lodges are members in the Sons of Hermann Home Association, Dallas,
Texas. The Home Association has a Board of Directors which manages the day to day operations of
the hall for the lodges. It is comprised of 12 members, 6 from each lodge. Three of the six members
are Trustee positions and elected for a 3 year term. The remaining three positions from each lodge
are Hall Association Members and elected for a 1 year term. The executive committee of the Board
of Directors includes a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. These positions are
elected by each lodge in November for the upcoming year.

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In addition to the Board of Directors, there are various committees which report to the Board. These
committees work for the board within the guidelines of their bylaws and include:
● House Committee: Day to day management of the facility
● Finance Committee: Periodically review/audit the records of the Treasurer
● Special Projects: Essentially the "Booking" Committee
● Publicity Committee: Advertise within the community, print media, social media,
mailings, etc.
● Historical Committee: Collected artifacts for the 100 year anniversary of SOHH
● Merchandising Committee: Design, purchase and sell items with SOHH
● Grievance Committee: Listen to any issues within member and determine resolution
Each of these committees should theoretically meet regularly and present project reports, ideas for
improvements, etc. monthly to the board.
The board meets once a month with special/called meetings if needed. The Lodges each meet
individually once a month as well. The board meetings are open to all lodge members and guests.
Appendix B includes an organizational chart of the 2015 SOHH Board Members and Committee
Members. Appendix D includes the attendance records of the SOHH Board Members in 2015.
The SOHH Hall itself is located at 3414 Elm Street in the heart of the Deep Ellum District in
downtown Dallas. The building was built in 1910 out of necessity and unity to house four lodges
that existed at that time in the Dallas area. The four lodges have since been combined to the two

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mentioned earlier: Dallas #22 and Columbia #66. The Hall is the oldest wooden structure in
downtown Dallas and a Historic Landmark.
The Problem
After many discussions with David Lewis, President of Sons of Hermann Hall, as well as many other
members of the SOHH Board of Directors, we identified many management and financial issues. A
few of these issues include:
● a lack of transparency in operations from previous board of directors
● low operating funds
● an old building that requires a lot of maintenance work
● a declining member population
● an almost nonexistent volunteer base
● low member attendance to events
● power struggle between previous board of directors and new board of directors
● Poor communication with existing members as well as guests about upcoming activities or
decisions made at lodge meetings.
Due to the vast number of issues our team discovered, we decided to focus on one specific issue. The
focus of our research and recommendation will be to help SOHH develop a better plan of action to
encourage membership participation and involvement in Hall activities and events through the
motivation of volunteers. According to the President of SOHH, the Board of Directors answers to
the members. There are strict bylaws on how the Hall should be managed and the day to day

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operation of the hall. However, unless there’s an issue, the members don’t always seem to take
active roles, either via attendance or volunteering.
Our team observed on numerous occasions the President of the SOHH spending many hours at the
Hall working on ‘house’ issues such as cleaning up after a party or concert, organizing various items
or just doing some deep cleaning in often unused areas. There doesn’t seem to be any process that
solicits volunteer participation or involvement.
Objective of the Study
Our first objective was to understand how the organization currently operates. By conducting
numerous interviews with various key members of the organization, we were able to determine many
factors about the organization itself: things that worked well, areas of improvement, and also areas
for future growth opportunities. In addition, we were able to attend a Board of Directors meeting and
observe the interactions between members of the board as they conducted their monthly
business. By doing so, we were able to understand a little more about the member dynamics,
especially between the two lodges.
Our next objective was to research and determine how to create a good volunteer program for the
organization and motivate members to participate. Our recommendations were based on
understanding the current process, research of best practices in the nonprofit industry, and listening
to member feedback.

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Background of Project Topic
In the field of increased concern for nonprofit performance, outcomes, and liability, we hear more
and more about organizational effectiveness towards nonprofit organizations. The directors and key
members all feel a greater burden to assure successful outcomes. Many research are conducted
towards the features of effective nonprofit organizations. Balser and McClusky (2005) suggested that
a consistent and thematic approach in dealing with the variety of stakeholders resulted in higher
ratings by multiple raters of the effectiveness of several organizations. In another study, Hull and Lio
(2006) provided insight into the definition and evaluation of effectiveness in nonprofit organizations
using a three-point model. The first part is vision which includes the ultimate goal of the organization
and performance expectations. Secondly, the strategy of organization. The last part is finances which
covers the generation of money and the motivation towards members. Based on their own research
and the studies of other researchers, Renz and Herman (2002) further provided eight ideas to improve
the understanding of organizational effectiveness. One of those important points is “Non Profit
organization governing boards make a difference in nonprofit organizational effectiveness, but how
they do so is unclear”. Scientific research demonstrates a relationship between board effectiveness
and organizational effectiveness. We searched numerous journals and materials about organization
effectiveness of nonprofit organizations. Based on features and practical problems of the Sons of
Hermann, we choose three key elements as our background of the topic: organizational learning,
culture and motivation.

