June 24, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Roberta’s Rules of Order: A Guide for Nonprofits and Other Teams
by Alice Collier Cochran
This book presents guidelines to help nonprofit groups organize effective meetings. Alice Collier Cochran, a consultant who lives in San Rafael, Calif., says she designed these rules as an alternative to the parliamentary procedure laid out in Robert’s Rules of Order, which is required for board meetings by some nonprofit bylaws. Ms. Cochran says that although Robert’s Rules might be effective in government and legislative situations, they are not always as useful in smaller organizations: “Often it’s like using a hammer on a mosquito when a flexible flyswatter will do,” she says. Her version of the rules is adapted specifically to nonprofit organizations and is less formal than the original set.
Ms. Cochran seeks to help nonprofit groups determine which types of decisions require consensus and proposes several methods, including straw polling, that can aid in the decision-making process. She suggests that before making a decision, groups should clearly explain the situation to their members and explore several solutions.
The author suggests that organizations use a combination of in-person meetings, telephone conferences, or Internet discussions. Among other topics covered in the book are designing an effective board structure, running annual meetings, and holding meetings with participants who have limited English-language skills.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103-1741; (317) 572-3986 or (800) 956-7739; fax (317) 572-4002; http://www.josseybass.com; 305 pages; $26.95; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-6423-9.
