Read This Before You Say Yes…
The only problem I have with Doreen Pendgracs new book - BEFORE YOU SAY YES...The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Volunteer Boards - is that she didn't write it 20 years ago.
(Disclaimer: I know Doreen, we're both members of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, and she quotes me in one chapter, and she sent me a contributor's copy of the book.)
So with that out of the way, let me just say that the book is chock full of anecdotes and wise advice based on decades of experience, both on the part of the author and the people she interviewed.
There's the board locked out of its own office after a staff mutiny, the board where cursing and sexual innuendo were the norm, the board that finds itself in an unlawful dismissal suit.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that Pendgracs also provides a long list of suggestions for avoiding or at least softening the blow if and when things go badly.
And that after the many tales of woe, she's still clearly optimistic about the benefits - personally, professionally and to the community - of devoting time and energy to volunteering for the many non-pr0fit organizations that continue to function either in whole or in part because of the generous donation of time and energy.
It's not a very big book - just 145 pages front to back - and it's not a very expensive book - $19.99 in paperback from Dundurn Press - but it's a book that should be handed out every time a board asks someone to consider volunteering for a position, and a must read for every current member of existing volunteer-driven boards.
It's the best $19.99 they're likely to spend to avoid the pitfalls that could cost the organization its very existence, and the board members their personal assets, not to mention their sanity and peace of mind.
-G
