August 2021 Board Meeting Update

Hello Partners!In the spirit of transparency, our SVP Portland Board of Directors wants to share an update from our August meeting. Aside from the routine business of approving minutes and committee reports, the bulk of our time was spent discussing the evolution of SVP’s governance model.As many of you know, we have been exploring changes to our governance model since last February, convening a Board task team to rough out ideas, then seeking input from the full Board, and SVP Partners, and are in the process of gathering input from Community Partners. At the core, the changes orient around narrowing the scope and responsibilities of the Board to those essential elements required by Oregon State law, and creating dynamically configured teams to tackle elements like strategic planning and formation of our next Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), while maintaining existing standing Committees/Teams (e.g. Finance Committee, Portfolio Team). The goal behind these proposed changes is to shift power within philanthropy to those most impacted by our work by extending strategy and decision-making beyond a small group of Partners to include Community Partners and community members with relevant experience or expertise as part of our ongoing efforts to become an anti-racist organization.So far, the consensus is in support of the new approach, along with some thoughtful concerns about challenges we will likely face. Some discussed include impact on staff time, inter-team coordination and communications, clarification of who is responsible and accountable, and recruitment of participants for dynamic teams. As Director Charlie Gilkey said, “these issues are figureoutable,” which is now my favorite word!The next steps include piloting a dynamically configured team of Partners and staff to work through priority questions and concerns identified, as well as complete an analysis of input from our Community Partner interviews and surveys. The Board will then review all feedback and recommendations at our October meeting in order to determine next steps. We envision beginning to roll out our new governance model in 2022.Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have questions about this effort or anything else involving the board.Sincerely,Kerry McClenahanSVP Portland Board Chair