New and Better Opportunities to Channel Your Skills
In October 2022, IDSA began a comprehensive year-long effort to review and change our structure and volunteer opportunities. The goal of this work is to ensure that our governance structure is aligned with our strategic plan and that the individuals who volunteer are empowered to do their best work. Our goal is to build accessible and meaningful volunteer opportunities and increase our collective impact in the ID space.
We seek input from members during this review process. All IDSA members will receive an email on February 23 with a unique link to our survey of our volunteer structure. Please watch your inbox for the link to the survey. Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
We look forward to presenting final recommendations to the IDSA board in June 2023 and will be able to advise you on new voluntary options shortly thereafter. In the meantime, the current IDSA committee and task force will remain. You can also track other volunteering opportunities here. If you have any questions, please contact Tari McDermand.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why are we reviewing volunteer structures and opportunities?
To make IDSA a stronger and successful organization by:
- Align critical staff and volunteer resources with the Society’s strategic priorities.
- Be more mindful of your capacities and your increasing time constraints post-pandemic.
- Provide more meaningful volunteer opportunities that align with your interests and preferences.
- Enabling the Society to quickly act on new opportunities in the ID profession and healthcare arena and make timely decisions to impact patients and our profession.
- Leverage diverse expertise in the profession in line with our IDA&E Priorities.
- Engaging a new generation of leaders to guide us into the future.
Why are we reviewing the volunteer structure now?
- In 2019, IDSA’s Board of Directors approved the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. We have made significant progress advancing our strategic initiatives while growing our brand and influence through a strong response to COVID-19. So now is the ideal time to ensure the work of our volunteers is aligned with the strategic plan.
- The pace of change is rapidly increasing in the field of ID. We need to ensure our volunteer structure is agile to adapt to the fast changes in the field.
- Given the increased workload of ID professionals since the pandemic began, IDSA is mindful of the capacity of our members and is working to provide more meaningful and less time consuming volunteer opportunities through a more streamlined structure.
How can the new volunteer structure engage more members and align with our inclusion, diversity, access and equity initiatives?
- As we restructure IDSA volunteer opportunities to include more problem-oriented groups that operate on a time-sensitive basis, IDSA members will have more opportunities to volunteer in the short term – and on issues that have real-time impact.
- A large number of short-term opportunities open up our volunteer network to a wider pool of candidates, allowing us to recruit a more diverse group of volunteers that are representative of our membership composition.
- A more agile volunteer structure will allow IDSA to more easily harness the energy and talent of new professionals and underrepresented groups who are not normally involved in IDSA leadership, as well as members who may not have the time or inclination to serve three people. – tenure on the committee.
How is voluntary review carried out?
- A Board task force was created in October 2022 to guide and oversee the review.
- We have engaged partners, McKinley Advisors, and their teams have gathered input from multiple stakeholder groups — members, IDSA leaders, current and past volunteers, and staff to determine the best structure for IDSA’s needs. — through surveys, interviews, and small group meetings.
- McKinley also explores all of our processes for engaging volunteers and sharing best practices from other associations.
- The task force will bring together all inputs and lessons learned to present final recommendations to the IDSA Board in June 2023, for their approval.
- Once the new structure is approved, details will be shared with IDSA membership and a “call to volunteers” will proceed to ensure the Institute provides members with participation opportunities appropriate to their skills and available time.
What will happen to the current committee and task force?
- The current committees and task forces will remain in place while a review of the volunteer structure is carried out.
- Volunteers whose validity period expires in October 2022 roll out committees and task forces as usual.
- The open “call for volunteers” has been temporarily suspended until a new volunteer structure is established, so some of the committees and task forces are now a bit smaller than before.
- This is to ensure we’re not recruiting new members to the committee, only for those roles to potentially change once the review is complete.
- After review, it is possible that some committees will remain in place, while others may be disbanded, reorganized and/or new groups formed at new expense reflecting the organization’s strategic priorities.
- Throughout the review, opportunities to volunteer outside of serving on the committee were still listed on MyIDSA.