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Organizational learning
Enhancing organizational knowledge and incorporating that knowledge into everyday practice can be
an influential instrument for growing an organization’s impact, especially as it develops. There are
several steps which include the practice of gathering information, reflecting on it, and sharing the
discoveries and improving the performance of an organization that can create the learning
environment in the organization. However, a nonprofit cannot be a multimillion-dollar company, nor
can it have a specific knowledge management department which can provide assistance with clear
goals and motivations. Therefore, nonprofit organizations need to form their own processes for
organizational learning. If you provide training to your members, conduct timely meetings, share
effective practices across departments, measure the influence of your activities, discuss with
members of board the to form decisions, or present your suggestions at professional conferences, you
are conducting knowledge management. Definitely, one of the more complex aspects of this topic is
that learning-related actions are diverse and can be located in many different aspects of an
organization. Based on research done by Richard Steele, Sivan McLetchie, and Chris Lindquist
(October 2010), in some organizations, the location of activity is in staff training; for others it may be
in impact assessment or performance management. No matter where learning activities take place,
the key is that it should be directly associated with the organization’s task and influence. Nonprofit
directors care genuinely about taking and sharing knowledge across their curriculums and fields. But
they also recognize several significant obstacles to organizational learning: a lack of strong and
assessable objectives about using knowledge to improve outcome; inadequate motivations for

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members or whole departments to take part in organizational learning events; and ambiguity about
the most effective processes for catching and input learning.
Culture
Organizational culture is an influential strength. Culture in nonprofit organizations are categorized by
the actions and attitude of members and volunteers and reflecting the organization’s morals and
philosophies. It’s an unprinted guidelines that governs “the way we do things around here.”
Nonprofit directors have one influential method to affect cultural transformation which they can
appeal to the fundamental passion that their teams have for the task of the organization. For members
in nonprofits, this is the decisive promoter to modify their behavior. Significantly, on the other hand,
it’s not enough to retell employees why they’re there. An opportunity is required for them to know
whether and what making their effort differently will empower the organization to realize its big
picture. This calls for effective communication, and generally an application directly from the
uppermost to all individuals. Every director and board member need to ask himself: Does our
nonprofit association have a high-performance culture? Is it vulnerable and flexible to change? Are
you effective at handling change? Based on research conducted by the Bridgespan Group (1999),
culture could be an asset for nonprofit organizations as well. In this research, there are six standards
to measure the strength of culture in a non profit organization: “Culture that inspires and promote
values; Culture that gets performance and results; Culture that helps the organization achieve its
goals; Openness and adaptability to change; Clarity in communication about change; Ability to
execute change.” Based on the percent deviation from all category averages in the organizational

10
diagnostic, nonprofit organizations consistently show a negative index in “Clarity in communication
about change” and “Ability to execute change”.
Motivation
An important theory that illustrate motivation in nonprofit organizations is Maslow’s (1943)
Hierarchy of Needs. Based on the description of Latham and Ernst (2006), Latham (2007) and
Linstead, Fulop & Lilley (2009), the Hierarchy of Needs shows that people have five levels of needs.
Their target is to satisfy their lower needs first, and after satisfying their lower needs to a satisfactory
degree, they will pursue some of their higher level needs. These needs are lined up in the hierarchy in
which the physiological needs lay first, as these needs are critical for existence. After psychological
needs are satisfied, the subsequent need is one for safety. After safety needs have been met, there are
needs for relationships which seek emotional experiences. Then comes esteem needs and finally the
need for self-actualization.
People working in nonprofit organizations prefer to be motivated by humanitarian, self-respect and
self-worth. The nonprofit workplace is one of enthusiasm and a place where people can have a
degree of liberation and authority. This allows them to fulfill their duties with little place for ego and
attitudes. Individuals have been found to have plentiful thoughts when their organization are highly
supportive of them. Therefore, members’ good hearted thinking followed by freedom, authority,
working as a team and having support from the organization can be the ideal nonprofit workplace.
Powell and Steinberg (2006) pointed out employees are tremendously motivated to work for the
mission of organization instead of their personal interest. In this situation, they can feel a higher

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degree of responsibility towards their job. Most members in nonprofit organizations pay more
attention to reaching their higher needs in the hierarchy of Maslow, which include esteem and self-
actualization. They can make their best effort to do their job because they find their value in their
daily work. Therefore, they are willing to work and be involved in different matters they enjoy in
everyday life. Their actions are driven by their wishes, and even more, they are interested to explore
more new areas of their job and broaden their experience toward humanitarian and plentiful feelings.
In other words, they desire to be successful in their goals. In conclusion, members in nonprofit
organizations are often interested in achieving esteem and self-actualization, and moreover these
burning desires motivate them make their best effort to finish and improve their jobs in a non profit
organization.
Key organizational players
Boards and executives
As the individual who needs to deal with the daily operations of a nonprofit organization, the
Executive Director has many important responsibilities. The President is charged with maintaining a
dynamic relationship with the Board of Directors, creating a complex system that will ensure
sustainability; and managing organizational finances. Light (2002) said, “A strong nonprofit leader
drives a sense of mission down through the organization, upward into the board and outward into the
community. He or she is willing to do whatever it takes to enable the organization to follow their
mission effectively.” This President’s job to continuously express the task with passion and figure
out the big picture. Besides that, the Director also need to discover and develop the motivations and

