OUTREACH COMMITTEE - In the bylaws I believe there should be an ongoing outreach committee as part of the bylaws. For now it will be volunteers, in the future it may be made up of volunteers and partial ejlri employee's. Outreach is an important aspect of public awareness and community involvement. As we move forward with the our first employee (to be determined) I think this will also be a good asset to the organization to help the employee have a place to direct some of the load and help them to do their job better and more effectively.
I've had very mixed experience with elected boards for grassroots organizations. On the one hand, we felt it was important to stay true to our roots and build the capacity of our constituents, but in the end it made it difficult to bring in the skills, networks, etc. the board needed to help the organization grow and thrive. One possible solution is to reserve a minority of board seats as appointments. If that makes people uncomfortable, another option (though in my view less effective) is to provide for the creation of an advisory board that could support the board's work. What do people think?
Regarding Tom's comment--it may turn out that the membership model we propose may not work over the long haul. But bylaws can always be changed. Think we should try to stay "true to our roots" at the outset in the hope that we don't stray far from them. Tom's idea about an advisory board sounds good and perhaps should be considered by the board (assuming the proposed bylaws pass), particularly if the first elected board feels it needs more skilled board members. So far, we have been blessed with skilled members--let's hope our good fortunes continue!
3 comments:
OUTREACH COMMITTEE - In the bylaws I believe there should be an ongoing outreach committee as part of the bylaws. For now it will be volunteers, in the future it may be made up of volunteers and partial ejlri employee's. Outreach is an important aspect of public awareness and community involvement. As we move forward with the our first employee (to be determined) I think this will also be a good asset to the organization to help the employee have a place to direct some of the load and help them to do their job better and more effectively.
I've had very mixed experience with elected boards for grassroots organizations. On the one hand, we felt it was important to stay true to our roots and build the capacity of our constituents, but in the end it made it difficult to bring in the skills, networks, etc. the board needed to help the organization grow and thrive. One possible solution is to reserve a minority of board seats as appointments. If that makes people uncomfortable, another option (though in my view less effective) is to provide for the creation of an advisory board that could support the board's work. What do people think?
Regarding Tom's comment--it may turn out that the membership model we propose may not work over the long haul. But bylaws can always be changed. Think we should try to stay "true to our roots" at the outset in the hope that we don't stray far from them. Tom's idea about an advisory board sounds good and perhaps should be considered by the board (assuming the proposed bylaws pass), particularly if the first elected board feels it needs more skilled board members. So far, we have been blessed with skilled members--let's hope our good fortunes continue!
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