Succession Planning for Dance Organizations

Karen Wisnia (she/her): Can I ask a question?

Lissa Bengtson, San Antonio: A question would be nice.

Greg Kramer: Yes you may. They will use your questions during last part of the chat.

Karen Wisnia (she/her): Thanks.

Mike Wright: I’m on the board of Belfast Flying Shoes in Belfast, Maine. Two questions to everyone:

Mike Wright: 1) Are there organizations represented here that have paid staff? We are moving to that model.

Mike Wright: 2) Ideas about engaging youth in active leadership?

David Macemon & Cynthia Stenger: Please define “Staff”

Mike Wright: Paid staff=executive director and an assistant

Karen Wisnia (she/her): For Jenny, or anyone, I am wondering about how to keep manuals. Someone has to write stuff down, keep it updated, make sure that all keep it updated. We used to keep paper manuals, but now people want to have shared google documents. We have a place on a google drive, but when people rotate on/off the board or committees, how do you make sure people keep up the manuals, get access, etc.

Darlene Hamilton: Hello everyone! We host a monthly Dance Organizers’ Meet-up and our next one is THIS Monday afternoon, December 9, 1:30 pm Pacific / 4:30 Eastern
There is a good chance we might continue this discussion of succession planning! We also chat about many other topics pertinent to dance organizers.
ZOOM LINK for the monthly Organizers Meet-up https://tinyurl.com/ECD-Organizers
Feel free to join in if you are involved in organizing dances across the country and beyond! ~ Darlene

Jonathan Young: Paid staff adds a significant layer of complexity (taxes, insurance, and other benefits come to mind), but a number of Boston dance groups have (or have had) paid staff.

Jonathan Young: @Jenny Beer are GCFD bylaws available online?

Beth Kevles – NEFFA: Manuals: One organization I worked with kept a wiki. That worked reasonably well — built-in organization — but not for the technically less-adept.

Jonathan Young: NEFFA’s bylaws (written by Larry Jennings, an engineer!) are here https://www.neffa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Neffa-bylaws.pdf .
We (NEFFA) have started sharing “howto” documents in the cloud (e.g. Google Workspace).

Deborah Denenfeld: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…” Dancing Well: The Soldier Project has a paid contractor for 30 hours/week.

Karen Wisnia (she/her): I love that — ‘how to’ documents!

Darlene Hamilton: Replying to “@Jenny Beer are GCFD…”
I’d like to see those!

Beth Kevles – NEFFA: One aspect of succession planning is, um, sudden succession. That is, if one person becomes suddenly and completely unavailable (the “hit by a bus” scenario”, how hard would it be for the organization to pick up everything they do and know?

Mike Wright: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
Thank you!

Barbara Lantz: Sorry I can’t stay. Have an evening commitment. Been interesting so far and I look forward taking a look at the recording of the rest of the Webinar.

Darlene Hamilton: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
How is that managed? Enough donations? Grants? Would be very interested in more details about that.

Paul Ross (CDW & CDNY): In a similar vein, CDNY’s bylaws provide for 2-year terms for its Board President. Assuming that person remains on the Board, they take on the formal title of Past President for one year, a resource for the new President in their first year of leadership. In addition, we have a President Elect, who shadows the current President in that person’s final year of the 2-year term. In this way, leadership is nurtured and institutional memory preserved.

Mike Wright: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
We raise a significant amount of grant money and we have an annual appeal that is important.

Lisa Faryadi: RE Manuals: Charlotte Contra Dance has all documents on a shared Google drive.

Darlene Hamilton: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
How? What sort of grants do you access? We’ve looked but haven’t done very well at finding things available.

Beth Kevles – NEFFA: I’m sorry, I have to go too. Looking forward to the recording.

Mike Wright: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
They are all foundations/funders based in Maine.

carolyn ownby: Question: What are the tasks Jenny defined in her bylaws?

Darlene Hamilton: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
Nice!

Darlene Hamilton: Replying to “1) Are there organiz…”
Thank you

Susan English: I would like to hear more about generational transition. There’s a younger generation just starting to contra dance who also bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the organization. How to pass on institutional history to new people and still allow them to bring in new ideas?

Mike Wright: We are also working on engaging young people in leadership and would appreciate learning from others. We have many young dancers but we have a hard time getting them involved in leadership.

