Commonweal

“ON March 19, 2024, COMMONWEAL'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS AMENDED AND RESTATED THEIR BY-LAWS TO SET NEW BOARD TERM LIMITS TO three three-YEAR CONSECUTIVE TERMS, AFTER WHICH THE BOARD CAN VOTE for an additional three-year term.”

“Reviewed by staff and the finance committee and a copy given to the board.”

“The conflict of interest policy is included in the staff handbook and the bylaws. The staff handbook is given upon hire and when revised. An acknowledgement is signed by staff and kept in the employee file. The bylaws are given to board members upon joining the board and when revised. Each board member is required to sign a statement annually disclosing any possible conflicts of interest. Board members involved in a possible conflict of interest are excluded from voting on issues related to such interests.”

“Commonweal does a comparison to other nonprofits in northern california, then factors in experience and responsibility. This information is used to approve the compensation for all board directors, officers, and the president, ceo, executive director, coo, and finance director.”

“Commonweal makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available to members of the public upon request.”

“No committee meetings that had the authority to act on behalf of the governing body were held during the fiscal year. If any committees that had the authority to act on behalf of the governing body had met during the fiscal year, the meetings would be contemporaneously documented.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Collaborative on Health and the Environment: Founded in 2002, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) cultivates a learning community based on the latest, evidence-based science to share knowledge and resources, to improve individual and collective health. CHE is focused on how environmental risks can impact human health. By informing and connecting affected and interested groups, CHE hopes to build a groundswell of demand for prevention-focused behaviors and policies, as well as economic and legal structures that protect public health. CHEs primary activities include: sharing emerging scientific research on environmental determinants of health; fostering interdisciplinary and inclusive collaboration among diverse constituencies to translate and communicate the best available environmental health science; and facilitating efforts to reduce disease and disability and improve health across the lifespan. Kristin Schafer serves as the director of CHE. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Center for Creative Community: Founded in 2014, the Center for Creative Community (C3) is an umbrella for a number of Commonweal projects that explore the intersection of dialogue, cognition, creativity, and community. Through work in different communities, C3 seeks to deepen our exploration of complex issues in our world. C3 programs include the Power of Hope Youth Camp, the Creative Facilitation Training Series, Commonweals Fall Gathering, Taproot, and Visual Thinking Strategies program. These programs are bringing new energy and diversity to Commonweal, strengthening the foundation for the next forty years of work. Oren Slozberg directs C3. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: HEALING CIRCLES:Founded in 2014, Healing Circles is an international learning community for people who want to do deep intentional healing work with cancer and other diseases or experiences of loss. Designed to extend the core work of the Cancer Help Program, it seeks to bring the deep experiences of healing to people who want to create a healing circle in their living room, church or any other setting. Healing Circles was founded in partnership with three other centersin Vancouver, B.C., Washington State, and Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C.that have done residential retreats based on the Cancer Help Program model for at least 20 years. We now have new centers in Langley on Whidbey Island, Washington, and in Houston, Texas. Our three Bay Area CCHP alumni groups are our laboratories for Healing Circles work in the Bay Area. Healing Circles are forming in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Another Healing Circle just began in Jerusalem. Hundreds of people have experienced and studied Healing Circles work. Oren Slozberg serves as the director for Healing Circles. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7: Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine at Commonweal Garden:Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicinethe new program stewarding the Commonweal Gardenis dedicated to reconnecting people to the living systems that restore us to health and wholeness. Founded and directed by Anna OMalley, an Integrative Family and Community Medicine physician, Natura Institute is embodying a new model of care that does not deplete the precious resource that is the healer, that empowers the precious being that is seeking well-being, and that does no harm on an interpersonal, ecological, and planetary level. The Natura Institute seeks to reconnect people with healing, through deepening relationship with nature, healing plants (food and medicinal), and that which heals our human nature. The Natura Institute embodies an alternative model of proactive wellbeing-oriented medicine that is community-based and nature-placed, and serves the community at large as well as the medical community. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 8: The New School at Commonweal:Founded in 2007, The New School at Commonweal (TNS) is a community of inquiry exploring topics in health, the arts and”

“(continued from page 1)yoga, healing nutrition, permaculture gardening, and juvenile justice.”