Board Job Description

Connecting people of all ages to wildness.

To foster a multi-generational community in Chittenden County that is dedicated to building relationships to human and more-than-human ecosystems. We use a relationship-centered approach to promote, foster, create and support direct, hands-on opportunities for people of all ages to reconnect to their wildness. To read a narrative description for the educational community we strive to create, read A Day In The Life.

To date, our board has primarily served in an ad hoc pedagogical advisory role. But our board has also struggled to find a collective voice, to carve out a clear role within our organization. With both exciting opportunities for our organization to develop new programs on the near horizon and an ambitious plan for future expansion, we are looking to evolve the board into a concrete and well-realized role that supports our organization by engaging and mobilizing community resources. As a new board member, you will play a vital role in driving this transformation by collaborating with other board members and staff leadership to shape board culture and develop the practices for how our board supports Crow’s Path’s mission.

The board’s work complements the staff’s skills and capacity around organizational operations and program design by bringing energy and focus to mobilizing our community’s resources (such as funds, partnerships, and land) necessary for advancing our ambitious vision for the future of Crow’s Path.

The board will work in close collaboration and partnership with Crow’s Path staff as outlined below:

• Facilitate connections: Proactively identify and make connections within their networks and the community that can strengthen CP’s programs and financial resources, including:
  • With potential community and program partners to enhance existing programs and create new opportunities to advance our mission
  • With potential funders and donors who can provide financial resources to support current and future programs
• Ambassador: Serve as ambassadors for CP in their day-to-day work and lives by promoting and storytelling about our mission, impact, and opportunities for engagement to the community and potential supporters
• Organizational goal-setting: Manage the annual goal-setting and evaluation process for the Executive Director
• Self-evaluation: Steward the effectiveness of the board through board self-evaluation, co-creation of shared leadership and collaboration practices with staff, orientation of new board members, and continued reflection and adjustment

The board will serve as thought partners to support the work of Crow’s Path staff by:

• Providing information, input, curiosity, and reflection to the process of budgeting, developing programs, forging and articulating organizational vision, setting annual goals, and crafting organizational policies implemented by staff
• Pressure testing financial risk and mission-alignment of new programs and initiatives developed by staff

Crow’s Path operating budget in FY23/24 was approximately $500,000, though this will steadily increase over the next two fiscal years as our preschool slowly expands its capacity. Through deliberate, thoughtful program design and budgeting alongside a measured and patient approach to growth, our established programs are self-sustaining in their current structure. Behind the stability, however, are hidden costs borne by our educational staff and financial costs that make our programs inaccessible to many families. The board’s focus on resource mobilization will be critical to supporting the following organizational priorities for advancing our mission and bringing our budget and practices into closer alignment with our values:

• Expand our financial aid fund to make programs more accessible
• Improve staff compensation
• Seed new program initiatives in their initial and experimental phases
• Secure new funding and physical resources to realize our 5-10 year vision of creating a full-time elementary school, including the purchase of land

Compensation: This is a volunteer position. Travel and childcare stipends may be available to support participation for board members

Terms: Board members serve three-year terms with no term limit

Time commitment: Board members are expected to spend roughly 3-4 hours each month on board-related tasks (which may include meetings, research, connecting with potential partners, funders, etc.)

Board meetings: The board meets every other month in-person or virtually for 2-hour meetings, with one longer meeting annually. Meetings generally fall every other month on the third Thursday of the month, from 5 – 7pm. (If you are interested in board involvement but this timing does not work, please express interest anyway.) More about the content and structure of board meetings can be found below.

Fundraising: A key role of our board is to help make and steward connections that raise funds for the organization and for specific projects

Approach: Board members must be passionate about our mission, and willing to invest energy learning about the organization and building (and continuing to evolve) a dynamic board culture and board/staff relationship that effectively supports the long term vision of the organization.

Agendas: Rather than a bullet list of updates from the ED, agendas are primarily framed as a series of questions posed by the board chair, ED, other board members, and staff. Questions focus on ways the board can provide helpful insight based on their areas of expertise to help make informed decisions for the organization. A portion of each board meeting is open to staff, and a portion is a closed Executive Session.

Topics: Each board meeting includes established topics set at the start of each year, as well as time for more emergent discussion items. For 2024/25, established topics are as follows: