Hi Hello, I am a docent at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in albuquerque, NM. some years ago we set up a group call the Amigos to help raise fund for various volunteer events. when we discovered we could be very successful we decided to rove the Center with a set fund each year for educational purposes. Our Center has a Foundation that is also tasked with raising funds, so we discovered that we needed to keep our group separate. We continue to rely on volunteers, but we have separate operating rules and do not use Center facilities for our meetings. My experience with small musical and dance organizations over the years taught me that we did not need nonprofit status and that could actually create more problems than benefits. We call ourselves a club and run a minimal set of unanimous decision-making rules. Selection of the participants in the organization and planning is important and we keep our group to nine members. We give all major volunteers and docents first call on the events we organize which are mainly guided trips to Mexico and Latin countries, since that is our bent and many of us speak spanish. This has been going on for about 8 years a d proves to be successful. This is a short description but contains the high points: a club with organized operation procedures, an limited group of decision-makers.
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Kenneth Fenner JD
DOCENT
Albuquerque NM
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