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interests of board members, general members and volunteers. What’s more, board effectiveness and
organizational effectiveness are highly correlated. In conclusion, the President and other board
members are responsible for managing and retaining members and volunteers.
Volunteers and members
Volunteers and general members are of enormous value to nonprofit organizations. Based on the
estimation from Hager (2004), about eighty percent of third sector organizations report engaging
volunteers in service capacities. Nowadays, the component of members and volunteers in nonprofit
organization is varied which include students, workers and retirees. Not only do people serve for
different reasons, today’s members and volunteers participate in activities with a variety of methods
and with numerous expectations for the return on their investment of energy and time. One way to
avoid resistance from members and volunteers is to include the President and board members in the
planning process or the decision making from the beginning and join in the whole following
activities. The operational process in the beginning will act as an implementation in board
development. It’s also an opportunity to lead these key members to begin thinking deeply and
broadly about increasing and retaining members and volunteers, to articulate a shared philosophy
around activity engagement, and to discover and develop how members and volunteers fit with the
organization’s core morals and assignment.
Approach to the study
We learned about Sons of Hermann through a friend of a friend. While talking about the
Organizational Consulting and Research class and project to a friend, Gina Jackson’s name was

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suggested. Gina has been active with charity events and service projects and seemed to be a good
source for contacts. When speaking with Gina and explaining the objective of this course and our
assignment, Gina recommended we speak with David Lewis who had recently been elected as
President of the Board of Directors of the Sons of Hermann Hall. Gina has been a member of the
Sons of Hermann for almost 15 years, but in recent years had stopped going because of many
political and management issues with previous Board of Directors. With the installment of a new
Board of Directors effective January 2015, there is hope that the organization will have a fresh
attitude and more transparency with how it conducts its affairs.
The Consulting Team
The KLB Consulting team consists of three graduate students:
Priyamvada (Reena) Bhalerao has a BS in Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Texas at
Arlington. She is currently working on an MS Information Systems - Business Analytics from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Reena works full time in Third Party Administration (Vendor) on
the Data Management and Governance team at Bank of America. She has a background in Data
Management, Information Technology, full life cycle development and experience consulting on
many internal company projects. Reena was able to use her project management experience and
business analysis skills on this project.
Hong Lu (Cindy) has a BS in Administration. She is pursuing the Master degree in Human Resource
Management at the University of Texas at Arlington. Before she came to United States, she had 2
years work experience in Human Resource department of an international company. In this

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consulting program, she used her knowledge and experience in background research of organization
effectiveness.
Sayali Kurdukar has a Bachelor’s of Engineering degree in Information Systems. She is pursuing the
Master’s degree in Management Information Systems at the University of Texas at Arlington. Sayali
has about 3 years IT experience working as a Database Administrator for Mphasis, an HP Company.
Sayali was able to use her skills and knowledge to develop online surveys and analyze the survey
results.
Based on the different background and strengths of each one, every members has her own
assignment. Of course, we also cooperate with each other to form this final report. Reena has the rich
experience in consulting area, so she was responsible for set the whole timeline for the program and
keep touch with the director of our client- David Lewis, President of the Sons of Hermann Hall.
Cindy has the knowledge background of human resource management, so she conducted the
literature background research and provided the client with some recommendations towards their
management issues. Sayali is good at data collection and analysis. Therefore, she designed the online
survey and track the responses. Besides that, she also finished the data analysis which support us to
conclude problems and make suggestions.

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Activity Summary and Tentative Schedule
Project Scope: Identify the reasons behind team ineffectiveness and lack ofmotivation at SOHH
Project Phases
1. Primary Research Phase 03-05-2015 to 03-15-
2015
● Informal research through discussions with David
● Understand the organization structure, and functioning and issues at SOHH
2. Secondary Research Phase 03-15-2015 to 03-20-2015
● Identify the key members to be interviewed
● Methodology
● Survey Instruments
3. Pilot Survey Phase 03-22-2015 to 03-30-2015
● Design pilot survey based on Phase 1 & 2
● Conduct pilot survey with Board/Committee members
o What is the motivation for being a member of SOHH
o What are some of the things they like/ do not lie at SOHH
o Board Meeting schedule, frequency and participation
4. Survey/ Interview Phase 04-01-2015 to 04-28-2015
● Conduct telephonic interviews with Board/Committee members based on Phase 3 response
● Conduct (distribute/ collect) pen-paper survey at SOH hall during weekly events
● Conduct online survey through Qualtrics Tool
5. Survey Tabulation Phase 04-25-2015 to 05-03-2015
● Results
o Based on Phases 1,2, 3, 4
o Report on survey progress
6. Analysis and Recommendation Phase 04-25-2015 to 05-03-2015

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Research with the Client
Initial communication with client:
During the initial stages of our project, we conducted several teleconference meetings with David
Lewis, President of SOHH HOA and our primary point of contact. These meetings were informal and
Mr. Lewis candidly shared information about SOHH, its mission, the Homeowner's Association
(HOA), its organization structure, management issues and problems faced at the organization.
Group Meetings and Client Communications
We scheduled checkpoint meetings every week on Monday before our class, every Wednesday at
6:00 PM, and every Friday at 2:00 PM. The meetings on Monday and Friday were mostly informal
discussions with the group members conducted over a bridge line by teleconferencing everyone.
These informal discussions helped us understand the needs and direction of the client outside of the
agenda driven meetings. The Wednesday meetings were agenda-driven meetings with Mr. Lewis and
were focused on updating him with the overall progress of the project, the survey process and the
responses from the board/committee members. Every group member actively participated in the
preparation of the weekly status meeting and took turns to prepare the agenda for the meeting and
facilitate it. During these meeting we were able to go in depth on agenda items to achieve a better
development of ideas and to freely engage in questions and answers. We appreciated the fact that Mr.
Lewis tried to make himself available for most of these meetings and tried his best to share
information in timely manner, which made progress during the study more attainable.

