Reintroducing Social Venture Network Member Meetings
It’s time to get together!
We are excited to announce that on November 21st, we will be hosting our first member meeting since the RISE unconference. Besides networking and catching up with each other, we will be sharing updates on where SVN stands, what we’ve been working on, and what we have planned for the months ahead.
We’ve also reached an important milestone in SVN’s revival - it's time to establish how we'll operate by voting on SVN’s new bylaws. This meeting will include a discussion about the proposed new SVN bylaws.
SVN’s New Bylaws: What You Need to Know
The SVN Governance Working Group has drafted a set of bylaws which we now present to you, our entire SVN community, for review. The details of governance are not everyone’s jam, but please take a few moments to understand and consider what’s afoot, weigh in with your reactions and ideas, and be prepared for you and the greater community to vote in new ways of operating our beloved organization.
These bylaws will be tabled for a membership vote on December 4th. Everyone is welcome to provide their thoughts, however, only dues-paying SVN members may vote. We’ll give you the key details here, with context provided after for those who need catching up on how we got here.
What We Ask of You
Review this Google Doc version of the Bylaws. Leave your comments and thoughts. You can email board@svn.org if you want someone to follow up with you.
Join the Member Meeting on Thursday, November 21, 4:00-5:00 PM ET for an overview and discussion of the proposed Bylaws, updates about SVN, and a discussion about member networking/activities. Register here.
Participate in the Member Meeting on December 4, 4:00-5:00 PM ET to vote on the proposed Bylaws. This is a members-only meeting. Register here.
Important Dates & Events
Thursday, Nov 21, 4:00-5:00PM ET
Members meeting open to the entire SVN community
Sunday, Nov 24, midnight ET
Commenting will be closed on draft bylaws document
Wednesday, Nov 27th
SVN will share the final version of bylaws on which members will vote
Wednesday, Dec 4, 4:00-5:00PM ET
REGISTER HERE
Members meeting held for SVN members ONLY
Context: How We Got Here
Our RISE event last May in Oakland brought together 70 SVN stalwarts, supported by many scores of others who couldn’t attend but subsequently engaged. The outcome was a strong desire to resurrect what was great about SVN; acknowledge the faults and harms that were perpetuated; and create an open, transparent, democratic, well-functioning organization that promotes the participation of all members and accountability for the members of leadership and staff. An open working group of 13 folks spent three months developing a draft set of SVN Bylaws. The key attributes are:
Membership-centric. The power of SVN has always been its members. The SVN organization was successful at collecting dynamic social venture practitioners and facilitating their collective action. The outfit faltered, accelerated by ASBN’s conduct, when top-down leadership replaced member engagement. The rejuvenated SVN is set up to focus on the Membership and its desires for the community.
Member-respectful. SVN long spoke about the obvious benefits of welcoming the full range of modern society into our work. But actual practices worked to limit who was invited and who chose to stay. The rejuvenated SVN acknowledges these harms, and commits to ensuring that leadership and members alike treat each other reflecting our mission of a heart-centered network.
Member-inclusive. To actualize these lofty goals, the draft Bylaws seek to bake in diversity, inclusion, equity and justice– to inspire our best and prevent sliding into business as usual.
Member-empowered. The SVN Board of Directors is to be elected by the Membership - accountable to the community and transparent in operations, finances, programming, policies, behavior.
Simply, the proposed Bylaws make clear that the Membership determines the strategic direction of the organization, through an annual meeting and election of the Board of Directors, which is charged with operational activities but cannot impose on the Membership.
So a critical step is the Membership actually adopting Bylaws. This version is intended as a strong draft, open to critique and improvement. That said, the Bylaws can be modified by the Membership at any annual meeting. So the goal is get this right enough to rejuvenate the organization, be open to improvements as we collectively operate under this sunshine and celebrate how far we’ve come with the commitment for constant improvement.
Fittingly, these proposed Bylaws cannot be imposed on the Membership, but would need to be adopted at a proper meeting.
This is an important step in laying the foundation for the rejuvenated Social Venture Network. This foundation matters: to create a structure that respects the community, facilitate good works within it, bring about Best Practices and guard against abuse. Like most fundations, it’s not glamorous but needed to enable an organization worthy of the goals and aspirations of the Social Venture Network