Roy Curet: Replying to “We are also working …”
We are in the same situation. I would also like to hear more on generational succession .

Lisa Faryadi: Karen, I hear that and am right there with you. I will say that we do not have a lot of lengthy manuals. And we are fortunate to have a couple of board members that seem to have an enjoyment of posting these documents. It has traditionally been part of the secretary’s role.

Glenn Manuel: In our group, when an officer rotates off, they remain on the board for one more year as a member at large. That helps smooth transitions.

Cara King (Monrovia ECD, near Los Angeles): Replying to “In our group, when a…”
I like that idea!

Cara King (Monrovia ECD, near Los Angeles): At times when I was fairly new to a volunteer-run organization, I was asked do a major volunteer position, and was quite flattered. So I see the point that it can pull people closer!

Jenny Beer: Our board liaisons every year or two ask all their committees to update.

Ruth Scodel: Another thing to think about, picking up on what Katy was saying, is to find a way to keep people who have been doing a lot from feeling dumped. You want to find less-exhausting ways to keep them involved without burning them out.

David Smukler: Our local Morris group runs an Ale. Each task is run by a “czar,” and after each Ale every czar is expected to report back how they did their job. When finished with this report they get to announce to the group that they are now “morally upright.” These documents (on a shared drive) ensure that every year “training” materials for next year’s czar are updated.

David Smukler: We had a group of young folks say to us, “We don’t want to go to our High School prom; can we have a contra prom?” They organized our first and it’s been happening ever since.

Roy Curet: Amen Katy

Katy German: I prefer a win-the-lottery scenario…

Cara King (Monrovia ECD, near Los Angeles): In terms of recruiting younger folks: I think some longtime dancers/volunteers don’t realize that if they casually say negative things about a newer way of doing things in a way that might sound contemptuous to someone else (even if it’s not meant in a snide way), that can have a chilling effect on a younger/newer dancer who was thinking of getting more involved. It can color the dancer’s view of the whole organization…

Darbus Oldham: Do you have advice for the opposite problem of what was discussed before with regards to bringing young people in: how to help the people who’ve been running things for 30 years get ready to pass it on to the next generation?

Katy German: Replying to “Do you have advice f…”
I can talk to you about this a bit. Send me an email: katy@cdss.org Maybe we can jot down some notes and turn it into something to share.

Reid Miller: Great Meeting. Great content. Thank You.

Paul Ross (CDW & CDNY): Thank you, CDSS (have to sign off)

Darlene Hamilton: Monthly Dance Organizers’ Meet-up
next one is THIS Monday afternoon, December 9, 1:30 pm Pacific / 4:30 Eastern
There is a good chance we might continue this discussion of succession planning! We also chat about many other topics pertinent to dance organizers.
ZOOM LINK for the monthly Organizers Meet-up https://tinyurl.com/ECD-Organizers
Feel free to join in if you are involved in organizing dances across the country and beyond! ~ Darlene

Pat Gingrich: Thanks, Joanna, Katy, and Panel! Very helpful. We will suggest emergency succession plans, rotation, Board Buddies,And we will definitely be doing Pi Day!

Reid Miller: Special reinforcement for keeping in mind youngsters feel eager for taking part, for leading. Every one ounce of encouraging them invested pays back in huge dividends. Dance Well and Happy Holidays!

Darlene Hamilton: Looking forward to reading those Bylaws from different groups!

Cara King (Monrovia ECD, near Los Angeles): Yay, CDSS! Many thanks to all those who spoke, chatted, and organized during this web chat…

Betsy Noyce: Thanks for being so responsive to the dance community needs. Interesting and educational evening!

sandy gabucan: Thank you CDSS for organizing this fantastic panel on such an important topic. very much appreciated!

Roy Curet: Thanks everyone for all your work on this!

Mary McConnell: Thanks!

Mike Wright: Thank you!!!

Eva Meyer: Thank you!

Juliana Post-Good: thank you all!

Darlene Hamilton: Thank you all for doing this. Important topic!

Harold Hallikainen: THANKS!

Andrea Pluhar: Thank you!

Dan Vilter: Thank you everyone!

Deborah Denenfeld: Thank you for covering this important subject.