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Survey Methodology- Survey/ Interview
Survey Tools and Data Collection
We conducted the following types of surveys: pen and paper, online, and telephonic interview. The
survey population included Sons of Hermann members, volunteers, board members, and committee
members at SOHH.
We created a pen-paper survey which Mr. Lewis helped distribute and collect at the SOHH. We
received about 40 responses over 3 weeks for these surveys. We were also able to use Qualtrics, a
state-of-the-art online survey tool, for creating membership and board/committee member survey.
This tool collects audience responses and provides immediate reports and graphs for analysis.
The statistical analysis performed was geared toward finding factors that were affecting the
participation and motivation at the SOHH. Although the team felt that dealing with these issues also
involved an in-depth study of the SOHH, statistical analysis was necessary to provide factual support
for any recommendations made.
Interviews
Our team conducted a pilot survey with select board/committee members by sending the survey
questions via email. The members were requested to reply with answers to the email or advise us of
a suitable time which we could conduct a telephonic interview with them. Mr. Lewis also agreed to
distribute the paper survey at the Hall which would help us in understanding member/non-member
participation at different activities at the Hall. However, due to a very slow response to both the
board/committee member and the paper surveys, we decided to conduct an online survey for the

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same audience including the 12 key members of Board of Directors. In addition to the online
surveys we also started reaching out to the Board Members via text messages and phone calls. We
were successful in scheduling telephonic interviews with most Board/ Committee members while the
online surveys were being prepared for distribution. Interviews lasted from 45 minutes to 90 minutes
and included three questions that were asked of all interview participants. The three standard
interview questions were:
1) Why did you join Sons of Hermann?
2) What do you like about Sons of Hermann?
3) A request for information about Board/ Lodge/ Committee meetings and their proceedings.
The findings from these questions and others provided considerable insight into the organizational
structure and operations at Sons of Hermann Hall, their culture, and the dynamics among the
different committee members. With these interviews our group began to gain a true understanding of
the business problem at hand. The online membership survey was shared on the “Sons of Hermann,
Dallas” Facebook page and we immediately began receiving survey responses. We received over 30
responses to the survey on the first day. Over the next week, survey responses slowed down, and we
were able to collect close to 40 more responses. The survey has been kept open and we still
continue to receive responses as we are preparing this paper.

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Challenges
We faced a few challenges during this project, both within our team and with our client. Challenges
within our team were minor and mostly due to the size of our team and our geographic
locations. Challenges with our client included the struggle get the SOHH President’s time, being
able to reach members for interviews, realizing our membership pool was not a large as we had
anticipated and not being included in hall or lodge activities.
Challenges within the Team
We were a small team and therefore each team member had more responsibility. In addition, we did
not live close to each other nor were we geographically close to the client. However, we were able to
overcome these challenges by making use of today’s technology. Two of our weekly meetings were
teleconference calls with the ability to share a desktop. We could show our teammates what we were
working on as if the teammate was looking over our shoulder. We were able to take advantage of
having a small team because we had fewer schedules to work with and fewer personality
differences. In general, we worked very well together, each person being very considerate and
mindful of fellow teammates. Consensus on decisions was always reached before an action was
taken.

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Challenges within the Client
Although our client was very helpful and friendly when we had his time, he was often difficult to
reach and responses to our questions were very slow. Early on during our project, we had to
reschedule our weekly meeting many times because of our client’s unavailability. We started using
other means of communication, such as email and text, if we were unable to reach him via
telephone. We also began offering several times during the week to meet, in hopes that he could
attend one of the meetings.
Another challenge we faced, besides getting our client’s time, was gathering the names and contact
information of other people within the organization we could reach out to with questions. After
several weeks of asking, we finally received a partial list of the SOHH Board of Directors. It did not
have a complete list of emails or phone numbers. We were very fortunate that one of the first people
we contacted was Lin Been, the Secretary of the SOHH Board of Directors. Ms. Been was very
friendly and generous with her time and information. She quickly sent us the information we were
missing and we were able to create a more complete list of contacts. We were then able to reach out
to the remaining Board of Directors and Committee Members.
Despite having email addresses and phone numbers of these members, we found them difficult to
reach. We sent an email to every Board and Committee member requesting their time. Out of nearly
thirty people contacted during the first round, we heard back from about 5 people. We finally made
good progress after we developed and distributed our online survey. We were able to have the link
posted on the SOHH Facebook page which almost instantly began generating feedback. In addition,

