**Evaluate this session**
Many of today’s volunteer ambulance agencies and rescue squads were built generations ago with little or no formal business planning. In many cases, the organizational structure was built on personalities and emotion, rather than sound modern-day business principles, and they have continued to grow that way over the years, with the agency’s culture, policies, and leadership roles developing piecemeal, often based on informal, clannish, bottom-up, and at times questionable, business and operating practices. But, regardless of the volunteer nature of the agency or squad, it is still a healthcare business, and what may have worked 20 years ago is no longer the case. This program is designed to educate volunteer EMS leaders about basic corporate structure, governing documents, and best business practices which are necessary to effectively run an organization and minimize common mistakes which can lead to everything from apathy to mismanagement and beyond.