This is the sixth and final post in Generator’s ‘Governance Reimaginings’ blog series. You can find all posts in the series here, and everything we’ve published related to boards here. In this post, theatre performer, playwright and former Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Ruff, Kaitlyn Riordan, offers a personal response to a Governance Reimaginings session and follow up conversation with Erin Kang, Manager of Networks at the Ontario Nonprofit Network and project co-lead of their Reimagining Governance initiative.
Warning, this is an imperfect metaphor.
Last summer, I had the pleasure of participating in and witnessing my dear friend have a baby. She’s a single parent who, like many, has created a non-nuclear family model. I was her birthing partner and her sperm donor was her primary care-giver for the first seven weeks of the baby’s life. His husband came by for visits (they are uncles to the baby) and my friend invited their family to come by and meet the new nibling/grandchild. Oh wait… were we calling the donor’s parents ‘grandparents' if the donor wasn’t ‘dad’? A precocious five year old nibling asked; but if you aren’t married, is she really my cousin? And would my friend and her baby now be included in family portraits?
Alt-family royalty free clip art
Well, sure, yeah, and we don’t know yet. But what was perfectly clear, is that this baby would be loved by a large and extended family because my friend and her donor had chosen this path. They had been intentional, they had to be, because the traditional model (hetero couple gets married and has a kid) did not fit their needs. And rather than court that model, my friend identified her desires and did the work to create a model that would fit those. Yes, she's a badass. It took time, research, lots of conversation, informed consent and eventually, a document that both parties signed.
What my (badass) friend’s situation revealed to me is that I so often default in life; into roles, into timelines, into structures without giving them a second thought. Much like many nonprofits when it comes to governance.
Photo of Erin Kang
This is where my metaphor really falls apart - apologies to anyone who has given birth. Now, if we imagine the physical act of birthing a child (something that simply has to happen for a human to exist), like say, an AGM, appointing directors, getting an annual audit, etc (things that simply have to happen for nonprofits to exist) does that really encompass all that it means to “have a child”? I put that in quotes as I transition my metaphor over to Erin Kang’s area of expertise; governance in the nonprofit world.
The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) and Kang, in collaboration with Ignite NPS, have co-created a virtual hub for governance innovation, full of tools and resources that enable nonprofits to explore all the other parts of governance and figure out what their company needs in a DIY/choose-your-own-adventure kind of way. Like bottle feeding vs breast feeding, disposable vs reusable diapers - every parent needs to figure out what they and their baby need and build a system to support that. So why do we only talk about the technical (birthing/AGM) part of it? Again, apologies for the AGM/birthing parallels…
Partly, it’s because we’re all overworked & under-paid and governance feels like the least of our priorities. Partly it’s because we’ve only been exposed to one model. The top down Board of Directors model that feels daunting and cumbersome and can sometimes feel like the adults (business people) making sure the kids (artists) don’t land the company with a deficit. Most literature and training around governance is based on Board performance, efficiency, and engagement, that’s it. No wonder we associate all things governance with Boards. When in fact, the work of governance can play such an important role in the health and development of an organization.
So the ONN asked: what is governance? Who is doing it? Who should be doing it? And how? One of the big realizations they made was that organizations were being forced to squish their values and practices into the existing model. There are 58,000 nonprofits in ON, how can one or two models work for such a diversity of organizations?! A bit like my friend navigating a system that expects a family to look a certain way.
The initiative decided that instead of creating a different model, they wanted to develop a process that would empower orgs to create their own models, one day hopefully flooding the nonprofit sector with an abundance of working models to be inspired and not shackled by. They collaborated with nine nonprofits over a period of several months to co-create the materials, and supported them in experimenting and working with new ideas.