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we were lucky that were able to speak with the Secretary/ Treasurer of each Lodge 22 and 66, Steve
Schellenberg and Stanley Whitehead. Mr. Schellenberg and Mr. Whitehead graciously agreed to
help distribute the online survey to the members for whom they had contact
information. Unfortunately, despite several requests to have our survey link posted to the SOHH
website, the survey was never posted on their website.
Although the Sons of Hermann Hall has nearly 800 members, the actual number of people who
regularly participate in Hall activities is much smaller. The two main reasons are due the age of the
members and where they live. The membership is getting much older and they are not as mobile
anymore, so a trip to Dallas’ Deep Ellum is not feasible for the elderly members. For the same
reason, the younger members are too young to participate in most lodge activities. In addition to age
of membership is the geographic location of where the members reside. Membership to SOHH is
granted by purchasing a life insurance policy. Many people have become members because their
parents have purchased an insurance policy for them but they do not live in the Dallas – Ft. Worth
Metroplex.
Even though we regularly asked when board or lodge meetings were being held, we were never
invited to attend one. The meetings were held once a month but we would only learn of the meeting
after it had passed. We finally invited ourselves to an HOA Board meeting and our request to attend
was granted.

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Findings
The paper as well as online membership survey helped us gain better insight into the factors that
were affecting the team-effectiveness and motivation at SOHH. As we began analysis with 125
responses for membership survey, we found several factors that influenced the membership at
SOHH. For the question “How did you find out about SOHH? “ 65% of people responded as friends,
while for the question how do you receive information about activities at SOHH? 50% of people
responded with Social media while 31% responded as friends. (Appendix H)
In our attempt to find out the reason behind declining membership and volunteer participation, we
had asked a two poll questions if “Are you a member of SOHH?” and “Do you currently volunteer at
SOHH? “. To our surprise we found that of the 100% of the people, marked the answer as NO for the
former while 92% of people answered NO for latter. When asked for the reason behind this, we
received responses as “Live too far from Dallas…”,”I don't know what volunteer option are or how
to offer help”, “Time”, “Job” (Appendix H)
About 42% of the people attend SOHH at least once a week (Appendix H). 42% of these people like
to attend Swing Dance event at SOHH, followed by 38% of people who prefer Acoustic jams,
followed by Concerts. When asked as what factors are preventing them from becoming a member,
the responses received were “Help me do it please”, “Money”, “don't know what membership
involves”.
The Board/Committee member survey was aimed at understand the team dynamics in various teams
at SOHH. We received 15 responses for this survey, out of which 72% of the people were part of the

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Board of Directors. 50% of these were appointed on the board by the president and 50% were
elected by the members. (Appendix H)
These board members have been associated with hall for quite a long time and hence we wanted to
know the motivation behind them joining the hall. The typical response found for this question was
Friendship, love, and loyalty, Fraternalism and friendship, Family tradition, kids camps, youth group,
support local music, community service projects. We were happy to see the commonality in these
responses.
67% of the people responded to the question “Are Board/committee meetings held regularly?”. 50%
said that these meetings were well attended while 62% people felt that the Board meeting time was
well utilized. (Appendix H). One particular response for the question “Do you think meeting time is
well utilized? If No what is the reason?” served as an eye-opener for us. The response said “lack of
experience ofboard members, although things have recently shown improvement, there is a lack of a clear purpose
for board members. Seems to be a collection of individual agenda”
Some of the issues discussed during the meeting were paint, elect past officer’s misbehavior, lack of
transparency, money, committee organization, theft of property, licenses, accounting, Business of the
Sons of Hermann Hall are normal proceedings. 64% of the people responded that issues were
discussed at the meeting.
The areas suggested for improvement at SOHH were more involvement by committee members.
Committee chairs promoting more involvement. Member days, some for fun, some for work, some for
both. Remove conflicts of interest in organization leadership structure - board members should not

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be part of day to day operation Determine what the common goal of organization - mission statement
Figure out how to achieve smooth transfer of power - every officer election is a new beginning at the
Sons Bring in professional staff for operation of venue

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Conclusion
After extensive interviews with the SOHH Board of Directors and reviewing survey results from
members and guests, our team has created a plan of action for our client. In order to manage a team
effectively and successfully motivate it, there must be clear line of communication and structure
within an organization. We believe that by implementing our recommendation, our client will be
better aligned to become a more successful organization and will achieve the growth they desire.
We noticed early on that although there are committees at SOHH for various areas, not a single
committee has met thus far in 2015. We realize these are all voluntary positions, but if a person is
going to be part of a committee, he or she needs to be fully committed to the position. Mr. Lewis has
a lot of work ahead of him and 2015 will be a year of hard work. It will also be a year for him to
drive out his vision for the Hall and to show the members how a positive outlook can benefit
everyone, especially the Hall and its membership. We recommend Mr. Lewis take charge and begin
scheduling committee meetings if the committee leader is not stepping up. If the members are unable
to physically come to the SOHH hall, they can consider doing a teleconference or meeting at a
location that is more central to the members. By showing the persistence to meet but the flexibility
of when and where, Mr. Lewis will demonstrate he means business but understands everyone has
constraints in their schedules due to their personal lives and situations. Mr. Lewis needs to find out
when the committee members are able to meet and create a schedule for the remainder of the
year. The Committee Members need to understand they are accountable for their position. These
meeting dates should be publicized on a group calendar.

