[foundation-board] PROPOSAL: Laura James joining the board

Wed Apr 3 14:51:31 UTC 2013

Hi Rufus

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond.

I'm talking from personal experience. As ED of ORG, I was a non-voting
Board Member. It's hard to articulate, but I think that the fact that
as an executive I had to advocate for a particular course in the
absence of any final power to approve it led to a more consensual
process. Also, and perhaps more importantly, in light of the fact that
as a non-profit non-executives received no remuneration, it provided a
more reassuring level of oversight to supporters - each voting member
was as disinterested as the next, if you like, on any particular
issue.

I realise both those reasons are a bit woolly, and not enough to sway
anyone on their own. To be honest, I'd just assumed all non-profits
were run this way, and the problem was that you had voting rights, not
that Laura didn't.

I'd like to take a look at how other non-profits do it, or what, for
instance, the NCVO says on the matter. I've just ordered the NCVO Good
Governance: A Practical Guide, so I'll let you know if it says
anything useful.

Best wishes

Becky

On 25 March 2013 11:07, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
> Dear Becky,
>
> The proposal, as it stood, was as a normal board member with full voting rights.
>
> My assumption is that Laura (and I) would recuse ourselves on any
> issues such as remuneration where there was any tension between
> executive roles and board roles.
>
> What are your thoughts here?
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
>
> On 25 March 2013 10:45, Becky Hogge <becky.hogge at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Can I ask, is the proposal to appoint Laura as a non-voting member? My
>> understanding is that would be the normal set up for an Executive, though I
>> appreciate the situation with Rufus doesn't conform to that template...
>>
>> On Mar 25, 2013 10:35 AM, "Ben Laurie" <ben at links.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 13 March 2013 11:02, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
>>> > Hi everyone,
>>> >
>>> > As we have discussed previously, and again at last night's board
>>> > meeting,
>>> > with Laura becoming a full-time "co-director" she should join the board.
>>> >
>>> > Due to time constraints last night we didn't get to this item with
>>> > everyone
>>> > present so I would like to propose this formally here on list:
>>> >
>>> > PROPOSAL: Nomination of Laura James to the board
>>> >
>>> > Please respond in the usual manner on list to indicate your views on the
>>> > proposal.
>>>
>>> I am in favour.
>>>
>>> >
>>> > Regards,
>>> >
>>> > Rufus
>>> >
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