Some co-ops have a long history of using their members, as volunteers, to carry out management tasks. Many small co-ops feel they cannot afford to pay for management, given their limited budgets. These co-ops see volunteer management by committee as part of their tradition. How does this fit with what we've said about management not being a volunteer's task?

In the companion guide to this one, Getting Management Right, we have some advice about management by committee, and it's worth repeating it here. We questioned whether committees have produced good management results for co-ops and we noted that after 35 years of experience, we can say the results have been mixed at best.

Here are two questions to ask about using committees to run the co-op:

1. Do committees get the job done well every time?
2. Do committees get the work done when it needs doing?

If the answer to both isn't yes 100% of the time, co-ops might want to think carefully about how much they rely on committees to run their business.

It's been said that volunteer management works for small co-ops. But no matter what size your co-op is, you should at least use the services of a trained bookkeeper to take care of your finances. We've seen too many co-ops get into financial hot water because they've used volunteers to do the books. The same goes for essential administration tasks, like meeting your annual reporting requirements to government. These kinds of services don't cost more, proportionately, for a small co-op than a large one. And the price of not paying for them can be heavy indeed.