Pathways to the Future:  Practical Policies and
Successful Models for Volunteer Organizations

In a democratically run volunteer organization,
priorities must include Openness for the members,
Cooperation between the staff and the group leaders, and
Community Support for the organization.  Failure in any
one of these areas can significantly damage the health
of the organization.  Topics include safety and comfort
policies for group members, effective policies for
elected directors and appointed staff leaders, e-mail
list policies for limited decision-making and effective
communication, and policies for building mutual support
with other groups in the local community. 

Based on experience with Black Rose, NCSF, DCSMA and
BESS, this lecture will stress key policies for
fostering Openness, Cooperation, and Community Support. 
Much of the focus will be on the BESS (www.bess-md.org) 
"team handbooks" which codify these key policies.  These
handbooks are available for download on the DCSMA web
site (www.dcsma.org).