March 28 2008- Organizational Study Update
From AFSWiki
Dear AFS-USA Volunteers and Staff,
On January 25, 2008, we posted on AFS Online and in the AFS USA Inbox an update providing an overview of the Organizational Study and the POC (Planning and Oversight Committee) meeting held in mid-January 2008. At that January meeting the POC made several decisions regarding the organizational structure of AFS-USA. As you may recall the POC is a group of volunteers and staff that were charged with reviewing all the data and research gathered as part of the Organizational Study and to make final decisions related to the organizational structure.
Since that communication, each of the Regional Councils have had the opportunity to meet either face to face or via conference call to discuss the outcomes of the POC meeting, provide input, feedback and raise questions regarding the decisions made by the POC.
There were a number of questions and comments from these Regional Council meetings, and also from individual volunteers. A summary report was created outlining the feedback received which was presented to the National Council at their face to face meeting in Baltimore, MD at the end of February 2008. There are two reports attached. The first report summarizes the feedback from the NW, SW, UMW, SC and GL Regional Councils and individual feedback and the second report summaries feedback from the NE and SE Regional Councils. The reason for the two reports is that the NE and SE Regional Councils met just prior to the National Council meeting.
Eastern Recommendations to POC re: new vol structure
Summary Report feedback to the POC- all other regions
The purpose of this communication is to respond to some of the feedback received and also to provide a follow up as to where we are with the implementation of the decisions made by the POC.
As you see from the attached report there were a number of questions and concerns about decisions regarding the volunteer structure. One important point that needs to be kept in mind is the POC was mandated to make decisions with the understanding that these would be made on a broad level, and that the details of the volunteer structure would need to be worked out through the National Council and its committees in alignment with the POC decisions.
The committee that has been charged by the National Council to work on the volunteer structure is the Volunteer Organization and Development Committee. This committee is made up of the following volunteers and staff:
- Sharon Held – Committee Chair and Volunteer, Great Lakes
- Judy Weyand – National Council Chair and Volunteer, Northeast
- Mary Ann Offer – Volunteer, Great Lakes
- Sarah Yancey – Volunteer, Upper Midwest
- Lynn Whetstone – Volunteer, Southwest
- Kerry McCollum – Vice President,Organizational Development
- Avinash Jhawar – Asst Director IT
- Sue Cook – Manager Field Finance
- Kristen Bates – Regional Director
- Jorge Castro – Chief Intl Relations & Strategic Affairs Officer
- Theresa Collignon – Vice President, Partnership Projects
- Joanne Yokoyama-Martin – Director, Volunteer Development
The most frequently asked questions that we have received in response to the POC decisions include;
- How will co-support payments be managed?
- How will orientations be managed?
- What will the role of the individual volunteer be?
- Will we allow individual volunteers to host participants?
- How will the different volunteer structures relate to each other? (Chapter to area team, area team to chapter, chapter to individual volunteer, etc.)
- Will we allow chapters currently linked to area teams to break away and become independent? Who will make this decision?
- How will the new structure address our needs for volunteer development, compliance and growth?
- What will happen without Regional Councils?
- How will program commitments be set?
- How will the General Assembly model work in the U.S?
- What changes will happen to the National Council?
All of these questions will be addressed by the Volunteer Organization and Development Committee. In addition the intention is not for this committee to work in a vacuum, but rather this committee will be engaging volunteers and staff for input and feedback to their work in progress. For example, as this committee works on the details of what is a chapter in AFS-USA, they will solicit input and feedback from a sample group of active healthy chapters in AFS-USA. Recently a survey went out to 25 “healthy” Area Teams based on criteria developed by the Regions to solicit their input as to what they think makes them successful and healthy as a volunteer group. This information and feedback will be used as we look at re-defining the Area Team structure.
This leads to another important point to clarify around the current Area Team structure. It is clear that we did not effectively communicate our intention regarding the Area Team structure. There was concern that somehow the decision from the POC was to eliminate the Area Team structure. This is not the case. In fact the intention is to ensure that we maintain and continue to support “healthy” Area Teams in AFS-USA. This is why before beginning to discuss what the criteria of an Area Team should be going forward, we surveyed the Area Team Chairs of the 25 “healthy” Area Teams mentioned above. Their responses give us a better understanding of what is working for these teams, and what changes we need to be considering as we re-define the Area Team structure.
The Volunteer Organization and Development Committee has started meeting and have a meeting calendar established. This committee has already started work on defining the “individual or independent volunteer” and the chapter structure. The timeline for this committee is as follows:
- March – July 2008
Scheduled conference calls every other week
- May 30 – June 1, 2008 – In Person National Council Meeting
Volunteer Structure and Organization Committee will also meet and present their recommendations for “independent volunteers”, chapter and Area Team criteria Begin discussions on the volunteer governance structure (General Assembly, National Council) in AFS-USA
- July 2008
Finalize recommendations on volunteer governance. National Council to review and make final decisions related to volunteer structure and governance
Again keep in mind that throughout this timeline, the Volunteer Organization and Development Committee will solicit and gather input and feedback from volunteers and staff. In addition they will provide regular updates which will be posted on AFS Online, AFS Wiki and the AFS USA Inbox.
The members of the POC greatly appreciate the time and effort each Regional Council put in to reviewing the decisions made by that group and the questions raised. These questions will serve as an excellent guide for the Volunteer Organization and Development Committee to use in working out their detailed recommendations for the volunteer structure going forward. The Volunteer Organization and Development Committee would like all volunteers to know that they welcome your continued input and questions throughout this process.
Submitted by Joanne Yokoyama-Martin on behalf of the Members of the POC and Volunteer Organization and Development Committee
