Monthly Lake Org Chats - New in 2025
The goal of these "monthly chats" is to introduce important and timely topics to the lake organization community in Wisconsin in a fun and engaging way while providing additional resources. With over 750 lake organizations in Wisconsin and thousands of individuals who work with and for these organizations, we want to make sure we provide information in a variety of ways so everyone can access them.
These chats are recorded conversations on YouTube.
Future Episodes (tentative topics) include:
- Membership
- Insurance
- Grants
- Countywide Orgs
- Succession Planning
Free Online Capacity Courses: Interested in earning a certificate of completion for your continued professional development? Extension Lakes is offering two free online courses, through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, to assist individuals in lake associations and lake districts in working effectively on lake issues. The content is broken up into readings, videos, and quizzes that will help you digest and check your knowledge throughout the course. Upon finishing the course, you will receive a Certificate of Completion.
You will have 90 days to complete the course once you enroll.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Sara Windjue at swindjue@uwsp.edu.
This very first episode is focused on Organizational Capacity for Lake Groups. We cover what we mean when we use the term organizational capacity, why we think it’s important, and what organizations can do to increase their capacity to get things done.
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKQaI6bmr80&list=PL6aVQYpBMBW9uKvBV6HWgdBJRtZy5uzzR
Length of recording: 35 minutes; 15 seconds
PDF of slideshow
Feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuSZM7tUPvQSmIZbsE8hSeLVX4cVQXFxUvN33diqQ-Sg_bHw/viewform
In this episode, we discuss how to use electronic communications, mainly email, effectively.
Direct link: https://youtu.be/VgAzsMizKFg?si=jH-RkdjMijrw7sse
Length of recording: 49 minutes; 48 seconds
PDF of slideshow
Feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuSZM7tUPvQSmIZbsE8hSeLVX4cVQXFxUvN33diqQ-Sg_bHw/viewform
In this episode, we discuss the importance of planning for the annual meeting, including the location, getting the word out, supplies, developing the agenda, elections, committee reports, special guests, and more!
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLk_0zuEgA
Length of recording: 50 minutes; 54 seconds
PDF of slideshow
Feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuSZM7tUPvQSmIZbsE8hSeLVX4cVQXFxUvN33diqQ-Sg_bHw/viewfor
In this episode, we discuss the importance of budgets and how to align your budget with your organization's purpose.
Length of recording: 47 minutes; 12 seconds
In this episode, we explore all of the ways lake associations and districts might deal with money matters including borrowing money, accepting donations, payroll, filing taxes, and many other topics. We also discuss best practices when it comes to handling finances.
Length of recording: 1 hour; 24 minutes; 21 seconds
This episodes emphasizes the importance of using committees and explores their purpose and structure. Hear from representatives of both lake districts and associations as they share the benefits and challenges of committees.
Length of recording: 41 minutes; 6 seconds
This episode focuses on the process of creating and changing boundaries for lake districts while looking at a few examples.
Length of recording: 48 minutes, 2 seconds
In this episode, we explore membership percentages, structures, dues, and benefits of membership as well as how to increase and track your memberships.
Direct link:
https://youtu.be/13WaAnqBLts
Lenth of recording: 1 hour, 2 minutes, 56 seconds
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