[Foundation-l] Chapters

Wed Aug 10 20:20:01 UTC 2011

On 8/9/11 3:47 PM, Birgitte SB wrote:
> It seems to me that these changes are about making chapters more into
> franchises.  Which I find to be exactly backwards.

It would be, if that's what it were about.  But I can say with 
confidence that at the board meeting, no one spoke about any ideas even 
remotely similar to this, and I can't think of a single board member who 
disagrees one bit with the idea that chapters should be directed or 
controlled in a top-down fashion as "franchises" or anything similar.

No one wants that, and these changes should have no impact on that at all.

It is important not to confuse the very narrow (and yet very critically 
risky if not done well) of "acting as a payment processor" with the much 
more important and interesting and difficult questions about how much 
funding chapters should get, under what conditions, etc.

> Chapters in my
> mind should be diverse entities. Embracing whatever is most effective
> in their little slice of the world. I think they should be ambitious
> in seeking out what inspires local population to embrace our
> movement. The way to encourage innovation is to push self-direction
> and refrain from being too judgmental so long as there is trending
> improvement. I believe that franchises will not be well received and
> will by and large fail. Maybe I am wrong about the direction people
> are pushing, maybe I am right about the direction but wrong about the
> poor outcome. I certainly can't have much of an effect on things.

I'm happy to report that you are mistaken about the direction in which 
people are pushing. :-)  No one on the board or staff has talked about a 
"franchise" model to my knowledge, and no one on the board or staff to 
my knowledge would disagree with your very perceptive remarks that 
diverse entities acting with local knowledge is the right answer for us.

The key thing to understand here: there is no desire or agenda to take 
away power and autonomy from chapters.  But there is a strong moral duty 
to note that financial controls, reporting requirements, transparency, 
and evaluation of effectiveness are always at the top of our agenda.

--Jimbo

--Jimbo