Organizing a Volunteer Group - Initial Steps

The aim of this lecture is to describe a process by which 
one can foster the creation, with community support, 
of a new and resilient volunteer organization.  Keys to 
accomplishing this are broad outreach, willingness to 
cooperate with existing organizations, a practical open 
process, basic principles of fairness, willingness to make 
and record decisions,  a time-line, and basic facilitation 
and consensus-building skills.  This is based on recent 
experience with the formation of BESS in 2001.

The ideal attendee is a community leader who wishes 
to form a new volunteer organization, large or small.
This attendee should have an interest in building
consensus and performing outreach.  He or she should
also be willing to create an organization that differs 
from that which was first envisioned.