Understanding Voluntary Organizations by Charles Handy

There are so many voluntary organizations around us today that sometimes we don't even know that they are voluntary in nature. Or are they really voluntary? The Red Cross, Lions, Leo Club, Befrienders are some examples. Nowadays many just call themselves NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations). There was a time when such organizations would call themselves "non-profit" or "not-for-profit" organizations.

That aside, how do such voluntary organizations work? Where do they get their funds and manpower? How are they managed? Do they function like commercial organizations?

I am sure some of these questions must have crossed your mind at some point in time. Charles Handy seeks to answer many of these questions and dwells in detail on the management styles you would find and how some people with sincere hearts and a matching passion have found out the hard way that these two qualities may not be sufficient to successfully manage and lead a voluntary organization, depending on what the organization's aims are.

Voluntary organizations should not be too lofty in their aims. To quote Charles Handy, "To bring peace to the world is the sort of task that only gods should take on; lesser mortals would be wise to set less ambitious goals lest they feel forever frustrated." He means that each voluntary organization should have realistic and possibly quantifiable goals so that the degree of success can be measure and planning done to improve the chances of success.

Most of us don't really dwell on this subject but if you have time and would like to think about it, Charles Handy's book is a good read. He has good examples but of course, most of them are western models.