Volunteer Toolbox

Volunteer Toolbox

This volunteer toolbox includes information useful for WSBA committee, board, and section leaders. You will find resources and best practices for communicating with members, offering opinions and recommendations on relevant state legislation, promoting diversity and inclusion, planning your budget, and running effective meetings, events, and CLE opportunities.

WSBA 101

Essentials

• A Volunteer's Introduction to the Washington State Bar Association (video)
• WSBA Mission Statement, Guiding Principles, & Strategic Goals (July 2016)
• WSBA Values (January 2016)
• General Rule 12
  • GR 12.1 Regulatory Objectives
  • GR 12.2 Purposes, Authorized Activities, Prohibited Activities
  • GR 12.3 Administration of Supreme Court-Appointed Boards and Committees
• WSBA Bylaws

Resources

• WSBA Functional Organizational Chart (October 2019)
• WSBA Entities Chart
• General Rule 12 Analytical Statement
• WSBA Bylaws Work Group (concluded September 2016)
• WSBA Expense Report Form (January 2020)
• List of Chairs and Liaisons
• WSBA Board of Governors Meeting Schedule & Deadlines
• WSBA Professionalism Annual Report 2018

Communication Culture

• Guiding Communication Principles (January 2016)
• WSBA Best Practices for Meeting Facilitation (2011)
  
• WSBA Broadcast Email and Privacy Policy
• WSBA Social Media Guidelines (2009)
• Write an Article for NWLawyer or Write a Blog Post for NWSidebar

Legislative Process

• Legislation and Court Rule Comment Policy (November 2015)
• Legislative Activity & Bills Referred to WSBA Sections
• Other Legislative Rules and Policies

Committees and Boards

• WSBA Committees and Boards Policy (September 2015) and Excerpts from the WSBA Bylaws (May 2018)
• WSBA Committee and Board Annual Reports 2019 (FY 2019)
• WSBA Entity Chairs and Liaisons: Roles and Responsibilities
• Bar Records for Committees and Boards

Meeting Facilitation and Event Planning

• Meeting Checklist

Diversity and Inclusion

• WSBA Diversity & Inclusion Plan
• WSBA Diversity and Inclusion Homepage
• WSBA Culture of Inclusion Philosophy
  
• Guidance for Nominating Teams
  
• WSBA Accessibility Toolkit
• WSBA Section Diversity Demographics 2017-2018
• WSBA Committee/Board Diversity Demographics 2019
• Harvard Implicit Bias Test
• Interrupting and Mitigating Implicit Bias

Sections

• WSBA Sections: A Guide for Section Leaders Volunteers 
• Sections Staff Support Services
• 2019 Report on WSBA Section Activities
• Bar Records Overview for Sections Leaders
• Section Executive Committee Roles and Responsibilities
• How to Use Membership Data

• 2019 Annual Fall Section Leaders Meeting Materials & Video Recording (Oct. 31, 2019)

• 2020 Spring Sections Leaders Discussion Series: Video Recordings    
  • Session 1: Executive Committee Best Practices (May 28, 2020) Password: 3h#$39$8 
  • Session 2: Technology (June 4, 2020) Password: 6w.7.gS7
  • Session 3: Member Recruitment and Engagement (June 11, 2020) Password: 0S%a1056 

• WSBA Sections Policy Work Group (concluded September 2016)

Section Communications

• Communications Timelines
• List Serve Guidelines
• Produce a Section Newsletter
• Sections Newsletter Style Guide
• Top-12 Common Edits to Section Newsletters
• Request Changes to Your Web Page
• Request a Membership Roster

Section Budgeting

• WSBA Fiscal Policies and Procedures (January 2019)
• Per-Member Charge Calculation (FY 2020) (FY 2020)

Section Meeting Facilitation and Event Planning

• Open Meetings Overview for Sections
• Meeting Agenda Template
• Meeting Minutes Template
• Request a Conference Room
• Conference Call Information

Section CLEs

• CLE Profit Sharing Model – Revised Fiscal Policy (July 2018)
• Section-Sponsored CLE Planning
• Section Mini-CLE Programming
• Marketing Package (Midyears & Conferences) – coming soon
• WSBA Sponsorship Policy 2010
• WSBA Section Brown Bag Guidelines (non-CLE educational opportunities)