For far too long I’ve watched Erin struggle financially. There’s general consensus that “something” has to be done.

Nearly two decades, ago I watched, for ten years while our local school district floundered with inadequate funding. They’d maxed out the amount they could legally receive through referenda, so they were looking at either cutting teachers and/or programs. I put together a proposal and went to the school board with a video presentation. They agreed to allow me to start a non-profit to generate revenue for them. I served without compensation as the initial chairmen of the board. Eighteen years later that non-profit recently announced they had raised over $7.5 million in total over the years.

While serving on that board I learned a few things about fund-raising. One of the most important things we learned is that volunteer help often is as valuable as cash – sometimes even more valuable.

Big Closet is a wonderful organization with an important purpose. One can only imagine how many lives Erin and crew have saved – or made immeasurably better. I know that she has bestowed a tremendous positive impact on me.

However – it seems obvious that Erin has not asked for help often enough or in the right way. A departed friend, Percy Ross, made millions in the plastic industry and then set about to give it away. He told me once that a big mistake most people make is to not ask for help.

Yes – Erin needs money. Sometimes there’s no substitute for cash, but she also could use a lot of volunteer help.

Currently, Erin stands at the top of Big Closet. She is an irreplaceable force (More on that later.) Erin is ably supported by Piper for technical (with a programming assistant) and Cat for editorial. Jamie is the administrative assistant, when she’s able. There’s a bookkeeper and an accountant. Two editors help prepare manuscripts for publishing (Tom and Onyx). Amy reads submissions for publishing. Frank and Janet help with outlining and Janet looks for spammers. The imaginative Melanie runs contests -- which prod authors like me to get off our duffs.

I absolutely love Big Closet and wish to thank all of these fine people for making it as wonderful and inviting as it is today. But, let’s imagine a future without adequate funding or without this staff or . . . WITHOUT ERIN.

Let’s visualize the carnage, and then quickly make adequate preparations so it NEVER comes to pass.

Erin has done a great job with the look and feel. She’s a terrific graphic artist and has impeccable taste. You could ask Erin if she wants help in this area . . . just to reduce her load.

Big Closet’s lifeblood is fresh content. There’s a need for help in at least three areas. Some days it might seem like Big Closet has all the free content it could ever possibly need. That’s never the case. People have individual taste. There are those like me who feel starved lately for stand-alone stories . . . not to mention the various genre and topics. BC could use a standing committee to attract new free, varied content. There was recently a complaint about lack of new content in Hatbox (Premium Stories). BC could use a standing committee to attract new content for Hatbox. Doppler press is becoming more and more important as a funding source for BC. There should be a standing committee to attract new manuscripts for Doppler Press.

Doppler Press should be spilling out new books to Amazon every day. To facilitate that Doppler press needs volunteers to edit, provide cover art, etc.

The entire organization could use a strong dose of marketing help. For example: Since Doppler Press is a funding arm of BC, wouldn’t it be wise to provide a list of Doppler Authors on the right-hand side of the front page? That list should link to a page for each author listing their Doppler books with links to Amazon. We have some excellent user/marketeers who could help BC with their sales talent.

If Content isn’t the lifeblood, then readers are. BC needs a standing committee to attract and keep new readers. They could discover enhancements for the reader’s experience. There’s an old maxim that says that for every complaint there are nineteen who didn’t complain -- who feel dissatisfied. BC needs to attract new readers than convert them to users -- who can be converted to volunteers/contributors. There should be a standing committee for conversion of guest readers to users. There should be another standing committee for the conversion of users to volunteers and/or donors. There should be another standing committee to gauge reader satisfaction and to identify new ways to meet readers’ expressed needs.

If Content and Readers aren’t the lifeblood of BC, then authors surely must be. BC needs a standing committee to gauge the satisfaction of authors. They should identify new ways to meet authors’ needs. There should be a standing committee who works to attract new authors. There also needs to be a standing committee to help new authors and infrequent authors through the posting process. The contests have helped revive certain writers’ muses. It might be good to have a standing committee who works to encourage writers who haven’t posted a story in some time to write something new.

There could be a committee to thank people for writing kudos and encouraging them to write more – especially for old stories – writers love to get comments on old stories. That committee could shape a kudos writer to make their efforts more positive and encouraging.

BC could use a committee to review and maximize the income from advertisements.

There should be committees for the following:

Programmers, if Piper could use the help.

Perpetuation, to make sure BC outlives us all. Erin is a superwoman, but not immortal.

Software, if Piper wants the help.

Hardware, if Piper wants the help.

Mission and Ethics, to help Erin with the day-to-day struggle against the winds of dissension.

Finally, but not least important, BC could use a committee to establish and monitor a budget. This might be the most important committee. As a business-person I’m always questioning the amount of surprise expense that happens around BC. After decades of existence, this is a symptom of wishful thinking.

Of course, BC is a product of wishful thinking. No one with any business sense at all would have taken on BC as a project. Thank God Erin is one of those positive people who see a need and go forth.

Erin shouldn’t have to ride herd over a myriad of committees. BC would have to have a volunteer who is long on "organization" to work with the committees and pass information to Erin in digestible chunks. Erin could accept or reject every committee suggestion.

Do I think these committees will be established? Maybe.

However, if you’re still reading you probably now have an idea of some of what Erin does every day and the level of support she needs.

If you support the idea of committees, let me know in a comment below.

Thanks.

Jill