How SoFA uses sociocracy (webinar recording)

Sociocracy for all is using sociocracy too! We’re incorporated as a nonprofit in the USA but operating globally.

• We are a membership organization with 190 members worldwide. Ca. 25 people are in paid roles (part time or full time), and everyone volunteers. We have organizations that are members too.
• We are a multi-lingual nonprofit with departments/circles in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Chinese, Scandinavia.
• Our operations: We both produce content and resources, and we network (around language communities and about sector interest). We are acting as a platform connecting practitioners with peers, sociocracy professionals with other professionals, and sociocracy trainers with their audience.
• We care about social justice, affordability, and equality.

SoFA is using a few refinements on sociocracy that make it possible to grow fast and serve our mission of making sociocracy accessible. The most interesting refinements we use on a daily basis are:

• A clear distinction between circles vs. communities of practices. This matters to organizations that have a lot of grassroots and community involvement that’s mostly separate from key operations.
• Multi-sector, multi-language operations; we use a Help Desk framework that helps circles support each other and build “cross-connections” based on agreements and service relationships.
• Organizations that want to strictly decentralize decisions.

In this video, operational leader Ted Rau shows SoFA’s structure, and explains how SoFA operates.