AEU Weekly Update: Thursday, Oct 5, 2023

Dear Members,  

Introducing the New Director of Administration & Organizational Culture

Welcome, Greg!

We are happy to announce that we hired Greg Bonin (all pronouns) as the American Ethical Union’s new Director of Administration and Organizational Culture. Greg will begin working full-time on October 14, 2023. Greg is a recently certified Ethical Culture Leader who specializes in institutional and organizational facilitation. Greg’s leadership is grounded in queer, anti-racist, anti-oppression, and multicultural principles. Greg has 12 years of experience working in nonprofits, including as an executive director, operations, and communications director. They are passionate about building healthier relationships, facilitating, and supporting the future focus of the movement:

“I believe the American Ethical Union is in an unprecedented position to catalyze the Ethical Culture movement. The newly elected Board officers have an amazing opportunity to effect institutional change that both invites flourishing and responds to

intersectional oppressions. It is an honor to be part of that work, and I look forward to working with everyone in our movement.”

Introducing Three New Teams

Since the Assembly did not choose a scenario, the Officers have been working very hard these past couple of months to organize a way forward for the AEU. This will be a year where we reflect and focus on the future. While this formation may be temporary, we still need a structure, a budget, and ways for members to be engaged. 

To get us started, the Officers have convened three new Teams: Ethical Education, Ethical Action, and Governance. On October 3rd, these three teams came together to meet each other at a cross-team meeting to get oriented. We held a Restorative Justice circle to process the new structure and then broke down into our teams to get to know each other better and name our Teams (because this period of reflection should also be fun!). 

The Q1 Activities (Oct-Jan 2024) for all Teams: 

1. Incorporate Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in everything we do

2. SWOT Analysis, then lean into Opportunities

3. Discovery and research outside of AEU to gain insight into innovations 

4. Articulate values and considerations for the future design of programs

5. Generate other ideas and plans

The Q1 Outcomes for all Teams (though there may be additional outcomes you generate):

1. Build trust among your Team members

2. Address disagreements and diversity of thought in ways that generate more trust

3. Articulate activities that embody JEDI

Check out the Oct 3, 2023 Cross Team Slide Presentation. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

Introducing: New Transformative Leadership Cohort (A pilot program to build leadership skills)

Paula Cole Jones and Jeanne Hamra are two transition experts helping the officers and others taking on a national leadership role. The purpose of the pilot is to offer opportunities for the leadership team to grow their own skills and build a cohesive team to support the AEU transition. 

The Pilot Cohort includes Trang Duong & John Dukovic (President’s Council Coordinators), Louise Jett (Restorative Justice Community of Practice Coordinator), Anthony Cruz Pantojas (Chair of the Finance Committee), Greg Bonin (Director of Administration and Organizational Culture), Khandra Sears (President), Jé Hooper (Vice President), Liz Singer (Treasurer), and Anya Overmann (Secretary). The team will take single-science assessments to better inform them about their leadership, communication strengths, and opportunities. They will meet monthly with their coach to learn tools and discuss challenges. If this is productive, we plan to include ten more leaders in the second Cohort during Q2 (Jan-Mar 2024). 

We hope to test and refine this Cohort program to offer it to more Board members, Leaders, and Lay Leaders in our organization.

Calling All Members Participating in Grant-Writing:  Did you apply for a grant in the spring?

As the AEU pivots, we want to share and celebrate your accomplishments, skills, and knowledge. There is so much knowledge in our movement! We would like to hear which grant(s) you applied for and where you are in the process. Please let us feature your successes in our weekly blog. We have so much to teach each other.

Please contact PresidentandVP@aeu.org. 

Featured Board Member of the Week 

We feature new board members each week so everyone can get to know them and connect with the leadership. Melissa Sinclair (she/her), the new Board Director representing the Northern Virginia Ethical Society (NoVES).

Melissa has a background in Educational Administration at the university level, where she worked in university housing and student activities. In recent years, she has worked for two Ethical Societies as the Ethical Education Director, creating a curriculum and teaching Sunday School classes. (She loved doing this!)

Melissa enjoys bike rides, taking walks, and creating hooked rugs (she specifies this is not the same as a latch hook).

She stepped into her role in the AEU as the NoVES Board President. Melissa is motivated to represent NoVES, but as she has learned over the last few months about the inner workings of the AEU, she is also motivated to help move the organization forward in many areas – especially helping have a better organizational structure, helping it be more inclusive and welcoming. With that work, Melissa hopes that the organization will grow.  

She brings eight years of experience leading two Societies’ Ethical Education programs where children and teen programs doubled. Melissa has participated in training for social justice work and is also a trained human sexuality instructor with the OWL (Our Whole Lives) Program for two age groups (teen and adult). 

Melissa attended a multi-Society gathering this summer and really enjoyed it. She firmly believes that part of the difficulty the AEU has felt is that we are too disconnected as individual Societies. Five years ago, Melissa hosted a winter solstice party for members of three local Societies at her home. They had about 40 people attend who were members of NoVES, the Baltimore Ethical Society, and the Washington Ethical Society. It was not the first time Melissa had tried something like this, and she says she would very much like to host such a gathering again!

In community, 

Khandra, Jé, Liz, and Anya

Reach us at PresidentandVP@aeu.org.