Sigh — So much to know, but so little time to learn it! If you fit this description (these days, who doesn't?), and you are trying to build or improve your nonprofit's board, Emerson & Church Publishers wants to make your learning curve a little less daunting with one of their newest "one-hour guides" on board development.

Andy Robinson's Great Boards for Small Groups: A 1-Hour Guide to Governing a Growing Nonprofit covers 29 topics in 110 pages, ranging from recruitment to fundraising to improving (or eliminating) inactive meetings and members. With each "chapter" only one to four pages long, it is a fast, easy-to-read primer for novice staffers or board members on how to build an effective board.

Robinson draws on his 25 years of volunteering and consulting experience as a board member, fundraiser, publicist, and community organizer, especially for nonprofits working in human rights, social justice, environmental conservation, and community development. In addition to running his own consulting practice since 1995, he has been a frequent contributor to Grassroots Fundraising Journal and The Nonprofit Times, as well as an author of several other fundraising books.

Robinson exercises restraint with the examples he provides, relying on lean, clear, concise sentences and bullet points to express his ideas. Most chapters offer step-by-step, immediately usable tips. The sample job description, fundraising agreement, and meeting agenda are very good, and may be adequate for many readers. However, if Robinson's 14 pages on fundraising are not enough, you can always read his other one-hour guide, Big Gifts For Small Groups: A 1-hour Board Member's Guide to Securing Gifts of $500 to $5,000. Indeed, Emerson & Church publishes several one-hour guides that deal with board fundraising and development.

In fact, you can probably find a single book that has all of the information contained in several Emerson & Church titles, but it likely will have more pages, be heavier to carry, and at first sight, may seem a little overwhelming in comparison with Great Boards for Small Groups. The time-strapped rookie in particular will appreciate the approachable, easily digestible brevity of Robinson's book and others like it in the publisher's collection of one-hour guides.