Recently, the Coordinating Council (CC) of San Jose Peace & Justice Center agreed to a basic set of commitments. These commitments fulfill the basic level of involvement for those sitting in this leadership position with San Jose Peace & Justice Center.
As the center operates with minimal staff, it is necessary for leaders to take a larger volunteer role within the organization. The base level commitment for Coordinating Council members is 8 to 10 hours of volunteer time per month. These hours can include the regular monthly Coordinating Council meeting as well as other committee meetings pertaining specifically to San Jose Peace & Justice Center with the remainder of the volunteer time spent interacting directly with the center, ideally with one 3-hour shift during office hours.
Meetings are run through consensus and the Coordinating Council agreed to have open collaboration and communication both in and outside of meetings. Absences to all meetings are to be reported 24 to 48 hours in advance when possible. Also agreed upon was reading emails and replying when questions are posed so everyone’s input is included.
Another commitment is to be conscious of dominant power structures and strive to remove structural oppression from the discourse and interactions within the center. For more information on this, please see:
- Dismantling White Supremacy in Nonprofits: A Starting Point by Jarell Skinner-Roy
- Seeing and Naming Racism in Nonprofit and Public Organizations by Laurin Mayeno Consulting
As with other organizations, leadership members are responsible for the overall financial health of the organization. As such, each Coordinating Council member is to become a monthly sustaining donor at a level appropriate to their situation. Also each member is to ask for 1 to 3 sizable donations per year and/or assist in a fundraising event.
These commitments were agreed upon in the December 2019 coordinating Council meeting.