HOME is Seeking New Board Members!
Board vision
HOME’s Board of Directors is an engaged and active decision-making body, whose support and input paves the way for this new organization to grow and scale its impact in alignment with its key values: critical thinking, responsiveness, and agency/self-determination.
Board members provide high-level guidance to HOME’s Executive Director and staff through strategic input, tough questions, and fearless feedback. The Board helps HOME stay accountable to its community by nourishing connections with the many stakeholders who benefit from HOME’s programming. In turn, board members demonstrate accountability by preparing for meetings, staying up to date with developments in the field of digital literacy, and taking initiative within their roles. The Board’s involvement ultimately helps staff navigate complexity with confidence, empowering them to seize opportunities to expand and enrich all facets of HOME’s work.
The Board works closely with the Executive Director, providing regular and timely input on HOME’s strategic direction, as well as its ongoing alignment with its vision and values. Two-way evaluations between the Board and ED provide reciprocal support and transparency, supporting a balanced, high-trust relationship.
Values
Critical Thinking
Board members, ED, and staff mutually encourage honest, direct, respectful feedback, delivered in the spirit of strengthening the organization’s work and impact
Board members are encouraged to ask questions and bring fresh ideas to the table
Board operations and relationships actively facilitate the organization’s work, rather than existing simply because “that’s how things are done”
Board and staff are committed to identifying and reducing barriers related to colonialism, white supremacy, ableism, and other forms of oppression
Responsiveness
Board and staff enjoy mutual transparency and trust, remaining available to each other while maintaining healthy boundaries
Input from board members is encouraged, honoured, and taken seriously
Board members support, and lead where appropriate, accountability processes both internally (e.g. staff/board evaluations, crucial conversations) and externally (e.g. seeking and processing community feedback, providing strategic orientation for HOME’s customized programming)
Agency/Self-Determination
Board and staff relationships are characterized by high trust, transparency, and respect
Board members respect one another as experts on their own lived experience, and recognize what they don’t know as well as what they do
Board members help the organization evaluate opportunities to grow, increase impact, etc. that centre sustainability and honour all types of community expertise
Board members understand and are committed to “nothing about us without us” approaches to working with communities and stakeholder groups
Profiles
HOME’s current Board of Directors consists of 3 people from the non-profit, education, and arts sectors. Collectively, we have experience in areas including business development & management, copyright law, communications, and online education.
To complement what is currently represented in this small group, we are particularly seeking board members to fill the following positions:
Director of Operations: familiarity with non-profit organizations, policy, compliance and Human Resources.
Director of Fundraising: experience with grant research, grant writing, fundraising strategies and initiatives.
Director of Programming: experience with on- and offline workshop development, programming & education in a digital space.
Director of Communications: experience with marketing strategies, internal organizational communications and brand development.
People who self-identify as part of marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to apply.
If you don’t see yourself fitting easily into either of these vacant positions, we would still love to hear from you.
Time commitment
Meetings take place monthly, and last 1.5-2 hours each. Between meetings, board members can expect between 2-5 hours of other work (e.g. email voting, document review, administrative tasks, meeting prep, strategic input), not including participation in committees or other voluntary tasks such as Finance, Governance, Human Resources, Events/community engagement, Fundraising, & Communications.
Board members commit to doing their homework, coming to meetings on time and prepared to participate, and staying up to speed on the organization’s work between meetings, out of respect for the time and energy of their board and staff colleagues.
Board members are elected to 2-year terms, with a limit of three consecutive terms.
Communication Style and Decision Making
The Board fosters an atmosphere of transparency, accountability, and support. Working relationships are built on a foundation of trust, respect, and mutual commitment to the organization’s mission. Board members actively assist each other to fulfill duties, take initiative where needed, and deal proactively and directly with any problems that arise.
HOME documents are created, shared, and stored on Google Drive. Meetings are held remotely on Zoom, usually on weekday evenings, and will likely resume in person when conditions are safe. Communication between meetings mainly takes place over Slack and email. We use Trello to archive documents and resources. “Leads” in different areas of activity take on the responsibility of moving work forward between meetings, either on their own or in collaboration with other board members and staff, but check in with the board frequently and make significant decisions in consultation with the board.
HOME’s Board operates through consensus decision making, especially for critical decisions. Decisions may also be voted on if necessary on non-critical matters.
Scope of Work
Board members are expected to help the organization identify resources and opportunities in line with their expertise, interests, and connections.
The Opportunity
HOME ED and founder Jessie Curell has an impressive 15-year track record of leadership in digital and media literacy education, having developed and delivered programs in communities from the Northwest Territories to India. Curell founded HOME to scale the impact of her work through support from funders and community stakeholders. As a new organization backed by Curell’s credibility and expertise, HOME offers potential board members an exciting opportunity to make a direct and concrete contribution to increasing digital literacy at a historical moment when this mission could not be more pressing. Far from rubber-stamping, board members will have meaningful input into the organization’s strategic direction. Joining HOME’s board will be an excellent opportunity to gain experience in organizational development, non-traditional approaches to governance, and strategic planning, all while gaining an informed appreciation for the on-the-ground challenges of teaching citizenship and leadership in a shifting digital landscape.
Benefits & Recognition
Volunteers who contribute their time and knowledge as HOME Board Members benefit from:
Opportunity to influence the future growth and success of Hands On Media;
Opportunity to develop personal leadership through committees and/or projects of the Board;
Networking opportunities in the Digital Literacy and education sectors;
Forging meaningful relationships with fellow volunteers, staff and community;
Building strategic and visionary thinking skills;
Opportunities to spark individual creativity.
Contact
Please apply with a cover letter and resume to: info@handsonmediaeducation.com by Feb. 25th 2022.
In your cover letter, please address the following two questions:
What do you hope to gain from being a HOME Board Member?
What do you hope to contribute as a HOME Board Member?
We will be bringing on the new board March-April 2022.