Since my answer, Rashmi has responded to me positively tho still with questions. I will ask her to post a response here. My answers to Rashmi :
-----------begin answer----------
I think we are actually on the same page and there is only misunderstanding here. I will try to answer your questions in bold italics:.
On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 12:17 PM, Rashmi Singh <rashmi@vidyabooks.com>
wrote:
Dear Roger, Pablo, Gus, Herb, and Chris, and all other Bay Area Chapter leaders,
It is a good thing I saw this on the long weekend…!
I am unable to attend the Sep 6 conference, so I am voicing my concerns in this letter.
Please circulate this letter to all/ as necessary, Chante?
Let me start by saying, I commend you both for your planning ahead, and reserving the War Memorial Building, and checking with dignitaries etc. already. And I congratulate the SF chapter for having a planning committee with a head start on working on this!
However, Roger, and Pablo, as an Emeritus Professor who taught Written and Oral Analysis, this is how I analyze what Roger says in his letter (below).
To me, what your suggest has much deeper implications, that need to be aired out, and discussed by all chapters affected, and perhaps may even affect the future of the UNA (as I alluded to, months ago, when you first told me about this listserve, Roger and Herb); I know there was some restructuring/ amalgamation with the UN Foundation and A Better World Campaign going on, different from the way things used to be… and I am a newcomer, so pardon my many questions to all of you.
For starters, to me, these two things are confused and intermingled, the 70th celebration, and the new ‘COO’. I say this because:
1. The 70th anniversary celebration is - hopefully - for all: All of peoples the UN/ the world (not just the big names), for all UNA Bay Area chapters, and all of the UNA-USA chapters nationwide.
That it happens to be in SF, where the Charter was signed, and which is a portion of UNA-USA, and happens to be your SF chapter - Pablo and Roger - is a historic given.
Your chapter automatically gets a greater share of glory/ PR, and also of the work. That you organize this very prominent and large celebration with other groups that support the UN’s mission, is also a given. That you have wisely chosen to enlist others in this larger share of work is great, but this does NOT have to necessitate a restructuring of the Northern California Division. There is no intention of restructuring UNA-NorCal.
Nor does this also mean we all (as chapters) need to sign on any dotted line - right now. There is also no intention of requiring chapters to sign up.
To mix-up/ confuse these two separate matters is false logic, and to force people to choose - right now - between joining the COO you/ your chapter proposes, or get left by the wayside (pardon my plain speaking!), is another matter. I tried to be clear that there is no requirement to join the COO and that we can do very well as a coalition of separate groups that come together to cooperate on this particular event. Here is what I wrote (in the 6th paragraph): "Clearly this will be more likely to succeed if it is going to be a coalition effort. That is, we cannot expect all players to join the UNA SF Bay COO, though they are welcome and invited to do that. Rather, we all need to come together, plan together and work together under Mary’s orchestration regardless of the organizational boundaries."
Yes, I grant you that 'start ups' are a big part of SF, but think for a moment, are all ‘startups' good? Or risky... equally prone to failure as to success? I would say perhaps 1 out of 100 will succeed… the rest will bite the dust, as happened with the dotcom bust. I say this, having personally seen how many bright young employee/ ‘owners' are treated - as disposable, economic slaves for investors/ shareholders economic gains - which is not good (even the winners in this new SF gold rush say this!); I would hate to be (mis) treated as one of these young people!
Two - are startups nonprofits? By their very nature, I don’t think so.
Such structural change, as you propose, require a great deal of open discussion by individual chapter group's membership, and therefore, cannot be rushed.
I can not decide this matter by myself for all the members I represent. (If I - obviously - missed some of this discussion before I became president in Jan 2014, I do not know, please enlighten me.) We will have a table at our Sep 6th lunch to discuss these matters in detail - we can talk then if my answers here are not sufficient.
Questions that need clarification from all of you, Gus and Herb included, and need to be discussed and fully aired at the Sep 6 meeting:
2. I am sure you have cleared this with attorneys, but my naive question (one that I know I will need to respond to from my members), before responding to you:
in a nonprofit (the UNA-USA, which is itself a part of another nonprofit, as I understand it, of A Better World Campaign?), can another nonprofit - your COO - exist within this structure…? Too much nesting… for the IRS? I am not an attorney, but Chris must have access to some, so Chris also, please clarify this for us all? My understanding from national is yes, it is OK for the COO to be a project of UNA-SF and therefore to be included in the UNA-USA 501(c)(3) umbrella. If this information is incorrect, I hope Chris will set us straight.
3. Naive question again, as a newcomer: I am unclear on how exactly the UNA Norcal Chapter is different from the Bay Area Chapters…?
The nine bay area counties, plus the one virtual chapter in the Bay Area, yes, I can see them as a coherent whole; are you proposing leaving out (some) others…?
If so, please spell out for all exactly who does this leave out? And please explain why this should happen? The UNA SF Bay COO does not want to be exclusive, so UNA NorCal chapters that are not located in the Bay Area are welcome to affiliate with the COO on the understanding that meetings will be held in the Bay Area only. This policy does need to be looked at by the COO Core Collaborators, but I think I will find agreement about affiliation, which means having a voice, but not a vote. We will also consider the matter of non Bay Area organizations joining the Bay Area COO. Please realize that the COO is not just UNA Chapters - it is also composed of Bay Area NGOs which support the goals of the UN.
Again, also asking Chris for clarifications.
4. In the Sonoma County Chapter, we are also collaborating with many other groups, planning joint events, among them groups you mention.
a) Does this mean we are automatically becoming, as you term it, a COO - - -? I believe you need to set up as your own COO in a formal way - it is not automatic.
b) Or becoming a part of your COO? Again not automatically. You need to apply to the UNA SF Bay COO in order to join. You are welcome to do that. We would love to have Sonoma Chapter as a UNA SF Bay Area COO member - but only if you want to do that. We are also happy if you join us in a coalition effort for UN 70th without any formal affiliation via COO.
Please clarify.
c) Are we then - automatically - enlisted in some kind of a competition with you, or by default, have to join your COO? No.
Such lack of options is troubling…
Lastly - I like the idea of collaboration. We are doing this too.
But what you propose, seems to be different. Hierarchies, like colonial empires, are on their way out - the FDR vision as opposed to the Churchill vision for the UN change that was put in place over 50 years ago, proved this… and new technologies like the internet have lead to a greater democratization… so why should anyone want to go backwards to hierarchical structures…? The UNA SF Bay COO is not hierarchical. If you join, you have one vote, same as the other member organizations, and our desire is to reach decisions by consensus, using voting only as a last resort after two or three attempts at compromise or finding a different path altogether.
Perhaps one way can be to have the UNA (central) / Chris provide this kind of change… as I asked you for months ago, Chris?
You own the UNA-USA domain(s), profit from the clicks and views, (to benefit the central UNA), and we all get to use it for our chapters?
Yet once again, Chris also, please clarify,
Many thanks,
Rashmi Singh
President, UNA-USA Sonoma Chapter
Professor Emerita, Sonoma State University,
CEO, Vidya Books
