GEN's Core Circle

Purpose:

To cultivate an overall vision of GEN International’s activities and finances, coordinate the implementation of its strategy and projects, and ensure they reflect our values and purpose.

Accountabilities:

• Working closely with the board of trustees to develop and determine organisational strategy.
• Developing annual budget proposals for the board of trustees.
• Allocating resources, outcomes, roles and accountabilities to implement the organisation’s strategy and purpose.
• Making decisions on policy or project proposals that impact the direction or budget of the whole organisation.
• Seeking board consent for changes in projects or allocations that sigificantly impact the annual budget and already consented to plans.
• Maintaining staff governance structures and team agreements.
• Ensuring that essential operational, financial, and legal tasks are covered.
• Tracking the organisation’s resource use and revenue and making adjustments to forecasts and scenarios as and when needed.
• Tracking and communicating the organisation’s progress with the board, stakeholders, and key network partners.
• Holding all active accountabilities not currently delegated to a role or another circle

Participation Agreements

As a Core Circle member of any kind, I agree to:

• Consider and respond to Core Circle related Slack messages within 2 working days unless I’m taking official time away.
• Keep myself informed on decisions which affect me via the Circle Minutes and the #circle_core_consult Slack channel.

As a Core Circle voting member, I agree to:

• Take personal responsibility for upholding the Circle Agreements and the spirit of the agreements,
• Represent those who have delegated their vote to me to the best of my ability,
• Attend all scheduled Circle meetings or delegate my vote if I will not be attending.

Spirit of These Agreements

We uphold these agreements because we believe they will help us cooperate, enjoy our time together, and make wise decisions with the big picture in mind – even when we’re tired, things get heated, or life’s just awkward.

These agreements are sketchy and conversational by design. We know that life is messy, we’re not perfect, and there are exceptions to every rule.

These agreements are intended as a support – not a substitute – for direct, compassionate communication and the willingness to be with and adapt to the endless complexity of actual relationships.

The spirit of these agreements is mutual respect, good faith in our shared desires for collective well-being, and the belief that we are smarter and more capable together than we are individually.

When there are gaps and inconsistencies in these agreements and protocols, we intend to fill them with this spirit rather than attempts to prepare for every possible scenario or to defend ourselves from communicating honestly with one another.

Ultimately, we affirm that taking good care of ourselves and one another as best we can should take precedence over any agreements and protocols.