Building a Successful Volunteer Culture : Finding Meaning in Service in the Jewish Community

by Simon, Charles

• ISBN13: 9781580234085
• ISBN10: 1580234089
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Pub

Summary

Cultivating successful volunteers in the twenty-first century is increasingly more challenging. Budgets are tight, hands are few, and competition for a person¿s discretionary time is severe. How do you develop and maintain the volunteers who are essential to the vitality of your organization and community? What can you do to avoid volunteer burnout? Rabbi Charles Simon draws on over thirty years of professional experience to provide you with the resources you need to build and retain a thriving volunteer culture for your organization¿regardless of size or complexity. In a straightforward, accessible style, Simon provides you with: Methods for analyzing your organization¿s needs ¿ Innovative ways for creating an environment that strengthens volunteer involvement and satisfaction while increasing your organization¿s effectiveness ¿ Plans for developing or modifying your leadership framework, positions and styles ¿ The groundwork for creating a language of inclusion that will motivate and inspire your volunteers ¿ Practical tips for establishing healthy, meaningful interpersonal relationships with and among your volunteers

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction
Why Risk Raising Your Hand? Putting Volunteerism in Perspective	p. 1
How Can I Fit In? Deconstructing Organizational Culture	p. 13
From Babel Back to Eden: Creating a Language of Inclusion	p. 27
Cultivating Volunteers: Understanding Basic Myths	p. 35
The Board of Directors: Is the Herring Rotten in the Head?	p. 49
How Do We Work Together? The Volunteer-Staff Dynamic	p. 67
The Committee: Where the Rubber Meets the Road	p. 79
The Nominating Committee: My Way or God's Way	p. 89
Cultivating Leadership: Balancing the Seesaw	p. 97
When Things Are Just Not Working: The Forever President and Other Problematic People	p. 111
When Leadership Is Lacking: Addressing a Vacuum at the Top	p. 123
Bigger, But Does It Mean Better? From Independent Minyanim to Cathedral Congregations	p. 135
Where Did the Guys Go? Why Male Volunteerism Has Declined	p. 149
Cracking the Glass Ceiling: Hearing the Female Perspective	p. 161
Conclusion: The Never-ending Task	p. 171
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 172
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