Here's a post I found over at PicoBusiness. This article collects a series of posts from Scott Maxwell on how to win in the big company versus the little company battle. Although these tips are aimed at small business, they are 100% applicable to associations and small nonprofits if we will just take notice! One point that's made is that it's important to leverage your time advantage in a small operation. From some of the nonprofits I've worked in, many people seem very hesitant to use that advantage and instead they take shelter in a more bureaucratic model--seems dangerous to me.
Here's an article from the UK's Design Council talking about how information design is important in public-sector efforts. Of course, it's helpful to everyone, but this is a good example of the universal need for better presentation of information--and more design.