January 26, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Working Easier: A Toolkit for Staff and Board Members of Nonprofit Arts Organizations, by Debra H. Snider, offers advice to managers of arts groups on increasing their organizations’ productivity and efficiency. Produced by the Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation with support from the Chicago Community Trust, the guide recommends that organizations spend time identifying and articulating their mission and goals, and reshaping staff responsibilities to keep top employees from getting bogged down with administrative tasks. It also offers tips on describing jobs more clearly and finding the best people to fill them, as well as for helping lower-ranking staff members take on more leadership responsibilities. The guide concludes with a list of “working easier tips” designed to help staff and board members make better use of their time. Appendixes include sample job descriptions and a chart that lays out the steps charities need to take to carry out the guide’s recommendations.
Publisher: Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation, 200 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 404, Chicago, Ill. 60601; (312) 855-3105; fax (312) 855-1565; info@artsalliance.org; http://www.artsalliance.org; 39 pages; $22; ISBN 0-9741107-2-8.
