During the late 1990s, I served on the Board of
Trustees of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music
Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, which includes a small
Civil War Museum. In addition to my Board duties, on
my own initative I recruited a volunteer and arranged
to have the Civil War Museum open to the public one
night a week.

At that time, the Library Board, as designed by Andrew
Carnegie, consisted of 17 members--10 Life Trustees
[of which I was one] and 7 Ex-Offcio Trustees. We had
one full-time staff member [Library Director] and 8 or
9 part-time staff members which were involved in the
Library operation. Operation of the Music Hall and the
Museum were left to the Board of Trustees [as we had
no funding to hire anyone for these duties].

During my five-year tenure, the Library almost closed
twice, due to the poor financial situation. At that
time, the Borough of Carnegie was not willing to
provide more than nominal financial support. The
Library's financial situation is better today, and the
Borough does provide some financial support.

In my first year on the Board, I had to work hard just
to get the County and State funding needed to keep the
Library doors open. This job fell mostly on to me, as
most other Board members had full-time jobs. Then,
there was half of the Board, at that time, who
supported the Borough's attempt to take-over the
Library building, which would have meant that the
Library would have closed. And, the Mayor and Borough
Council members [then Library Ex-Officio Trustees]
attended Library Board meetings only sporadically.

It was a nasty political battle that eventually
ended-up in Common Pleas Court. Fortunately, due to
the strong Declaration of Trust agreement [founding
document of the Library] left by Andrew Carnegie, the
Library succeeded in staying open.

So, I think I have some understanding of what you are
up against. Regrettably, every Board seems to have
dysfunctional members. Often, they are on the Board
for reasons necessary for the continuation of the
institution [e.g. political reasons, ensure funding
from a particular donor].

For most cultural institutions, particularly those
with poor funding, Board members are going to have to
roll-up their sleeves and put in some "sweat equity"
to keep the institution going. You will have to decide
for yourself how far you are willing to go to do this.

Since you are not being paid, certainly you have more
options. If you believe that the children's
programming is important, then you can tell the
President that this is where you are willing to spend
your time and energy.

You can tell her that you are understand the
importance of other issues such as outreach, house
maintenance, and artistic issues. And, you may be
willing to spend some time on these matters, but not
as "staff."

>   However,
> we still report to her and need her approval before
> any money is spent or
> arrangements are finalized.

As President, she certainly has the responsibility and
obligation to the Board to watch all expenditures. Of
course, your Treasurer would also have such
responsibilities [I was Library Treasurer for one
year].

Now on the other hand, if the Board has passed a
budget that allows certain expenditures for certain
programs, the President should give some discretion to
the people involved in those programs, so long as the
expenditures do not exceed the budgeted amounts.

> Also, she hasn't mentioned a plan
> for the remaining Board
> members, from what we can gather is they will not be
> taking on any
> fundraising or administrative duties...while
> allowing dysfunctional people to remain that way.

From a purely pragmatic perspective, do not get
worked-up about dysfunctional Board members. They will
always exist on a Board, and there is not much you can
do about it. AND, in some ways you really do not want
dysfunctional Board members to get too involved in the
details of operation--they could make matters worse!

I hope this advice helps. Let me know if you have any
more detailed questions.

gaw

--- Rachel Weber <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 12:43:40 -0700 
From: "Rachel Weber" <[log in to unmask]> 
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Board member woes 
To: [log in to unmask] 

> I volunteer for a small arts organization that is in
> the middle of a
> difficult transition. The organization has been
> around for about 20 years,
> but it still floundering.  By floundering I mean the
> roof leaks, we can't
> really heat the place, maintenance and janitorial
> issues are often not taken
> care in a timely manner, budgets for programs are
> coming out of volunteer's
> pockets, programs have low attendance numbers, and
> various personalities
> have caused good volunteers to be chased away.  
> However there is a bright
> spot,  we have a new Board President, who is
> committed to turning things
> around, but so far her efforts have not seen a large
> return, our latest Gala
> event barely turned a profit.
> 
> 
> 
> My dilemma is this.  I and another volunteer have
> been asked to become
> "staff", which is to say we are still volunteers,
> but we are now responsible
> for outreach, house maintenance, and artistic
> issues.  The Board President's
> plan is that our involvement will free her up search
> out more funding.
>   However,
> we still report to her and need her approval before
> any money is spent or
> arrangements are finalized.
> 
> 
> 
> What alarms us is that such a plan prevents us from
> running any sort of
> programming.  Last year we managed to run a
> children's program that not only
> covered its costs, but made 400% profit.  And the
> kids are asking when they
> can come back.   Also, she hasn't mentioned a plan
> for the remaining Board
> members, from what we can gather is they will not be
> taking on any
> fundraising or administrative duties.   Her plan
> seems to be a way to take
> two good volunteers and turning them in to personal
> assistants, while
> allowing dysfunctional people to remain that way.
> 
> 
> Is there a better solution I can offer?  Any advice
> is most appreciated.
> 
> Carrie Snow

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] > 
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.planetarium.cc > 
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: 
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear: 
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com > 
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: 
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc > 
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.incline.cc >

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