26
Next a volunteer coordinator needs to be identified. This individual will be responsible for the
management and coordination of all volunteers at the Hall. The Board needs to identify a list of all
the activities that need volunteer help. These activities also need to be categorized into ongoing or
one-time efforts. After the list has been created, the need for help should be publicized. One of our
survey questions asked if members/guests volunteered at the Hall. Most people who said “No”,
indicated they didn’t know how to help. Publicizing the list of activities can be done many different
ways, the most effective and efficient being via Social Media. SignUpGenius.com is an online tool
that helps groups organize any kind of effort. The volunteer coordinator can create the Signup
Genius list for the activity and distribute to the members. Another free online site is
Idealist.org. This site gives people and organizations the ability to connect. SOHH can enter their
volunteer needs on the website, people who are looking for volunteer hours can search for ways to
help and filter by type of activity, location, etc. Other forms of announcements can be done at the
Hall. Before a performer goes on stage, someone from SOHH can speak for few minutes about the
Hall, its history and also ask for people to help preserve and maintain the property. Finally, flyers
advertising the need for volunteers can be placed at strategic locations in the hall, such as the
restrooms and the bar area.
Recognition is always an important part of soliciting volunteers. By saying “Thank You” to those
who have helped gives that person a sense of accomplishment and encourages him or her to
participate again and continue helping. Recognition seems to be part of SOHH and continuing this
will only help grow the volunteers involvement.

27
Knowledge share is also critical for efficient volunteer involvement. The roles on the Board and
Committees have a short duration, usually lasting about one year. Therefore proper knowledge
transfer must occur. An online repository can be setup to house any information for a position,
whether it is a board position or a specific committee. By talking to previous members of
committees, a best practice can be created for each position and the member can be better prepared to
fulfill his or her duty.
What we learned:
This was a very eye opening experience and so rewarding. We have learned so much from this
program. The Block book is an excellent reference to help anyone learn the basics about
consulting. The number one lesson through the Block book is that, as a consultant, we should be
authentic. This message resonates throughout the book and it is so true. By being authentic with our
client, we have been able to discover what they truly need and how to help them. When first working
on this project and with our client, we were simply trying to get an understanding of what was going
on and we were just setting up meetings with a structured agenda to follow. As the weeks progressed
and as we began to meet more people and understand their stories more, we came to understand their
love for the Hall and why they go there. The message we heard over and over again was people
attend events at SOHH because they love the Hall itself and then also their love for music. There are
more than a dozen music venues in Deep Ellum but SOHH is still going strong because of its

28
reputation and history. We were able to uncover this story because we showed our client we truly
wanted to work with them and we truly valued their feelings. We have gained a lot of confidence
about consulting and working with a client. We have often considered consulting as a career but now
I feel this is something I can definitely pursue.

29
References
Balser, D., & McClusky, J. (2005). Managing stakeholder relationships and nonprofit organizational
effectiveness. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 15(3), 295-315.
Herman, R. D., & Renz, D. O. (2002). Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness: Practical Implications
of Research on an Elusive Concept. An Occasional Paper Issued by the Midwest Center for
Nonprofit Leadership. Retrieved November 21, 2006, from
http://bsbpa.umkc.edu/mwcnl//research/FINAL%2 0MCNL%20.pdf
Hager, M.A. (2004). Volunteer management capacity in America’s charities and congregations: A
briefing report. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. Online at: http://www.urban.org/url. cfm?ID-
410963
Hull, C. E. & Lio, B. H. (2006). Innovation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations: Visionary,
strategic, and financial considerations. Journal of Change Management, 6(1), 53-65.
Latham, G. P, Ernst, C.T. (2006). Keys to motivating tomorrow’s workforce. Human Resource
Management Review, 16: 181-198.
Latham, G. P. (2007). Work motivation: History, theory, research and practice. Sage.
Light, P. (2002). Grasping for the Ring: Defining Strong Nonprofit Leadership.
Linstead, S., Fulop, L., Lilley, S. (2009). Management and Organization: A Critical Text. Second
Edition. Plagrave Macmillan inc. UK
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.
Powell, W. W., Steinberg, R. (2006). The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Second edition.
New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richard Steele, Sivan McLetchie, and Chris Lindquist. (October, 2010). Getting Social Media Right:
A Short Guide for Nonprofits, the Bridgespan Group.
The Bridge Group. (July, 1999). Building a High-Performance Culture,
http://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/6fc5e32d-2dcc-4686-9801-95f5859ed7fa/Building-a-High-
Performance-Culture.pdf.aspx

30
Appendix
Appendix A - Project Proposal
Appendix B - Organization chart of 2015 SOHH Board Members and Committee
Appendix C - SOHH Committee
Appendix D - Members attendance records of the SOHH Board Members in 2015
Appendix E - Board/Committee member contact list
Appendix F - Board/ Committee Member Survey
Appendix G - Membership Survey
Appendix H - Survey Results
Appendix I - KLB Consulting Meeting Agenda
Appendix J - SOHH Meeting Agenda
Appendix K - SOHH Meeting Minutes

