Governance
Improving Our Practice: We emerged from 2021 with a stated desire to improve how we work together as a Steering Committee (SC). We pursued that goal by hiring an external consultant to facilitate a process of listening to the members of the SC and Advisory Committee (AC) and document the successes and challenges of operationalizing our shared governance model. WiseBridge, a global organization dedicated to supporting social justice organizations achieve their goals, facilitated a process for current and former SC members to get to know each other, collectively name and then release the narratives, assumptions, and behaviors that hinder our effectiveness, and identify solutions to our biggest challenges. During this first gathering of Fenomenal Funds, the SC had an opportunity to build relationships, in person, which had not been possible in the first two years of the initiative due to the pandemic. The process supported the ongoing development of building trust, intentionally defining systems and practices that facilitate how we make decisions, understand and differentiate roles and responsibilities, and nurture our collective responsibility for achieving our shared vision.
Navigating Change: If there was anything that was a constant for the Steering Committee in 2022—it was change. While we anticipated a number of transitions toward the end of the year, they came earlier and all at once. As we navigated the transitions, we paid attention to sustaining our momentum by making timely decisions on work that needed to move forward while slowing down in other areas. We also worked to further systematize the onboarding of new members and how we thoughtfully integrate them into the SC.