First, they identified that the ultimate goal of governance is to “enable positive impact on the community”. Initially, I didn’t think this would resonate with my baby metaphor, but the more I think about it… They then identified the high level functions of governance: developing strategy, setting and upholding org culture, tracking finances, etc. Turns out, fundraising is not a governance function, but can be a board function if that choice is made. Whoa… Then, once all of those factors were identified, the orgs moved to the design playground: Processes, People, Structures, Culture. Get an in-depth look at that here
For 10 months, these nine organizations tested the tools and resources they, along with ONN and individuals in the sector, helped to co-create. The Reimagining Governance Lab will contain multiple access points, not a set process, so organizations can choose how deep to dive in based on their current capacities. In early conceptions of the project, the goal was to create a process for organizations to follow. However, it became clear that a set process would still be too limiting. This evolution moved the thinking from a circular model to more of a 3-D governance ecosystem, responding to the various needs from the different organizations.
The ONN has just launched their public Reimagining Governance Lab online. It includes stories and examples from the nine organizations they worked with and will have updates as the nonprofits continue to evolve their governance models, each experimenting with specific elements and needs. The Lab will continue to be animated by convening communities of practice, inviting other organizations to join in and try things, all of which will be documented and included in the Lab as the experimentation/implementation evolves.
This work is an experiential process and requires organizations to name, identify, and reflect on how they do governance. What are the external/internal influences? It requires space & time to put intentionality into how a governance system is designed. Kang clarified that these questions almost never get asked and requires those in power to reflect on why they have power, and then often to relinquish it for deep and lasting change to manifest. Anti-oppression work needs to be woven into the fabric of governance, particularly because the nonprofit model is based in white supremacy .
Kang identified the concept of intentional vs implied ways of functioning, and how so much of what we do is implied, based on “how it has always been done”, sometimes for over 100 years. One of the surprising things Kang shared with us was that documenting comes later in the process. By-laws, documents, policies etc. should reflect the decisions being made about your governance system, not vice versa. Much in the same way the contract between my friend and her donor came after they had done all of their homework and discussed all the foreseeable possibilities. At that point, making a contract was easy because they were coming from a place of understanding each other’s goals, desires, and values.
And just so you don’t think that I’m the only one who sees these parallels, Kang herself reflected that:
“I liken [challenging governance models] a lot to family dynamics. We often think about the birth parents of a child; that they are responsible for the whole development of this child. Whereas, in fact, there are all these environmental, societal factors - also chosen family, friends, educators etc. So imagine if we only focus on a child’s parents, and then we’re like, yep, that’s it. The idea of co-parenting, for a lot of people, and the idea of challenging the dominant norm of what those relationships look like, is hard to imagine.”
Yes, hard to imagine, but the work that Kang, the ONN, and their invested partners are doing (not to mention my badass friend) is making it easier for nonprofits to imagine other models and develop ones that work for them. ‘One size fits all’ worked when there was only one nonprofit in Ontario. 'One size fits one’ will be far more responsive and effective with 58,000 in this province alone.
Governance Reimaginings asks how we can deconstruct inherited governance structures to create systems of accountability and community care that support, and are aligned with, the values of the organizations and individuals they serve. Structured as a knowledge exchange between Generator, Shakespeare in the Ruff, and the Toronto Dance Community Love-in, Governance Reimaginings took place between April-December 2021 and featured a series of instigations by invited guest speakers. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Chalmers Family Fund, administered by the Ontario Arts Council, for this project.
Kaitlyn Riordan is a settler of Irish and French descent. She lives in Tkaronto and is a four-time Dora nominated actress and a playwright. She was part of the leadership team at Shakespeare in the Ruff from 2012-2021, including Artistic Director from 2017-2021, where her 'feminized’ Shakespearean play; Portia’s Julius Caesar, premiered in 2018. It was later produced at Hart House Theatre and is being produced at the University of Waterloo this spring. 1939, which she co-wrote with Jani Lauzon, premiered at The Stratford Festival in 2022. Plays in development include Gertrude's Hamlet, I Sit Content – a story of Emily Carr, and The Naked Nun. As an actor, she has worked across the country with Punctuate! Theatre, The Stratford Festival, Tarragon, The Grand, The Segal Centre and many in between. She has performed Linda Griffith’s one-person show; Maggie & Pierre multiple times and done Shakespeare on a national tour of England, in Colorado for two summers, and repeatedly in Withrow Park between two majestic willow trees.