The LI Blues Society is taking a beating over on Kerry Kearneys page today. Its tough to find well-run volunteer organizations. Directors and officers often ignore the basics, like the three types of boardmember duties, mission adherence, understanding and maintaining by-laws, communication with stakeholders, recruiting, fiduciary skills, conducting productive meetings, conflicts of interest, getting members invested in the organization, having various-length plans for growth, understanding nonprofit law, etc. Its like watching an infielder let a ground ball go under his glove or seeing a quarterback throw off his back foot. If you dont get the basics right, you have no reasonable expectation of success. And, as one of my lighthouse society directors used to say, Success only comes before work in the dictionary. I should also add that it is much easier to complain about something than it is to fix it. Long ago, I heard a good definition of a critic... A critic is someone who shows up after the battle has been fought, and shoots the wounded. There -- I think I covered both sides.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 23:15:28 +0000