First Board Meeting

First Board Meeting !

Wow, or, WOW ! Described it to a friend, “Long, intense and frustrating.” It was also rewarding, challenging and, well, actually fun (at times).

The board meeting is really almost a week of working group and committee meetings leading up to the day and a half of actual board meeting. The most impressive part was working closely with an outstanding group of truly dedicated UUs – everyone doing everything possible to make our association stronger and further the movement. They (oops, we) must be pretty dedicated – six days of twelve to-fourteen hour days of meetings.

One of the things we decided to do is share our perspectives on what the board did or plans to do. So, some of what you read below is my re-working of other trustee’s points. In some cases, I just used their sentences – and added my twist. However, all of this is unofficial. The official voice of the board will come out in the approved minutes. Everything you read here is strictly Lew Phinney’s take on things (with a little help of some of my fellow trustees).

After several years of study and preparation, this was the first board meeting actually convened under Policy Governance® procedures. In spite of the years of preparation and study, we all found that we had a lot to learn, many specific procedures to be worked out and many remaining discussions about how this will really work. The most important part of the Policy Governance approach is that the board sets limits on itself and its relationship with the UUA staff. While there is much yet to be done, the objective is to create a fully functioning effective board with a carefully defined, working relationship with the UUA staff. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about all of that as we progress.

So, some specifics:

Finances. The UUA has been very conservative in considering budget projections during these difficult economic times. Fortunately, contributions have continued, pretty much, as expected – yes a little down from previous years, but really quite good. Unfortunately, the endowment funds have taken substantial dip. However, the fiscal folks have presented a strong balanced budget for the current and next fiscal year.

Anti-Racism / Anti-Oppression / Multi-Culturalism (AR/AO/MC) permeates every board conversation on everything from the budget to what’s for dinner – well, almost. One of the ways that we further our Association goals within AR/AO/MC is through cooperation with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). We received a presentation by two UUSC staff members about the work that the UUSC and the UUA have been working side-by-side on recent disaster response efforts. The work, and the extremely positive legacy, in affected areas is impressive. The thrust of the discussion around the presentation concerned how the UUA board and partner more effectively with the UUSC board. I have the PowerPoint version of their presentation. Let me know if you would like to have the full presentation.

Linkages: Part of the Policy Governance construct asks us to identify the needed linkages or connections that a PG board must have with, what the board has identified as, Sources of Authority and Accountability. Some time ago, the board identified these sources:

1. Our member congregations
2. Current and future generations of Unitarian Universalists
3. The heritage, traditions, and ideals of Unitarian Universalism
4. The vision of Beloved Community
5. The Spirit of life, love, and the holy

Note that the first item is “Our member congregations” -- That’s you, the congregations and districts that make up the UUA. So, basic question, How do we do that? We are trying to tackle the issues around connecting and listening to congregations and districts -- to whom we are accountable. Yup, being a bit more difficult, “The Spirit of life, love, and the holy” will come later.

To govern accountably, the Board must maintain meaningful connections, or what we call “linkage,” with these Sources, including constructive dialogues concerning the Sources’ values and the UUA’s Ends (goals). In other words, the focus of connection is not “telling” or “reporting” but rather listening to the Sources’ perspectives regarding their needs and what benefits the UUA can or should provide. When we have heard those inputs, we must be accountable – to respond by letting you know what action was taken, what happened, what were the successes (or not, and why). Watch for much more on this topic as we get this Linkage process going.

UUA Trustees in Districts. Mary Ellen Morgan, President of the District Presidents Association (DPA) met with the board. We were struck by the wide variety of relationships among UUA trustees and the boards in the districts that elected them. There is little consistency across districts – then again, maybe there doesn’t need to be consistency. I’m confident that these relationships will evolve as best suits individual trustees and district organizations. “If it ain’t broke ….”

The DPA has invited representatives of the UUA to board to return to meet with them during their regular meeting in early November. The meeting will focus on the roles and relationships among the UUA board, individual trustees, and the district boards and how the Policy Governance model will affect those relationships.

UUA Board of Trustees will hold its January meeting in San Antonio, TX. This is a important step. This is the first time in recent memory (probably in anybody’s memory) that the UUA Board, with the exception of GA meetings, has met outside Boston. Is there a westward movement afoot within the UUA? Well, our new president is from Colorado and our moderator is from Michigan. Leadership on the UUA Board is from all over the country. There just might be something significant going on here.

What is definitely happening is that the UUA Board is working to implement the “Linkage” goals that they set for themselves. Basically, get out there and connect with congregations in ways that we haven’t done in the past. In an earlier paragraph there is more on Linkages.

Youth Ministries. Following discussion among trustees based on inputs we received during the past two General Assemblies and at district gatherings, we voiced concern about the status of UUA Youth and Young Adult organizations and goals. In 2007 a decision was made to dismantle the national youth organization known as YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists). Unfortunately, despite many good intentions and a number of planning meetings, there is no national structure to take its place. It was apparent that some members of the Youth and Young Adult groups feel that they have been abandoned by the UUA; that there is no support in place for their unique issues and concerns.

Several members of the board volunteered to form an ad hoc task force to focus the board’s concerns. I’m pleased to be part of that task force. The board’s direction to the task force was to work within the Policy Governance constraints to devise an appropriate way to work with the staff to answer the myriad questions and work toward resolution of the issues involved. The results of the lunch-time meeting was a carefully crafted list of questions for the staff. The list of questions was winnowed down from a full page of questions to arrive at the following board motion:

VOTED: The UUA Board requests the Staff to provide the following information and reports to the UUA Board by December 1, 2009.

Chronology about what happened from 2004 on.
Where are we now on District and National Youth Leadership?
Administration’s vision.
What are the models of youth leadership in other denominations?

The task force will receive the staff report and initiate the board discussion for our meetings in January 2010.

District trustees agreed to contact youth leadership in their districts to try to determine our shared values around youth leadership and how should these be reflected in UUA policy?

Other stuff. The board does a lot of work electronically between meetings. Therefore, I’ll be posing to this space as significant things happen. For example, we will receive the auditor’s report on Monday. I don’t expect anything earthshaking from that report, but, if there is, I’ll certainly let you know.

So, stay tuned.

Lew