Creating Your Team

Creating Your Team

Find other organizations to partner with yours. Look for partners who can bring financial, public relations and/or organizational expertise to the team. Representatives from these partners, as well as interested community members, can then help plan, organize, promote, and run your One Book program. This not only shares the workload, it:

  • ensures that there is a wide range of ideas about programs and book selection;
  • helps create greater “buy-in” from the community;
  • creates a larger network for raising funds, organizing programs, and getting the word out;
  • offers an opportunity to form new partnerships.

Things to consider:

  • Identify and invite potential team members early in the planning process, making sure that each major partner is represented.
  • At the first meeting, after you introduce the One Book concept, set goals for the program together. What do you hope this will do for the community? What audiences do you want to include? The answers to these questions will guide the committee in its book selection and decisions about the timing and kind of programming.
  • Setting a budget is an important task, even though at the outset you don’t know how much money you will be able to raise. You can add or subtract events when your funding picture becomes clearer.
  • Keep all team members informed throughout the planning process, calling on their help as needed.
  • Be sure to acknowledge all partners in your communications with the public, the media, and in all publicity materials. It is usually sufficient to name the partnering organizations, though you may also wish to credit and thank individuals as well, especially if they are well known in the community.