DEF has a board of directors, which serves a similar governance function to boards of other California nonprofit foundations.
A board is:
- a group who meet regularly to look at the performance and strategic progress of the company
- at least one independent director and other owner-operator directors (executive directors)
- a group who can separate themselves from the day-to-day operations and take a birds-eye view of the business
- a group who can debate the difficult issues and come out with a clear decision for the future of the company
- ultimately, a group who guides, and is committed to, the company.
At Democracy Earth Foundation directors are appointed by foundation members. According to our constitution, at least 40% of the directors must also be co-op members.
We mandate the board in the areas of long-term strategy, legal and regulatory compliance, risk management, and approving our overall budget.
The Democracy Earth board meets monthly, and regularly collaborates within the DEF Commmunications [Ecosystem],(http://Democracy.earth/comms.ecosystem.html) - including open source channels (Github, Slack) and the Democracy Earth Sovereign platform - between meetings.
Some responsibilities of our board:
- bringing business and other subject-area expertise to critiquing and providing accountability on the member-created strategy
- ensuring good governance by making sure we've got the right people & processes to deliver our strategy
- making sure the company complies with the law
The board balances opportunity and risk, working on behalf of member shareholders, investors, and all Democracy Earth stakeholders to guide and support the management of the company. Operationally, this is carried out through delegation to the coordinators.