Review by Brian Whitehead
(Jossey-Bass, 2000, ISBN 0 7879 5241 9, $19.95)
Never judge a book by its cover! If you do in this case, you'll arrive at two simultaneous conclusions: firstly, that the image on the front suggests it is a medical DIY book; and secondly that CPR is one of those everyday acronyms that was taught to the rest of your class on that day you played truant, and you 're now too embarrassed to ask someone! Well, live through it, and you'll open the window on 46 brief, admittedly mainly US-based case studies featuring 'creative strategies for successful fundraising, marketing, communications and management'. And the acronym CPR? Challenge, Plan, Result.
Accomplished American arts management consultant and author, Alvin Reiss, has come up with an eclectic collection of organisations with varying real-life problems to resolve. The background to each organisation and its problem; the Challenge itself; the Plan adopted; and, the Result achieved, are all repeated within each example, enabling the reader to locate organisations with problems similar to their own. With so many case studies and thus so little detail available on each -in total of less than 220 pages -it is perhaps ambitious to expect that this book can give much more than a few pointers to show how these organisations overcame challenging problems. However, a number of examples give such simple excellent advice that it more than warrants it modest cover price. My favourite is quoted from the Salisbury- Wicomico Arts Council in Maryland (but imagine this to be your own organisation, regional or national funding agency). The Challenge: The agency had existed harmoniously for many years but suffered from meetings in which some Board members would sit back while more aggressive speakers would command the meeting, speaking at length. Thus the need to get things back on track. The Plan: every Board member was handed a small red STOP sign. If at any time a someone was speaking excessively, another member would flash the sign and an immediate informal vote would be taken as to whether the speaker should be allowed to continue or forced to stop. The Result: the organisation is ten years further down the track, and members have become 'more conscious' of the need to keep meetings on track. The only helpful piece of advice missing is the name of the retailer who sells the STOP signs!