Sharing decision making with our stakeholders and beneficiaries is an essential part of designing and acting with equity and justice. One of the ways in which these practices show up is in governance structures–sometimes called “peer governance”. These include member- and employee-governed nonprofits, cooperatives, collectives, and others.

Social Impact Commons, as a Supporting Organization, is legally a member or peer-governed model. Given the representation, voice, and power sharing dynamics of peer governance, the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS) is moving toward a more participatory, member-governed structure. While peer governance is being held up as a model in many parts of the nonprofit sector, there remain challenges and questions. How do you transition to a more peer governed model from the more “traditional” nonprofit board? How do balance the ideal of power sharing with the real time and effort it takes for participants to engage in intentional decision making?

We will discuss the basic underlying concepts that are found in all of these models, as well as how both sponsors and projects can engage with peer governance in the interest of further empowerment and equity with respect to the communities we serve.

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