Pride Foundation is launching an open process for community members to join our Board of Directors. For the first time, we will offer an open application that folks can fill out to express their interest. We hope this new process will help us:
- More equitably evaluate board member prospects based on our identified priorities and their alignment with our values.
- Reach beyond our existing individual networks to ensure we cast a wide net for board member prospects.
- Offer the breadth of our community the opportunity to self-identify their interest in serving on our board of directors.
- Build a more sustainable pipeline for people to join our board over the long term.
Fill out an application here. More details about Board service and process can be found below.
About Board Service with Pride Foundation:
We understand that Board service is often a big commitment, and we want to be clear about the roles, responsibilities, expectations, and time commitment of joining Pride Foundation’s board. To give you a sense of the types of commitments our Board members make:
- 4-6 virtual Board meetings annually (2.5 hours each)
- Board packet review before meetings (1-3 hours per packet)
- 1 in-person Board and Staff retreat annually (locations across the Northwest, cost of travel and accommodations can be covered by Pride Foundation)
- 8-10 virtual committee meetings annually (1-2 hours each), plus extra time to complete committee projects (committee work is encouraged, but not required)
- Attend local Pride Foundation events and occasional other outreach meetings and opportunities
- Timely responses to email communication and a few annual internal surveys
- A commitment to ongoing learning and growth as we continue to transform our work, our organization, and our sector
- Willingness to serve as an ambassador for Pride Foundation and to bring our work into your networks
- Making a financial contribution to Pride Foundation that is personally meaningful (we do not have a minimum gift expectation of board members, or a ‘get’ expectation).
Characteristics of Pride Foundation Board Members:
- Share our commitment to LGBTQ+, gender, and racial justice, have experience living out this commitment.
- Bring a strong analysis of power and privilege as we seek to deepen our accountability to communities within the LGBTQ+ community most impacted by injustice.
- Bring a passion for supporting the unique role that Pride Foundation is able to play in our ecosystem in the Northwest as a community foundation and through our programmatic endeavors and fundraising.
- Have experience with Pride Foundation as a grantee, scholar, donor, volunteer, partner, or community member, or have deep familiarity with the unique nature of our work.
- Share our organization values of: Justice & Collective Liberation; Regeneration & Sustainability; Hope, Abundance & Joy; Care, Trust, & Collaboration; Growth Learning & Innovation; Growth, Learning, & Innovation; Integrity, Accountability, Courage, & Transparency.
- Live in one of the Northwest states we serve: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
Currently, our highest priorities for specific lived and professional experience for board members include:
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
- Folks who live in Idaho
- Trans, non-binary, and/or gender diverse folks
- Folks who live in rural or remote areas
- Young people (above the age of 18)
- Folks with experience with investments and/or investing for impact
- Folks with interest or experience with fundraising
- Folks with legal experience or expertise
Please note, you do not need to bring all of these experiences in order to be considered as a potential board member. We will weigh these priorities along with our general priorities.
About Our Process for Recruiting New Board Members:
This is our first year to conduct an open application process for people to join our Board of Directors.
- If you are interested in applying to join our Board of Directors, please fill out our new board member prospect application before the priority deadline of June 2, 2024.
- Our Board Development Committee will review applications in June and finalist board member prospects will be invited to meet with members of our committee and our CEO in July.
- We have limited space available on our board, and will be evaluating prospects based on how their lived and professional experience aligns with our mission, vision, and values, as well as the current highest priorities for our board composition.
- We intend for our full Board to approve new members in August, in the hopes that new members can participate in our Board and Staff Retreat, which will take place in Bozeman, MT September 27th-29th.
- Everyone who submits an application will receive communication about where we are in the process, and follow up as to how to continue to be involved in our work if not selected to join our Board at this time.
If you have questions about Board service or our process, you can contact Katie Carter, CEO, at katie@pridefoundation.org.