Report of the Treasurer
to the
Women’s Division
October 18, 2002
Last spring I gave each of you a World Thank Offering box, and I hope that they are filling up and you are planning to take it to your local unit’s celebration. If your unit does not have one planned, you can count the change and send a check made out to the Women’s Division to my attention and you will be credited for participating in Undesignated Giving. Participation in this offering is part of your responsibility as a board member to ensure the finances of the organization.
This is part of accountability. Accountability has become a prominent issue with the uncovering of accounting irregularities at Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, and other companies. The Women’s Division has been active in advocating for corporate accountability for over thirty years. We have filed shareholder resolutions with companies that we own on accountability issues such as inclusive boards, equitable compensation, and reasonable executive compensation with additional performance issues beyond achieving the bottom line. We have also asked for accountability on affirmative action, human rights of employees, and preservation of the environment. The Women’s Division has challenged corporate greed and encouraged responsible corporations.
The Women’s Division has also taken its accountability seriously. Indeed the questions should be raised "to whom are we responsible?" and "what are we responsible for?" We have many stakeholders--our members, our mission partners, affiliated women’s groups, etc. We should first be guided by our purpose to reveal our accountability. As the policy making body of United Methodist Women, we have to look at both our organization’s purpose as well as the specific purpose of the Women’s Division.
I would like us to start by reciting the purpose of United Methodist Women—
"The organized unit of United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose PURPOSE is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church."
The president of my unit and I came up with the same idea that we begin every meeting with a recitation of the purpose in order to keep in front of us, our mission and responsibility. My president claims that this is the suggestion in our Local Unit Handbook, so I hope your units also are doing this.
This purpose tells us that we are first to know God. That is what distinctly sets us apart from other women’s groups. Further, we are to be persons in Jesus Christ, not only to develop our own self, but also to spread the word of Christ. Indeed to carryout our commission from God. Eugene Peterson expresses Matthew 28:18-20 in this way:
" Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: ‘God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.’"
Additionally, we carryout this commission through participation in the global ministries of the church. As United Methodist Women, we participate not only by giving money, but also time and prayers.
The monies given by United Methodist Women for the participation in the global ministries of the church are administered by the Women’s Division. The Women’s Division purpose states that we "shall be actively engaged in fulfilling the mission of Christ and the Church and shall interpret the PURPOSE of UNITED METHODIST WOMEN."
Thus, you as directors of the Women’s Division are accountable to the membership and have a fiduciary responsibility for the stewardship and the implementation of the purpose. You are equally a director of a multinational corporation as were the directors of Enron, WorldCom, etc. Thus you are guided not only by our purpose, but also by legal requirements of directors.
I would like to remind you of these requirements, for as the Women’s Division is facing challenges, we must keep our PURPOSE and these requirements in front of us. These are summed up in a book The Obligations of Nonprofit Boards by Jacqueline Leifer and Michael Glomb.
"Board members are guided in the exercise of their organizational responsibilities by legal requirements that range from the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the organization to federal tax laws, state nonprofit corporation laws, health and safety codes, laws governing employment taxes and withholding, and many more. In addition, board members’ conduct is described in three established standards.
The Three duties suggest certain standards of conduct for board members:
Duty of Care—Act with care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in a like position and under similar circumstances.
Duty of Loyalty—Put the interest of the organization first.
Duty of Obedience—Act in accordance with the organization’s stated mission and applicable law.
These three principles, coupled with laws affecting nonprofit organizations, make clear that board members are, indeed, liable for the actions they take on behalf of the organization they serve.
Board members, of course, have available a simple and direct means of prevention: act lawfully and prudently at all times. Scrupulous trusteeship, while, no guarantee, is nevertheless the best defense against the risk of liability."
One of my favorite thinkers, Charles Handy, has written a new book The Elephant and the Flea in which he deals with organizational change. Handy calls established organizations elephants and fleas are creative individuals or groups. Handy argues that many of the premises on which the elephants were founded are no longer accepted by modern society and the question is do the elephants need some fleas. The Women’s Division is about to embark on a new planning process, we may be an elephant and we are being prodded by fleas. We must remember that fleas, it seems, prefer to live on top of elephants rather than in their bloodstreams, for if swallowed by elephants, they die.
As directors of the Women’s Division you not only have accountability to, but also accountability for. You are guided by the PURPOSE as well as legal requirements in your actions as corporate directors. John Carver, a consultant on board governance, has recently said that boards must take the group responsibility to govern seriously and be leaders rather than advisers or apologists.
Your actions as corporate directors in establishing policy both for the organization of United Methodist Women and for the Women’s Division impact many people. Through the National Mission Institutions alone, over two million persons are served in a year. An example of your responsibility as policy makers was the creation of the Sharing Partners Action Network. This past weekend was a gathering of the Sharing Partners Action Network member participants. More commonly known as SPAN, the network was developed in response to changing needs of our National Mission Institutions and how to address appropriations to them in a more equitable manner. Part of the gathering was a video conference session with some staff in New York and the participants at the Scarritt-Bennett Center. It was so exciting to hear how SPAN is working. You will be voting on some of the first grants from the Institutional Development Fund for capacity building at this meeting. These are not band-aid grants, but funds to enable the institutions to build new capacity. SPAN though is not just monetary grants, the new mentoring and peer counseling is equally important. This peer counseling has help to save an institution from closure. The benefit has not been just one way, but has produced new esteem and confidence in those sharing their skills.
SPAN truly is a model, not just for work with the National Mission Institutions, but for work with all our mission partners, for it is being in mutuality and not in charity. SPAN was formulated not only for responsible stewardship, but also to enable National Mission Institutions to meet the changing needs in society today.
As members of the Women’s Division which is the policy making body for United Methodist Women, truly you are a community of women whose PURPOSE is to know God and you are charged to carryout the great commission of Jesus Christ.
--Connie J. Takamine
October, 2002