Learning on the Job III: System-Wide Governance

On November 9, UUSC's Economic Justice Program staff attended three trainings at the 2007 “Nonprofit Workout,” whose theme this year was “The Ways We Lead: Creating Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations.”

The afternoon workshop I attended was called "System-wide Governance: A New Model for Creating Democratic Sustainable Grassroots Organizations."

This workshop presented a new model for nonprofit “governance." Governance is a tricky concept that most people associate with the primary role of the board of directors.

I was interested in this workshop because of some of the things I've witnessed in our partner work. Over the past three years, it's become clear that cultivating, training, and engaging a diverse, engaged leadership council (or board) has made a "make it or break it" difference in the long-term sustainability and success of some of our partner organizations.

Given the demands and precarious nature of labor rights work – especially cultivating leaders, processes, and infrastructure that are capable of supporting the growth of a long-term, resilient (and responsive!) labor rights movement – creating effective relationships among staff, board, members, and constituents is essential.

Over the years, UUSC's technical support to some of our partners has centered on strengthening this network of relationships. (Personally, as a board member of different organizations, I'm also fascinated by the variety of interpretations of the role of the board – in both the nonprofit and for-profit sector.)

The idea behind System-wide Governance is simple, but radical – and the perspective I took away from the workshop gave me food for thought to share with our partners, and in my own multiple roles as a board member, staff, and constituent!

Here's the gist:

System-Wide Governance is a model in which governance responsibility is shared across the organizational system among the key sectors of an organization – that is, members, staff, and board.

It is based upon principles of participatory democracy, self-determination, and genuine partnership and on community-level decision-making as the foundation of true democracy.

Critical organizational and strategic decisions are made together by active members, staff, and board. The types of decisions that are made in this way are those that determine key strategic directions or changes, long-term programmatic or organizational visions, new initiatives, political positions, and major policy and/or organizational decisions.

This approach was taken on to great success by one of UUSC's neighbors in Cambridge – Centro Presente – a member-driven, state-wide Latin American immigrant organization which strives to give their members voice and build community power.

Many successful programs and advocacy initiatives have come out of their work – including currently, the emergence of a worker center.

Ariel and I will be sharing these models with our partners as they work to build movements and programs that place member workers at the center.

To read more, check out:

"System-wide Governance for Community Engagement," by Maria Elena Letona and Judy Freiwirth. The Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2006.

"Engagement Governance for System-wide Decision-making," by Judy Freiwirth (check out p. 2 of the article for a useful diagram of this model), The Nonprofit Quarterly, Summer 2007.