I'm part of a group of volunteers that is interested in establishing a volunteer board for our local theatre. They have a professional staff and professional board already - but what is missing is a support chain for volunteers.

 

My question to you is this - do volunteer boards exist? If so, I'm interested to know how they are run, how the interact with the professional staff (assuming one exists) and how it co-exists with other aspects of the theatre.

 

Any help would be great!

 

Thanks!

I am not opposed to having a volunteer board, I just think you need to have a reason for the board.  There are going to be some major issues, especailly with the Professional board that may feel you are treading on thier turf.  You'll need to figure out what is the purpose of your board and how having it will help augment the professional board.  Even if you can show how this is important for the board, you'll have a lot of opposition.

Thanks for the reply.

 

To answer your questions, there aren't any major grievances between the professional staff and the volunteer group. In fact, I would say it quite the opposite - it is very harmonious. Moreover, the professional staff is encouraging the volunteers to become part of the process in organizing, managing and recruiting other volunteers. Our purpose, therefore, really is promote the interests of the volunteers, strengthen the management of the volunteers and to encourage others to want to volunteer.

 

The theatre used to have a volunteer coordinator on staff which was great for all of us. That position was vacated about 6 months ago and hasn't been replaced. While the hunt for a replacement is ongoing (as you might guess it can be quite the job to fill), a group of us have gotten together, with staff support, to augment those responsibilities.

 

So, instead of drfiting aimlessly trying to "put out fires", we're trying to organize and form a cohesive board that can retroactively address issues while planning for future shows.

 

Does this help?

 

Again, thanks for the post!

But by looking up the information you need, you can combine the different aspects that you need to meet you needs.  You'll also need a liason between the two boards as well that can work harmoniously with the other board.

 

I wish you the best of luck on this project.