Reposting this news to celebrate Ten Thousand Villages’ Fair Trade Rug Event. Check out the rugs through Sunday at 567 South Lake Ave., Pasadena , CA 91101. Melanie really, really loves her fair trade rug from this program, so she recommends visiting the store to see the hand-crafted beauty!
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
The saying, attributed to Roman philosopher Seneca, could describe how Holly Hight and Edrina Calderon made their own luck due to excellent timing and training. Within months of completing Jericho Road Pasadena’s board training and placement program last year, the two Pasadena-based women joined the board of fair trade retailer Ten Thousand Villages.
Holly, event and development coordinator at Innovate Pasadena, had been recruited by the nonprofit’s board in early 2018, and wanted to gain insight into the workings of boards. Edrina, accounting manager of KCETLink, had an interest in learning about boards, but didn’t think she was quite ready to serve on one.
Holly, 37, who holds a Master of Public Administration, was looking to expand her professional network and further her career goal of becoming an executive director when she learned about the board training program.
“One of the big takeaways I got is when functioning as a board member you’re not a boss, you’re in a support role,” Holly says. “The training clarified how board members relate to staff. I know how to support the executive director (at Ten Thousand Villages) — I can be a sounding board and a cheerleader.” She also knows what to look for when joining a board, such as whether they have insurance, and is more knowledgeable about reviewing a budget.
Edrina, 37, was seeking to elevate her skills-based volunteering for local churches when she participated in the JRP program.
Edrina, who has a Master of Business Administration, assumed that serving on a board was years away. “If I’m coming at it in my 30s, I figured I didn’t have enough life experience to be advising people, but found that was not the case,” she said. JRP’s match-making process is personalized, taking Edrina’s skills and life experience into account. JRP staff then facilitated an initial meeting between Edrina and Ten Thousand Villages’s outgoing Board Treasurer to explore whether she was the right fit for their board.
Indeed, her work in finance and accounting at radio station KPCC proved valuable for her role as treasurer of The Ten Thousand Villages board. Knowing how to analyze financial statements, as well as expectations of what a board does, showed her that challenges she encountered weren’t unique to any one place. “How things work can be applied to many boards,” she said.
Both women are on the Ten Thousand Villages’s board nominating committee and aim to enlist more millennials and people of color.
Holly, who is an at-large board member, says recruiting younger board members is a matter of going to where the interested people are, such as the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Los Angeles. “These people are engaged, involved, and wanting to be on boards.”
Like Edrina, many people may not think they’re ready for board service. But if you care about your community, are able to dedicate time, talent and treasure and have leadership skills or leadership potential, you might be a great board member! Nonprofits need professional, committed people to serve on boards, regardless of age, socio-economic level or any other external factor. JRP orients potential board members, connects them to our quarterly Effective Board workshops, then has a placement process to find the right nonprofit. If this description fits you, give JRP a call to schedule an orientation to see if board service is right for you!
Learn more about JRP’s upcoming Effective Board Workshop training (https://jrpasadena.yapsody.com/event/index/350531/be-an-effective-board-member), which is open to people who want to join a board, people currently serving on a board or nonprofit staff who work with their board.
— Many thanks to JRP volunteer Jane Greenstein for writing this article! Jane is senior content strategist at Team One, a full service advertising agency in Playa Vista. She’s also a freelance writer with a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Texas (https://www.linkedin.com/in/janegreenstein/).