Want to join a fun and engaged group of volunteers with an organization whose mission leverages the power of play to bring out the best in every kid? Contact us. Interested in learning more? Contact Asia Wisecarver Executive Director asia.wisecarver@playworks.org
# Project Details **Mission: To improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.** More details about our work at www.playworks.org-pacificnorthwest **Details about the role:** PACNW BOARD ROLE DESCRIPTION Playworks’ Regional Boards are critical for our organization’s capacity to achieve strategic priorities and maintain organizational health. Board members are key partners who offer strategic guidance, provide oversight of and accountability to our goals, and create new relationships in the community. In recognition of this volunteer contribution, Playworks is committed to delivering a board experience that is meaningful in its social impact and professionally valuable, all the while being fun and inclusive, in keeping with our core values. **Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:** Collaborate with Playworks leadership to develop the vision and strategy of the region: Ensure the region has a bold, inspiring vision and plan to serve our community through partnerships with elementary schools and youth organizations, including annual discussion of service delivery mix and growth of impact. Support the focus on sustainability: Monitor financials on a regular basis and ensure that the region has or will soon achieve financial sustainability, relying on regional revenue sources. Contribute to Playworks’ resource development: Provide annual financial contributions, and introductions to new potential supporters, while engaging their employers and networks. Build strong local champions and mobilize resources: Help build relationships with a diverse coalition of champions and ensure the region has the funding, influence, and partnerships required to realize its vision and plan. Ensure strong regional leadership: Make certain the region has the leadership it needs today and in the future to achieve its outcomes, including serving a meaningful role in the hiring process of a new Executive Director and supporting the professional development of the leadership team when necessary. . Uphold Playworks’ core values and commitment to mission: Hold Playworks’ vision, mission, core values as the foundation of the board’s work and support mutual responsibilities. Conduct themselves in a way publicly and privately that is in accordance with Playworks’ values. Hold the region accountable to results: Strengthen the region’s accountability to the community and ensure the region makes progress toward its vision and annual plan. Some Playworks regions have found it highly effective to establish two regional boards: the standard regional advisory board, as defined above, and a young professional board. The young professional’s board serves as an energizing force for expanding Playworks’ network and securing financial resources, as well as a pool of potential advisory board members over time. **Statement on regional board member role and expectations** At Playworks, we greatly value the role of board members as partners in shaping and implementing each region’s vision for how Playworks can best bring safe and healthy play to its community. We have learned that the best board/staff partnerships elevate the following: Clarity - Ensure each board member is clear about what is expected of them and what they can expect from Playworks. Accountability - Our board members are high performers and want to be accountable for their work. Likewise, they can expect staff to be accountable to their own commitments to regional board work. Impact - Board members are typically busy professionals giving their time to support Playworks. We believe it’s critical that board members see the impact of their work and the difference it makes in regional communities and schools. Fun - As we spread safe and healthy play throughout our region, we want to make sure our top leadership is having a fun and playful experience. This is a unique “value add” that Playworks can offer our board members. Time and attention - Good board work takes time and investment on the part of the Executive Director. To be done well, it must be a top and ongoing priority in terms of the Executive Director’s time and attention. Term limits: As we noted above, board members expect and deserve clear expectations, and we believe term limits help provide that. We strongly recommend that new board members commit to a three year term. This allows enough time to get to know Playworks, be active in their role, and eventually take on some sort of leadership role within the board if desired. Once the initial three year term is served, we recommend that board members serve one year terms, renewable each year after a discussion with the Board Chair and the Executive Director. The PACNW will consider the addition of a transitioning board member to an Emeritus board for board members who may want to stay involved with Playworks, but do not wish to remain active board members. Discussions with the Executive Director will need to take place prior to the transition to discuss details of participation as an Emeritus board member. Fundraising - giving and getting: We recognize that board members are invested in the success of Playworks in their region. Their leadership in securing the resources Playworks needs to be successful is critical, and other partners will be looking to them as examples. The regional board member is responsible for individually giving, finding new people to introduce to Playworks, and also introducing Playworks to their organization (when relevant). In order to best position the region for success, and to support our goal of clear expectations for board members, we strongly recommend the following: Each board member give at a personally meaningful level each year. Each region determines individual give/get expectations for their board and/or a board group give/get goal. Regardless of which option a region adopts, documentation and tracking help ensure clarity and allow for the celebration of successes. “Get” includes any donations, contracts, or grants actively solicited or stewarded by board members; in-kind gifts count if they can offset a budgeted expense, or are part of the regional development plan.
Playworks is the leading national nonprofit organization leveraging the power of play to bring out the best in every kid. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. We create a place for every kid on the playground to feel included, be active, and build valuable social and emotional skills. Playworks was founded in 1996 and launched operations in the Pacific Northwest in 2009. The PACNW programs impacted over 30,000 kids in 2021. Over the past 25 years, we have grown nationwide and have supported 2,174,400 kids through 3,259 school partnerships, out-of-school providers, and community organizations through on-site, professional development, and digital support services.
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