Many great events are coming up, with the German conference, the intentional communities conference, and a webinar with Otto Scharmer in planning! Also, see the new articles!

After some soul searching and number crunching, General Circle approved another round of the updated budget. Here’s the situation in my words. Our expenses have grown with demands on the website and other types of overhead (like accounting). Since our income covers regular activities like offering training or having a basic website, that’s not the case for “extra” money for “extra” things, like having a web presence and conferences in multiple languages. Our longstanding commitment to language equity is costly. This money comes from foundations (grants) and donations (from individuals), making us more dependent on outside sources.

For now, we are attentive but okay with finances going forward — and we’ll keep an eye on it throughout the coming quarter, trying to save money and make money so we can support all the wonderful free things we want to do.

If you have ideas about income-producing activities, please let us know! 

Slime mold and sociocracy?

Check out the new article from members of the Free and Open Source Circle

In the article, authors Leila Tite and Ahmed Avais explain, “Open source software communities can learn a lot from the intelligence of the humble slime mold by following its example in terms of its ability to adapt and grow.”

Konferenz für Selbstorganisation

?? German-speaking sociocracy conference — Oct 13 

EVERY VOICE MATTERS
Konferenz für Selbstorganisation;
Co-Kreation und Verbindung

The first German-speaking sociocracy conference will occur on October 13, 2022, 11:00 – 18:00 UTC.

SoFA members are free! And we are still looking for Zoom hosts. To volunteer or simply attend the conference, email sozfa.circle@sociocracyforall.org.

We — the SozFA-Circle — are looking forward to seeing you!

Sociocracy with Children

Workshop in two Saturday sessions, Oct 22 & 29, 15:00–17:00 UTC

For anyone wanting to practice sociocracy with children, whether you are working in a school group, at home, in a club, or in a co-op.

New SoFA Members

• Pamela Alsum US) supporting member
• Tom Mengel (Canada) Intentional Communities Circle
• Jane Bønsøe (Denmark) supporting member
• François Bisson (Canada) supporting member

Welcome • Velkommen

Upcoming member events

• WED September 28 @ 14:00 – 16:00 UTC
  Co-working: accountability, fun, and getting things done
  Join Sociocracy for All members on Wednesdays to co-work. We create a space that’s accountable and fun so that we can all get our work done!
• FRI September 30 @ 11:00 – 12:30 EDT
  Sept. – Oct. 2022 Writer’s Workshop
  SoFA is offering a Writer’s Workshop! Join a small group of other writers for weekly mutual support in writing articles to be published on the SoFA website.
• FRI September 30 @ 11:00 – 13:00 EDT
  Breaking Cycles Community of Practice
  Breaking Cycles is a community of practice for members of sociocratic organizations that are interested in discussing harm reduction and unlearning & breaking cycles of the dominant oppressive culture within […]
• WED October 5 @ 11:00 – 12:30 EDT
  Community of Practice: Schools and Education
  A community of practice for mutual support for school sociocratic practitioners.
• MON October 10 @ 13:00 – 14:30 EDT
  @Work Community of Practice
  A mutual support group for people practicing sociocracy at work. This community of practice is a space for people to share experiences or potential situations […]
• MON October 10 @ 15:15 – 16:45 UTC
  Community of Practice: Sociocratic Intentional Communities
  Find your people! Advocates for Sociocracy in Community is our community of practice for Intentional Communities. We meet on Zoom once a month to support each other in using sociocracy […]
• TUE October 25 @ 11:00 – 12:30 EDT
  Community of Practice: facilitators of sociocratic circles
  A community of practice for people holding the role of facilitator in their organizations. Meets monthly.
• THU October 27 @ 12:00 – 13:30 EDT
  Sociocracy Implementation Peer Support (SIPS) Community of Practice
  A community of practice for mutual support for people implementing socicoracy in their organizations. Meets monthly on the fourth Thursday.

Circle reports

General Circle

• The members of General Circle agreed to establish the Pay for Work Review Helping Circle, which will look at the details of our pay for work policy and make a proposal (in two months) for ways to improve that policy to meet the needs of our members better.
• In addition, this circle looked again at the upcoming budget decision: we have a lot of places where we want to invest the money we’re receiving, but we’re not bringing in enough money to cover it all. We may need to think hard about how we want to use the money we do have and also about how to better account for what we are using; the decision on the next budget will be on September 27. Please see the notes to glean more about the circle members’ ideas.

notes::general circle

Content Circle

• Within this department, Outreach Circle has presented a new campaign strategy with the theme of “Providing the structure to build a better future.”
• The members of Conference Circle discovered a new way to use Zoom for conferences that will hopefully streamline the way we publish conference information.

notes::content circle

Ecosystem Circle

• The members of Ecosystem Circle are working on coordinating with Outreach Circle on the new campaign strategy.  They have also hosted a Community of Practice for their delegates, and they’re working on developing a Partnership Coordinator role.
• In Permaculture Circle, the members learned from a potential new member that most permaculture projects in Italy run sociocratically.

notes::ecosystem circle

Membership Circle

• The members of this circle have consented to a new circle leader role description: we are asking circle leaders to help ensure that members of their circle have meaningful work to do (which may involve providing budget feedback and approving hours of compensated circle members). Also, we support conflict resolution processes as necessary within their circles.
• Within this department, Budgeting Circle has been working to amend the budget based on feedback and requests from individual fiscal circles.

notes::membership circle

International Circle

• Within the International Department, there are prospects for new Turkish and Romanian sub-circles.
• The members of the German sub-circle, SozFA, are preparing for their conference and need session hosts (see announcement below). 

notes::international circle

SoFA in the news

We have a new section on our webpage: Sociocracy in the News. If you have participated in an interview or written an article on behalf of SoFA, please send it to outreach.circle@sociocracyforall.org. And don’t forget to share this awesome content. ?

Circle members wanted

• WEBINAR CIRCLE — We have fantastic stuff happening, like a webinar with Otto Scharmer. A great place for volunteer working members with many ideas!
• SOCIAL MEDIA CIRCLE — We are especially in need of English speakers who would be comfortable reading scripts on camera for Instagram and Tiktok.

SoFA Circle Leaders

Have you seen the new role description?

From budgeting to conflict resolutions, circle leaders have to pay attention to the whole of the circle. Don’t worry; there’s plenty of support for you!

The button below will take you to the Policy Manual in the SoFA Member Forum.

Membership resources updated

Ready for your feedback. How do they look to you?

We’re also looking for folks to localize these pages into additional languages.

• Membership Agreement
  It’s the same agreement you sign up for when you became a member but just more clear on expectations and benefits.
  Contact: pamela.carmona@sociocracyforall.org

• Member Dashboard
  New look! The dashboard answers member questions and puts tools in easy reach.
  Contact: support@sociocracyforall.org

SoMBu feedback

Additional notices from role holders or circles are welcome. Submissions are due on the day when General Circle meets: Oct 11 and Oct 25 — Tuesdays. Contact: sombu@sociocracyforall.org.

Sombu is also the seed of the fennel plant!