The Future of DAF – survey results and next steps

Greetings, dear DAF Community. First off, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your rich responses to our governance survey! The level of support and constructive ideas you offered infused our most recent meetings with energy (and some sweet relief). Below are the survey results.

43 people responded to the two proposals as follows:

• General Circle
  • 44% were fully supportive and 33% were mostly supportive of the General Circle proposal
  • 13% were partially supportive and 2% were not supportive
  • 18 people provided emails to back up their offers to serve on functional circles
• Weavers (formerly Wisdom) Circle
  • 42% were fully supportive and 40% were mostly supportive of the Weavers Circle proposal
  • 8% were partially supportive and 4% were not supportive

We followed up on the suggestion to rename the Wisdom Circle, now called the Weavers Circle. The request to define functional circles’ roles more clearly will be best met as these circles form and work together. In answer to the suggestion to simplify the structure as a whole, we quote one survey response, “Life will simplify it.” More difficult to fulfill is ensuring inclusion of BIPOC and other groups. Experimenting with the Empty Chair, all members of the General Circle and Functional Groups strive to represent and speak for those humans and other-than-humans beyond their Circles. And we recognize this is not enough.

We are hoping that the six functional circles: (Artisans/Tech, Communications, Facilitators, Finance/Legal, Moderators, Weavers) will now build their membership and choose two representatives for the General Circle, if only on an interim basis. If you are interested in volunteering your time and energy to one of the Circles, please contact the following people (if you haven’t already done so) via the Community Space:

Artisans/Tech: Dorian Cavé

Communications/Editorial: Ramey Rieger

Facilitators: Terry LePage

Finance/Legal: Lisa Gordon

Moderators: Jane Dwinell

Weavers: Matthew Painton

We hope the first General Circle meeting will be in September, establishing a volunteer-led, shared-leadership network.

Thank you again to all dedicated donors and energetic supporters! Your encouragement nourishes our whole collaboration.

~Lisa Gordon & Ramey Rieger, on behalf of the temporary 2023 governance team: Jessica Canham, Dorian Cavé, Sasha Daucus, Jane Dwinell, Aimee Fenech, Wendy Freeman, Emma Mary Gathergood, Lisa Gordon, Matthew Painton, Ramey Rieger

Once more, here are the links to the two proposals (being updated as we keep meeting through August):

• General Circle 3
• Weavers Circle 5 (look for invitations to join this circle soon, in this space)

Please do post your questions and comments in the community space.