Personalized, Cost-Effective Services

EDI provides shared services, offering greater efficiency and more cost effectiveness than a stand-alone office. Take a look at what we can provide to your association:

Financial Services

It all comes down to the bottom line. Recognizing the importance of a healthy financial status, EDI supports its clients with a full staff of highly experienced financial professionals to provide a wide range of services including:

• Managing daily accounts payable and accounts receivable functions;
• Preparing monthly, customized financial statements with independent year-end audits;
• Preparing annual budgets ranging from $200,000 to $14 million; and
• Implementing investment management strategies.

Communications

An association's "brand" is one of its greatest assets. The communications professionals at EDI have a broad range of experience in developing and delivering solid communications plans to reinforce your brand and key messages. Our core competencies include marketing, public/media relations, and market research. EDI has experience:

• Constructing surveys to assess audience perception/needs;
• Defining and building an association's identity/image;
• Creating public relations/informational campaigns using tools such as press releases, PSAs, video news releases, satellite media tours and Webcasts; and
• Developing Web plans for your site and analyzing resulting traffic.

Print and Web Design

The design of the piece that carries your message can make the difference between having it read, and having it dismissed. EDI has amassed top-flight print and Web designers for our in-house creative team. These in-house experts not only provide excellence in design, but having them immediately available provides a time and cost savings to clients. Our talented team has experience:

• Integrating design with your association's image or brand;
• Creating cost-effective concepts from two-color brochures to full-color catalogs;
• Designing member publications, from 2-color, 4 page formats to 40 page full color formats;
• Working with printers to obtain the best job at the best price;
• Creating or repositioning logos; and
• Constructing Web sites from start to finish.

Continuing Education Program Development

Many associations strive to provide their members with the latest updates in the field and ongoing education to enhance expertise. EDI has extensive experience developing and implementing such programs and has proficiency in:

• Coordinating certification so that your association can serve as an accredited provider of continuing education credit;
• Ensuring that all programs seeking credit follow the sometimes complex rules for officially obtaining credit - this includes conducting a needs analysis, assessing audience knowledge and performing program assessment; and
• Selecting program format - EDI's clients have experience with Internet education programs, in-person meetings, enduring materials and joint sponsorship activities.

Meeting Management

Meetings represent a powerful opportunity to impart education, strengthen bonds among your members, or even bring focus to a key issue. EDI's meeting management staff has diverse experience in planning meetings of 25 to 10,000 attendees, and can effectively handle all aspects of the process including:

• Coordinating site selection and event vendors;
• Negotiating contracts including hotel, catering, A/V, security and transportation;
• Coordinating the registration process from start to finish and overseeing services such as badge and ticket generation, program creation, and handout collection and distribution.
• Administering the collection and collating of abstracts (some of our clients utilize an online system); and
• Performing complete on-site event management.

Legislative and Regulatory Affairs

For many clients, advocating on behalf of members to governmental audiences is a key element of their charge. At EDI we have established networks with solid firms in Washington, D.C. whose sole purpose is to screen and influence. EDI can offer successful:

• Monitoring of the issues which impact your organization;
• Disseminating of your message to key Senators, Representatives and other influential parties; and
• Coordinating of briefings with congressional staff.

Membership Management

Members are the lifeblood of any organization. EDI has expertise developing strategies to attain membership recruitment and retention goals. Our clients have member bases ranging from 58 (where members are organizations) to 6,000 individual members. EDI has a proven track record of:

• Managing membership databases;
• Understanding and cataloging key differentiating variables within your membership so you can segment your messages or offers - this is also a key piece of retention;
• Developing recruitment programs using tools such as direct mail, articles/ads, exhibits, white papers and other tactics;
• Assisting in committee management (one of our clients has nearly 100 committees);
• Constructing, distributing, tabulating and analyzing membership satisfaction/vision surveys;
• Developing leadership training for up-and-coming members; and
• Developing hard copy and online membership collateral such as directories and catalogs.

Resource Development

Many of our clients enhance the breadth of their activities through support from external organizations or foundations. EDI has experience in bringing clients and potential funders together to outline areas of mutual interest, while maintaining the autonomy and integrity of the client. EDI can assist you in successfully:

• Developing strategic plans for additional revenue streams - large or small, short-term or long-term;
• Constructing proposals and grants;
• Coordinating/facilitating in-person meetings between clients and potential funders;
• Establishing/managing a foundation. Our largest client has established a foundation for research and training which is funded by outside companies, members and patients. We have coordinated that multi-million dollar effort, which is on going.

Tech and Information Services

At EDI, we understand the power of technology and can support the full spectrum of services. We also understand that client needs and vision directs the extent and type of technology applied. For example, some clients may need hard-copy personalized dues billing, and for others, online dues payment. In addition, some may utilize broadcast faxes, and for others, mass e-mail updates. We can assist you in meeting your goals by:

• Establishing or updating your member and community database, the complexity of which is scalable;
• Providing iMIS consulting (iMIS is the dominant association management software package);
• Managing server hosting; and
• Providing conversion planning.