31
AppendixA: ProjectProposal
KLB ConsultingServices
The Universityof Texasat Arlington
Arlington,TX76019
March 16, 2015
Dr. DavidA. Mack
Office of the Dean
701 S.West St,Suite 334
Box 19377
Arlington,TX76019
Dear Dr. Mack:
Our Consulting group will be working with Hermann Sons, which is a volunteer based fraternal
organization,alsoknownasa Fraternal BenefitSociety.HermannSonswasfoundedinNew York in 1840
and at one time existedinall 50states.The organizationhasalmost140 lodgesinTexas.The Dallas area
has twolodges,bothof whichoperate froma historic building it owns called The Sons of Hermann Hall
(The Hall). The Hall is located in Dallas' Deep Ellum district and serves as a central location for many
social activities. In addition, it is open to the public for various events such as Indie Rock, Country,
Bluegrass and Blues concerts, as well as weekly Swing dance lessons.
Our focus will be on The Sons of Hermann Hall HOA which operates The Hall for both Dallas lodges 22
and 66. Each lodge has6 membersrepresentingitonthe Board of Directors.The Board is comprisedof a
total of 12 members.Inaddition,there are approximately 7 committees that are in charge of different
activities at The Hall, some of which include the House Committee, Historical Committee and Special
Project Committee. These committees report only to the Board. The HOA Board has an Executive
Committee which include a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. These positions are
elected by the members of the HOA.
Our contact at the Sons of HermannHall will be the HOA President, David Lewis. His email address and
phone number are as follows:
David Lewis babalewi@verizon.net

32
214-773-2547
Aftermanyconversationswith Mr. Lewis, we have determined there are several organizational issues
the HOA is facing. A few of these issues include low committee member involvement, decreasing
volunteer participation, and a gradual decline in overall membership of the organization. In addition,
Mr. Lewis has expressed a desire to raise funds for The Hall in means other than hosting concerts. He
would like it to be known as more than simply a ‘concert hall.’
The combined lodges in Dallas have over 800 members. We propose to conduct a series of interviews
and surveys of the Board Members (3~6) and the Committees (3~7). In addition we will conduct polls
and surveys of the members and non-members who attend the different events at The Hall. The
interviews and surveys will be conducted via various methods, some of which include emailing
questions,phoneinterviews,inpersoninterviews,papersurveysandonline surveys. The Hall has a few
social mediamediumswhichwe will use,suchasFacebookandtheirHOA website.The Qualtrics Survey
tool will most likely be used to administer the online survey.
We hope that after conducting our research, we can help the HOA determine several factors such as
whatmembers enjoy about Hermann Sons, services/events they would like to see, as well as areas of
improvements. In addition, we may be able to help them understand how to convert potential
nonmembers,whoattendeventsatThe Hall to eventuallymake the decisiontobecome amember,thus
increasing membership.
Our consulting team is looking forward to this opportunity of working with Mr. Lewis and The Sons of
Hermann Hall HOA. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about our upcoming
engagement.
Sincerely,
KLB Consulting Services
Sayali Kurdukar
Hong Lu
Priyamvada Bhalerao

33
Appendix B:Organization chart of 2015 SOHH Board Members and Committee

34
Appendix C: SOHH Committees

35
AppendixD: Members attendance records of the SOHH Board Members in 2015
Sons of Hermann Hall Board of Directors
2015 Attendance
Name Position Lodge Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15
David Lewis President, Trustee 66 X X X X
Lisa Byrn Trustee 66 X X X X
Bobby Wilbanks Hall Member 66 X X X X
Lin Been Secretary, Trustee 66 X X X X
Glenn Marvin Hall Member 66 X X X X
Terri Holmes Treasurer, Trustee 22 X X X X
Clint Holmes Hall Member 22 X X X X
David LeCour Trustee 22 X A X A
Steve Schellenberg Hall Member 22 X EA X X
Katie Nicodemus Hall Member 66 X A A A
Marissa LeCour Hall Member 22 X A X A
Andy Schellenberg Vice President, Trustee 22 X X X EA
X = Present

36
A= Absent
EA = Excused
Absense

37
Appendix E: Board/Committee member contact list
KLB CONSULTING SERVICES CLIENT - SOHH - CONSOLIDATED CONTACT INFO
Name EmailId PhoneNumber
David Lewis babalewi@verizon.net 214-773-2547
Lisa Byrn lisabyrnmusic@gmail.com 214-693-3693
Bobby Wilbanks hippiebobby66@gmail.com 972-658-8577
Lin Been linbeensoh@gmail.com 214-457-3960
Glenn Marvin sonsoh1@att.net 214-499-6777
Terri Holmes terrisholmes@gmail.com 214-207-1288
Clint Holmes cjh07a@acu.edu 214-450-9575
Mike Sheffield hortonkim@embarqmail.com 972-935-9796
Kim Blake myrazbo54@yahoo.com 817-528-1996
Allen Hare allenhare1@hotmail.com 214-577-5338
Andy Schellenberg andy.schellenberg.ctr@sabre.com 972-313-0058
Ron Sexton ron@mydallasdj.com 972-489-9325
Bob Sullivan bob@goldteethmusic.com 214-421-9909
Alan Litt littboytx@aol.com 972-539-4169
Fred Holmes fredoholmes@gmail.com 214-207-1452
Debra Hundley trophygirl.dh@gmail.com 469-274-5360
Gilbert Shelby g_shelby@yahoo.com 214-824-4084

