A Leadership Committee governs PCN, oversees its ongoing development and program work, and upholds the mission. Once the Progressive Communicators Network’s 501c3 / non-profit status is approved, the Leadership Council will also serve as our legal Board of Directors.

The Leadership Council (LC) captures and synthesizes the collective thinking of PCNers and uses it to: refine the strategic direction of the Network; create new initiatives as needs arise; oversee the work of PCN committees; and supervise PCN staff. Members of the Leadership Council also serve on PCN committees and act as liaisons between these committees and the LC.

Responsibilities: Members of the Leadership Council should anticipate the following work load throughout the duration of their service:

• participate on Leadership Council conference calls (most months)
• attend at least one Leadership Council retreat each year (usually in November)
• attend most of the PCN national annual gatherings during their 3 year term of service
• communicate with other PCN members
• participate as Leadership Committee liaison to a PCN committees/work groups
• possible interface with funders (as needed and assigned)

 Eligibility: The Leadership Council should be comprised of PCNers who have demonstrated a commitment to the Network, its goals and values by attending at least one national gathering / event, serving on a PCN committee / work group, and/or coordinating a PCN project.

Size: The Leadership Council will be comprised of between six (6) and eight (8) PCN members and up to two (2) Spirit in Action staff persons. (These numbers can increase if agreed upon by the Council.) The composition of the LC will reflect PCN’s commitment to professional, geographic, and social identity diversity (including at least 50% representation from people of color of various ethnic backgrounds, a spectrum of generations, and representation from regions across the country).

Tenure: Commencing at the June 2004 Gathering, Leadership Council members shall serve for a term of three years, with one-third of the committee rotating off every year.

Selection: The Leadership Council facilitates and monitors the process of adding new members with particular attention to and responsibility for maintaining the diversity of the group. The process will generally flow as follows:

• The LC will review the current diversity of the group, including the particular gaps created from members rotating off, and create a list of priority diversity needs.
• The list of LC diversity needs will be circulated to PCNers via e-mail. PCNers will nominate themselves or others to be candidates for the LC by a particular deadline.
• The LC will review the nominations and candidates, particularly to ensure diversity and the minimal number of members. If more outreach is needed to fill diversity gaps, LC members will do this.
• The LC will present a slate of candidates to all PCNers via e-mail and seek their feedback on the slate as a whole. Candidates will submit a statement on why they want to serve to be included in this announcement.
• Announcement and final confirmation of new LC members will happen at the national gathering and via e-mail.