Skilled Volunteers Work to SAVE Used Book Sale
Published:
Mon, 06/21/2010
Hidden from the summer sun by a massive, white tent, hundreds of thousands of books sit stacked neatly on rows of long tables. The distinct smell of paper mingles with the summer breezes as shoppers browse through titles covering a seeming infinity of topics. Volunteers flutter about, tending to the tall piles of literature and serving more than 8,000 customers, many of whom come back for the sale year after year.
This is the 2010 Little City Used Book Sale, the largest used book sale in the Midwest. Held from June 4 to 13 at the Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, the sale’s proceeds all benefit the Little City Foundation, a Palatine-based non-profit serving adults and children with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Little City inherited the book sale from Brandeis University back in 2007, more than 40 years after the first of the annual sales was held.
But according to Kathryn Nelson, the Volunteer Manager at Little City, the used book sale's days may be limited.
“Right now, geographically, logistically, physically, it’s too big a task for our small planning team to do,” Nelson said.
The process of collecting, sorting, and moving the books that are eventually sold is a year-round endeavor, according to Nelson, requiring a great deal of time and resources. In an economy where people are both giving and buying less, the sale may not be a sustainable fundraising event for the non-profit. Nelson said Little City would hate to lose such a tremendous tradition and opportunity, and they’re working hard to find a solution.
One potential solution may just come from the people that are already a vital component of the book sale: volunteers. A team of volunteer consultants, all members of the Executive Network Group of Greater Chicago, Inc. (ENG), are working together with Little City to develop a plan that could save the book sale.
“We’ve been observing the whole process and conducting some market research,” said Cynthia Anderson, a professional Project Manager who leads the volunteer team. “In the end we hope to present some recommendations on how Little City can make the book sale more profitable.”
Anderson and her teammates mixed among the volunteers at the sale, clipboards in hand, taking copious notes of the entire process. With backgrounds ranging from retail and marketing to business development, these executive-level professionals draw on their expertise in their work as volunteers.
“It’s great to have them bringing together their experience because all of their skills will be put to use figuring out what to do with the sale,” Nelson said.
This project team emerged as part of Little City’s work with The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago (TVC). Through the Strategic Action for Volunteer Engagement (SAVE) program, TVC worked with Little City to find ways in which skills-based volunteers could serve their organization. Helping the book sale be more profitable emerged as a top priority.
For the short term, the book sale project team is working to improve this year’s sale, but they’re focusing even more on strategic long term goals, including logistical, financial, and marketing recommendations for the book sale. These recommendations will hopefully provide Little City with a plan that will allow the organization to continue the sale for many years to come. It’s a challenging process, Anderson said, but it’s one that she thinks will ultimately have a positive impact on the community.
“Working with The Volunteer Center and the Little City Foundation has been a rewarding experience; all the team members have learned a lot and really enjoyed it,” she said.
This is the 2010 Little City Used Book Sale, the largest used book sale in the Midwest. Held from June 4 to 13 at the Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, the sale’s proceeds all benefit the Little City Foundation, a Palatine-based non-profit serving adults and children with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Little City inherited the book sale from Brandeis University back in 2007, more than 40 years after the first of the annual sales was held.
But according to Kathryn Nelson, the Volunteer Manager at Little City, the used book sale's days may be limited.
“Right now, geographically, logistically, physically, it’s too big a task for our small planning team to do,” Nelson said.
The process of collecting, sorting, and moving the books that are eventually sold is a year-round endeavor, according to Nelson, requiring a great deal of time and resources. In an economy where people are both giving and buying less, the sale may not be a sustainable fundraising event for the non-profit. Nelson said Little City would hate to lose such a tremendous tradition and opportunity, and they’re working hard to find a solution.
One potential solution may just come from the people that are already a vital component of the book sale: volunteers. A team of volunteer consultants, all members of the Executive Network Group of Greater Chicago, Inc. (ENG), are working together with Little City to develop a plan that could save the book sale.
“We’ve been observing the whole process and conducting some market research,” said Cynthia Anderson, a professional Project Manager who leads the volunteer team. “In the end we hope to present some recommendations on how Little City can make the book sale more profitable.”
Anderson and her teammates mixed among the volunteers at the sale, clipboards in hand, taking copious notes of the entire process. With backgrounds ranging from retail and marketing to business development, these executive-level professionals draw on their expertise in their work as volunteers.
“It’s great to have them bringing together their experience because all of their skills will be put to use figuring out what to do with the sale,” Nelson said.
This project team emerged as part of Little City’s work with The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago (TVC). Through the Strategic Action for Volunteer Engagement (SAVE) program, TVC worked with Little City to find ways in which skills-based volunteers could serve their organization. Helping the book sale be more profitable emerged as a top priority.
For the short term, the book sale project team is working to improve this year’s sale, but they’re focusing even more on strategic long term goals, including logistical, financial, and marketing recommendations for the book sale. These recommendations will hopefully provide Little City with a plan that will allow the organization to continue the sale for many years to come. It’s a challenging process, Anderson said, but it’s one that she thinks will ultimately have a positive impact on the community.
“Working with The Volunteer Center and the Little City Foundation has been a rewarding experience; all the team members have learned a lot and really enjoyed it,” she said.
