Bob Nicholson on wed 21 may 03
I've worked with volunteer organizations for close to 30 years.
Most go through ups and downs in terms of energy and member
commitment. If the "downs" get too bad, or continue too long,
the group dies.
But on the other hand, there are groups that have been going
strong and benefiting their members for decades.
Getting people to help is an ongoing issue in most groups. I've
never found a magic solution, but there seem to be two general
approaches:
1) Pure volunteer-ism. Requires you to make a strong case
for volunteering, and have a great "recruiter" to get things
done.
2) Quid-pro-quo. Establish a point system or set of requirements
to get the benefits of the organization. For example, "to
participate in this show, you must pay $X AND perform two
of the following jobs..."
Our Guild uses a combination of both. As I said, it's not magic...
we still work hard to keep all the key positions filled. But it
seems to be working - we have some great programs going on,
and we're growing rapidly.
- Bob Nicholson, Orchard Valley Ceramic Arts Guild
http://www.ovcag.org
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