Creating the Future's Integrity Body (Board) Meeting:
Monday, January 13, 2025
10am-12pm Pacific time / 1pm-3pm Eastern time / 6pm-8pm UK time
Topic:
Stepping into 2025: What's Next?
Details about how to participate are below.
Watch the meeting at the bottom of the page. ⬇️
Reviewing 2024 and Stepping into 2025
2024 was a super-productive year at Creating the Future. Here in the final few years of our mission, 2024 gave us a good boost towards creating the resource library that will live beyond the organization that has been Creating the Future.
Heading into 2025, we have a very full plate ahead of us. And so at this month's Integrity Team meeting, we will review 2024, and step firmly and boldly into 2025. You can find a review of our accomplishments of 2024 at this link.
There will be one more item on the agenda, which has everything to do with how ALL of us are stepping into 2025. That is about doing what it takes to first resist and then move beyond tyranny and a culture of domination. You may have heard folks using the expression "Do not obey in advance." Those words were coined by historian Timothy Snyder in his book "On Tyranny." Here is how he defines the term:
Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.
At our meeting, we will be considering that advice through the lens of Catalytic Thinking. If we are not going to obey in advance, what ARE we going to do? What will GOOD look like in our actions, if we are not obeying in advance? Given the tenuous nature of the nonprofit sector, especially in the US these days, this feels like a hugely important conversation for us to have.
As always, the conversation will be a whole lot richer if you are at the table with us. Read on to see how you can join in!
How to Prepare
First, let us know if you plan to attend by sending a note at this link.
Second, please look through the links throughout this post, to familiarize yourself with the topic at hand.
Third, if you are not familiar with Catalytic Thinking or the Integrity functions of our board, the following will be helpful:
The Catalytic Thinking Framework is described at this link, with links to videos and other documents that can help you understand the framework. You can also check out the questions that guide Catalytic Thinking at this link. We recommend having those questions available during the meeting, to spark your thinking during the discussion.
To get a sense of the context of our Integrity Board, this post introduces our thinking about that.
3 Ways to participate
If you have never been part of Creating the Future's work, all our strategy and board meetings are open and participatory, for anyone who wants to be part of the discussion. You can see more about that at this link.
Where we meet:
The board meeting will take place online via Zoom. You can watch it right here at this post. If the video does not appear precisely on time, please be patient – we are probably just running a few minutes late.
There are 3 ways you can participate in our meetings.
- If you are already familiar with and committed to Creating the Future’s work, and you would like to be actively involved in the meeting discussion side-by-side at our online “meeting table,” let us know, and we will send you an invitation to join us online. Read more here about what it means to participate in that way. (Please note that these seats are limited, to ensure everyone's voice can be heard. If you are not able to be in the room with us, no worries - there are still two other ways to share your insights with us!)
- If you want to participate but are unable to be in the meeting itself (perhaps you’re at work, or maybe at home with kids running around, etc.), watch the live-stream in real time and comment on the YouTube page next to the live stream. We read those comments aloud during the meeting, just as if you were there. This is a great first step for those who are not as familiar with our work, but want to get more involved.
(Please note: We will only see your comments if you write them on the Youtube page with the live stream. In addition, during the meeting, we will not look at blog comments here at this post. While we will check those comments later, during the meeting we will only be following the comments at Youtube.)
- Lastly, if you want to simply watch, or you want to think about what you’re hearing and respond later – or if you will be watching the recording after the meeting happens – please add your thoughts into the comments here at this post. We will include that thinking into the mix of things.
We look forward to your being part of the discussion!
* All Creating the Future's board meetings are open for anyone to participate, or to watch afterwards. To learn more about the thinking behind this openness - and our experiences with being open - click here.
Logistics: The meeting will happen right here at this post. Details are below.
Watch the meeting HERE after Monday
Note: if the meeting does not start on time please be patient as we may be running a few minutes late.
Note: This link includes the live comment stream during the meeting. Unfortunately, it is missing the first 15min - there were no comments during that portion of the meeting.
LISTEN TO THE MEETING HERE AFTER THE MEETING
or Download the MP3
(To download to your hard drive, right-click {or click and hold on a Mac} on the link above and select "Save Target As".. or "Save Link as"... depending on your browser)