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2. Foundation and Organization
We have to work with the people we have…
(spokesperson of Kolodets in Moscow)
Regardless of your mission, vision and aims, there are a few decisions you will have to make about the structure of your organization. That is what this part of the manual is about. It will address the topics of registration and organizational structure. You can read about cooperation and links with harm reduction projects in Part 3.
Registration
A registered organization has a better chance of funding than a group of separate individuals. It is not just a question of money … Registration is also needed if you want to make a reliable impression.i
The users’ organizations in Moscow, Vilnius, Sofia, Zagreb, Omsk, Odessa, Koper and Ljubljana are registered. In Kislovodsk preparations are being made to register.[2]
In most
countries, intermediaries are consulted about the most appropriate form
of registration.
In Russia there are commercial offices that see to the registration.
There are fees for doing this, but arranging the registration
formalities yourself takes a great deal of time and energy.
In Russia you can register as an autonomous non-commercial organization
(ANO), a public organization (PO), or a charity fund.
The users’ organizations in Omsk and Moscow are registered as charity funds. This means commercial activities can be conducted and the organizations can employ staff members.
The registration was no simple matter. In Moscow the passports were held for a month and in the end, it turned out that the registration still had not taken place.
When choosing a district, the users’ organization in Omsk noticed that some districts refused to register a users’ organization. Fortunately this was not the case everywhere. But it did take nine months for the registration to be completed.
Organizational structure
A lot of people will feel involved in your work, but what can be expected from them? What functions can they serve? Clear agreements have to be made. This section is about the hard core (volunteers) and the management responsibilities.
Hard core
A hard core of active people is indispensable in setting up an organization and keeping it going. But how does this hard core develop? In Moscow they had to be patient for about a year.
“At the beginning everyone want to do something, but it is important that people stick to it and do their jobs. Sometimes you have to start very early evaluating how people function and telling them straightforwardly if you can’t work with them. Some people are automatically eliminated. In Moscow, by the end of the year there was still a regular group of about fifteen people. We started the registration process with them. Be aware that people drop out and you have to go on with others and you will probably ultimately end up with a different group,” said a spokesman of Kolodets in Moscow at the seminar in Odessa.
The hard core can be kept actively involved in small ways. It is important for example to serve coffee and cookies at a meeting. Make sure the first efforts have a relatively simple goal that can be attained. This gives people the feeling that their efforts are meaningful.
Management responsibilities
Agreements have to be made about who is responsible for what, who does what, and who is in charge of what. Regardless of the formal requirements once the organization is registered, the vast majority of organizations choose to have a board. The overall point of a board is that it is a group of people who have the organization’s best interests at heart, and which meets to make sure that the organization is stable, doing appropriate things, and in general follows the set targets and policy. If there are changes in an organization’s mission, the board would debate and need to approve. Boards are also helpful in fundraising, and can include all kinds of different people; a diverse representation on the board (e.g. people with all kinds of different backgrounds, professionally or from experience) is very beneficial to the development of the organization.
In the end it is up to the organization to decide
how they want the board to function. Finally, boards usually have a
chair, bookkeeper and a secretary, and it is wise to look for proper
persons to fulfill these posts.
Organizations that are not registered also need to make agreements about
management responsibilities and hierarchy. This does not always
automatically occur.
In Sofia a self-help organization for methadone users was set up three years ago with about thirty people. As time passed, they disagreed about the organizational structure. Some of them wanted a complete democracy, others preferred a hierarchic structure. The group could not reach a consensus and split up. The users’ organization Hope01 has since been registered.
TIPS for founding a users’ organization
* Draw up a profile of the ideal staff member and list his tasks and functions.i There is no such thing as an ideal staff worker. Groups should both carefully assess what kinds of people/skills they need and how those needs can be met with existing members or outside people. These necessary skills include:
* Manage self-help group and its activities
* Organize trainings
* Engage in Public relations (newsletter, spokesperson for media)
* Set up and maintain dialogues with allies
So, the ideal staff worker is a manager, who is able to think and act strategically and diplomatically. He or she is able to express properly in word and writing, knows about financial management and is able to deal with stress situations. He or she also has a creative mind to find solutions for diverse obstacles, is innovative and is able to motivate and train people.
With these skills, the ideal staff worker is able to establish and develop self-help groups; to structure the group, and organize regular meetings; to create a network of persons and organisations that the group collaborates with; to organise several activities putting the group on the map; to be engaged in fundraising; to produce a (number of) newsletter(s) explaining the aims and objectives of the group and to raise (media-) attention for concrete plans and actions; to promote and undertake different educational sessions such as safe sex/safe use training, “how to deal with overdoses” and others; to promote social behaviour among drug using communities (‘take care of one another”) and among dealer circuits (good price-quality of drugs, steady reliable dealers); to influence public opinion and politics regarding drug users via media, meetings and other opportunities.
· Be very careful hiring people. Don’t always hire the most loyal volunteer or even initiator. Start an open hiring procedure and ask an outsider to take part in the selection.iii· Money is power. The founders can have trouble making democratic decisions on how funding is to be spent. Be prepared for conflicts in this connection.
· Have some form of supervision and intervision and support in coping with personal and emotional problems.i
· Make the work and activities of the organization as transparent as possible. It is a fact that basically anybody has great suspicion of user groups; you have to be extra-conscious about this. Transparency in raising and spending money, in decision-making, hiring people, conducting actions therefore is essential. Make sure all the members of the group (and potential funders, partners, officials and so on) understand that things work in a legitimate, transparent way will save a huge number of headaches in the long term.