38
Stanley Whitehead stanleywhitehead@att.net 214-793-9566
Katie Nicodemus katylin.nicodemus@yahoo.com 214-533-0277
Marissa LeCour mas.lecour@gmail.com 214-451-8455
Karen Lee missthumbs@sbcglobal.net 214-929-4249
Bob Portz bobportz@hotmail.com 972-896-9430
Barbara MacMilian barbe@texasmusicgroup.com 214-691-5318

39
Appendix F: Board/Committee Member Survey
Name________________________ Lodge_______________
Position on Board_______________ Number of Years on Board_________
1. Why are you on the Board? What do you hope to accomplish by serving?
2. What excites you the most about Hermann Sons?
3. How would you characterize the Board’s role at The Sons of Hermann Hall?
4. How would you describe the goals of The Sons of Hermann Hall?
Are the goals being achieved and if so, how?
If the goals are not being achieved, why do you think not?
Can you suggest some areas of improvement to help achieve the goals?
5. Are Board meetings held regularly and frequently? Yes / No
How is attendance at Board meetings?
Do Committee leaders attend Board meetings? Yes / No
Do generalmembers attend Board meetings? Yes / No
6. Do you think the meeting time is utilized well? Yes / No
Why or why not?
Do you think other Board members would agree? Yes / No
If not, why do you think not?
7. What are some issues that have been discussed at Board meetings?
Do you feel these issues are being resolved in a timely manner?
8. Are Board members provided any training?
If yes, what is the form of training?
How effective is the training?
a. Excellent
b. Very Good
c. Good
d. Needs improvement
e. Needs significant improvement
9. Do you think all the resources in organization are aligned towards your organization strategy? Yes/No
If No, what do you think is the reason?
10. Name 6-8 key influential people that could make a real difference in your organization

40
Appendix G: Membership Survey
1. How did you find out about Sons of Hermann? (circle one)
a) Family b) Friend c) Social Media d) Local News/ Bulletin
e) Other (please specify) __________________________
2. How do you receive information about activities at Sons of Hermann Hall? (circle one)
Family Friend Social Media Local News/ Bulletin
Other (please specify) __________________________
3. In the last 6 months, how many times did you attend an activity at SOHH?
a) None b) Once a week c) More than once a week d) Once a month
4. Which activities do you attend at the Sons of Hermann Hall?
a) Swing Dance b) Open Mike c) First Friday d) Concerts e) Acoustic Jam f) Rocky Horror Picture
Show g) Private Events (please specify) ____________ h) Other ________________________
5. Do you currently volunteer at Sons of Hermann? a) Yes b) No
If No, why not? _______________________________________________________________
6. What do you like about the Sons of Hermann?
7. Would you like to see any change in the events/activities held at Sons of Hermann Hall? If so,
please list a few.
8. Are you a member of Sons of Hermann? a) Yes b) No
Why_____________________________________________________________
If Yes,
How long: a) Less than a year b) 1-5 year c) 5-10 years d) More than 10 years
Lodge: a) Lodge 22 b) Lodge 66
What benefits you think you get by being a member of Sons of Hermann?
If No,
What factors are preventing you from becoming a member of Sons of Hermann?

41
9. Which is your age? Under 25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 over 66
May we contact you with further questions? If so, could you please provide your contact information?
Name: __________________________________________________________________
Email: __________________________________________________________________
Phone Number: __________________________________________________________

42
Appendix H: Survey Results
How did you find out about SOHH?
How do you receive information about activities at SOHH?
Do you currently volunteer at SOHH?

43
Are you a member of SOHH?
In the last 6 months, how many times did you attend an activity at Sons of Hermann Hall?
Which activities do you attend at the Sons of Hermann Hall?

44
Are you a part of Board of Directors?
How did you come on Board?
Are Board/CommitteeMeetingsheldfrequently?
How is the attendance for the Board/CommitteeMeetings?

45
Appendix I: KLB Consulting Meeting Agenda
KLB Consulting
Sons of Hermann Hall Meeting
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Place: Conference line
Dial-in: (605) 562-0020
Meeting ID: 202-434-488
Meeting Attendees
David Lewis
Hong Lu (Cindy)
Sayali Kurdukar
Priyamvada Bhalerao (Reena)
Meeting Objectives:
1. Review Project Proposal
2. Review Survey questions for Board Of Directors
3. Review Survey questions for Committee HeadsMembers
4. Set time line for interview process
5. Determine survey processof members
Agenda:
1. Welcome / Gathering
2. Review Project Proposal
3. Review Board Member Survey Questions
4. Review Committee Head/Member Survey Questions
5. Follow up Questions from last meeting

46
Appendix J: SOHH Meeting Agenda

47
Appendix K: SOHH Board Meeting Minutes

48

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