As a registered New Zealand company, Enspiral Foundation Ltd has to have directors. Enspiral’s goal is to distribute vision, strategy, and leadership as widely as possible in the network, so our approach is a “minimum viable board” (MVB), with a narrow compliance focus. You can see the details in the Board Agreement.
Responsibilities
- Legal and financial compliance
- Management of major risk
- Steward of the Enspiral brand
Activities
- Oversee the Foundation’s financial accounts
- Make agreements between the Enspiral Foundation and other entities (MOUs, Service contracts)
- Occasionally make recommendations or raise issues to the members or the network as a whole
- Have some emergency powers to use in rare crisis situations if our other processes have broken down
Reporting
The MVB reports regularly to the network as a whole on Loomio, and participates quarterly venture reporting (since Enspiral Foundation Ltd is itself an Enspiral Venture).
Scope
The point of a ‘minimum’ board is that the scope is limited - the MVB specifically focuses on Enspiral Foundation Ltd (not the entire Enspiral network), and within that only governance.
Examples of things within scope:
- an MOU between the Enspiral Foundation and an external organisation
- an issue with one of the Foundation’s service contracts (such as Enspiral Ops)
- a serious concern about brand or reputation risk, or if you’re unsure when it’s OK to use Enspiral’s brand publicly
- a question about running a transaction through the Foundation’s bank account
I am a social entrepreneur who brings a unique set of skills and perspectives to every project I get involved with. My educational background is in Industrial Design (B.Des Victoria) and Adult Education (M.Ed, Massey). In 2009 I was involved in founding the ReGeneration youth leadership project in partnership with Enviroschools and the Tindall Foundation, where I met many Enspiral people. In 2012 I was employed by Auckland Council as their Principal Advisor on Social Entrepreneurship, a role that I was in for three years. I am involved with three Enspiral Ventures and serve in a governance capacity with a number of other companies and trusts.
I really like working with complexity, and for that reason I want the things that can be simple and clear to be as simple and clear as possible - like the MVB. The key thing to understand about the MVB concept is that, if it works, it will free the directors to focus on governance rather than operational issues. With the Catalysts in action, Venture Stewards doing their thing, and the Enspiral Handbook underway, the MVB can get on with fundamental compliance issues like processes for appointing new directors, financial reporting, and managing risk. It also means that, like directors of any other Enspiral venture, we can spend more time thinking about how Enspiral Foundation Ltd can be more awesome. This is a massive improvement on what we had before, so definitely watch this space!
I grew up in a sailing boat on the Kapiti Coast. After a Steiner and then Victoria University education, I managed Commonsense organics in Wellington (my first and only "proper" job), before taking off to Benin in West Africa. It took me three years to come home, as I ended up working for an international youth organisation in Switzerland.
I've now spent the last five years within the Enspiral network. I grew my entrepreneurship muscles growing Chalkle, and some event management muscles organising the Social Enterprise Conference and UX Design Day. Now I'm developing those further in supporting Chalkle into its next phase and building EXP, where I'm building OS//OS into a 10 year vision with an awesome team!
In terms of governance, I love thinking about form to enable freedom. I like keeping a tidy house, ensuring that the lights will stay on so awesome humans can do awesome work. For me, It's all about the humans first. So when it comes to my role I do think a lot about the systems and processes, but at the end of the day it's about people.
He aha te mea nui o te ao
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
What is the most important thing in the world?
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people
Lifelong programmer with a passion for the power of the internet to transform society and improve lives. Serial entrepreneur, business and product strategist, and relentless problem solver. Loves building useful tools that real people use. Supports others to learn and grow.
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