2012 Executive Council Members

[Dahled]

Congrats! Couldn't be happier with the new EC.

[ON Q]

To the Board members of PSI,

This has been on my mind for a long time and just want to put some constructive criticism out on the table for future discussion and action. 

This is my 3 time being on a planning committee of hosting a poetry slam and after reading thru some threads of past events, what I'm about comment on seems to have been a reoccurring issue. 

I have been working in the non-profit sector since 2005 as consultant, artist and executive director, so instead of beating a dead horse, I would like to only ask questions that may spark some action in restructuring of current practices. 

1.  In most organizations, it is the board's responsibility to raise a certain amount of funds yearly for the organization (ie from national foundations, individual donors and corporate ) Is this a responsibility of current and/or past board members?

2.  Is there a development/fundraising director that is employed to find grants and cultivate donor interest?

I ask these questions because ever since I was introduced to PSI it has concerns me that a National Organization of PSI's purpose (and after presenting several national events per year over the course of two decades) does not have National funding/sponsorship in place to make Nationals, IWPS, WOWs the best that it can be in whatever city it may go to; instead of leaving host cities to do 95% of the work that the board, executive director, and development director should have laid the foundation for and use the host cities as support instead of leads.   

Like I said before this is just constructive criticism to challenge the board to think differently about their approach to the past and current practices of the organization. 

Thanks for your time, Q

[Scott Woods]

Q,

While this question would have been best served going directly to the board and not the world, the answers to your questions are no and yes. The first has in fact been recommended, debated and voted on with at least one EC in the past. The second is yes, we have a DD but funds have not been forthcoming.

Now let me tell you why I think asking this in the ether ofthe General Discussion forum and not of the EC directly is wrong:

1) You ask it in a place (thread) that has no relevancy to your concern or the subject of the thread. The second question at the very least has been asked and answered before in public space in the forums. If you sought out answers to these questions in previous threads and couldn't find them it is very likely because someone else asked the same thing in a thread labeled "What is the Storm poet selection process?" or "2012 Last Chance Slam" much like you posted it in "2012 Executive Council Members" and now no one can find the information. The EC can see all threads in all forums so creating a thread specifically for your question would have reached them as easily as this one - which will be lost to time in a matter of days - while remaining searchable and relevant for future discussions.

2) I have also worked with a number of similar organizations. Almost none of them provide the type of access to the planning body that PSi provides, so I can understand the temptation that being able to ask a public question like this of them provides. That said, there are nuances to these issues that are difficult to answer thoroughly to a question presented in such a non-nuanced platform.

In the future I would suggest that if you mean for your concerns to actually go to the EC specifically that you send them to the EC, not the Membership or in this forum, where anyone with internet access can go. This is not about transparency or secretive communications; this is about relevancy. The EC shouldn't be the only ones expected to exercise professionalism. In fact, you state that you are on an HC committee. So you have direct and non-public access to the EC already, so I don't know why you did not use that forum or avenue to speak directly to them. At the very least it suggests that you did not actually mean for this to go to the EC alone.

I hope this helps.

[jesster]

As a past and current EC member, I will reiterate Scott's response:

1.  In most organizations, it is the board's responsibility to raise a certain amount of funds yearly for the organization (ie from national foundations, individual donors and corporate ) Is this a responsibility of current and/or past board members?

No. But it doesn't stop us from looking. You don't get on the EC to gain prestige, you get on because you think you can help. Some of us are passionate about finding funding, others in making sure the voice of our membership is heard, and other in getting processes better defined. Many want all three, but tend to focus on 1 or 2 goals and support the efforts of others who take up a flag in different areas.

2.  Is there a development/fundraising director that is employed to find grants and cultivate donor interest?

Yes. As Scott mentioned, funds have not been forthcoming. This position is no secret and I would encourage you to search our forums for the answers to questions like this. It is certainly fine to ask these questions, but understand that a simple search of teh forums (It took me 30 seconds to scan results from General and PSI Members) would have answered this.

-Jesse

[ON Q]

Thanks Scott and Jesse. 

[AmyD]

Are the new officers in place? If so, can someone please tell us who they are?

[jesster]

Officer elections occur 2 weeks after the EC is elected by the SlamMaster body.

Officers will be elected at the end of next week (March 30).

-Jesse

[karen_g]

I will add to this that those of us elected to the EC also discussed at great length what we would like to see happen in our platforms before we volunteered to work for whatever job description we take on. So, for example, to address a portion of your concerns, I suggest you refer to the platform Sam Castillo put forward before the elections at SM mtg. He's been working already as an interim Financial Manager.You can also check out where Logic, Inkera & I stand on issues relevant to what we would like to see happen. Jesse is on point, you can see the history of where he stands and the committment he represents all over the boards.
Although Suzi was nominated and elected kinda last minute style at the SM mtg, check out the questions she asked all of us to help shape our platforms---you get a lot of her concerns reflected in the sharpness of the questions she asked. She also won a lot of votes by putting on an amazing event, that sold out, generated revenue and she articulated financial concerns and related her grant writing experience as part of her platform at SM mtg. If you missed that bit of the meeting, a slam master or proxy would have been able to relay that information, too.
I'd also like to send up the flag that change is often slow and a process of creation and revision, much as writing is, so whatever we try to implement as change will be in the steps of motions, committees, research, reviewing applications, interviews, etc. all of which take time.
The forums and threads are squirrely, to be sure, but we still hear your concerns.