My name is Kate Ristau. I am the current President of SFWA and the Executive Director of Willamette Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit writing organization. After four years of supporting the Nebula Awards, I ran for the Board of Directors in the fall with a desire to help the organization in this period of transition. I am running again to continue the work we are doing to strengthen the foundation of SFWA and the genre as a whole.
When I wrote the last board update, I discussed our current progress, but here’s a quick rundown of what has happened since November:
- We set a strategic direction to guide us into the summer.
- We developed and clarified policies around whistleblowing and confidentiality.
- We hired an office assistant and have finished interviews for the Nebula conference project manager (with full and open searches).
- We started the Writers in Crisis Grant Program.
We also created and participated in three major organizational quarterly meetings:
- Committee Chair Meeting.
- Partner Presidents Meeting (with the Horror Writers Association, the Romance Writers of America, and the Mystery Writers of America).
- President’s Advisory Council.
I also met with staff and volunteers, as well as one on one with board members and past presidents. In addition, we restarted the Fundraising Committee, where we set a direction for our fundraising over the next 6 months.
That is just a little slice of the last few months, which has also included lots of Nebula planning, operations support, and member outreach. What I have learned since November is that SFWA is an incredibly complex and multifaceted organization full of people who want to make productive and positive changes. They want to support the genre and make our community stronger.
I met some of them this weekend at the COSine Convention in Colorado Springs.
I’m writing to you from the hotel in Colorado Springs, where I participated in panels and connected with members, as well as our larger genre community.
I am so happy I came. It was a good reminder of why we do the work and what matters: creators, the genre, and the work.
In my previous platform, I stated that throughout my career in arts and nonprofit management, my focus has been on building healthy, principled, and strategic organizations.
I know we still have more to do here.
But I also keep saying “we.”
That is because when I stepped onto the board, I focused on collaborating with my fellow board members, and they more than stepped up. I continue to be impressed by their level of dedication and thoughtful leadership.
It’s not just the board, though. Staff and volunteers are working tirelessly to help us meet SFWA’s mission AND vision.
Together, we’ve done a lot in the last three months, and given our new strategic direction, I see more focused work ahead. But I also see the cultural shift that needs to happen underneath.
We need a community of transparency and accountability, and importantly, we need to care for and support one another.
In that vein, I intend to keep listening and keep learning. I also intend to encourage training and good employment practices. We’ve been working on further supporting our committees and staff, but I know we have much more to do in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as accountability is not just about the words, it’s about our actions and the community we are co-creating.
In the spirit of collaboration, you’ll continue to read more of our regular board updates to keep you informed of board activities,and we will also host our quarterly town hall in February. In our next board meeting, we will consider open meetings and our policies process, as well as how we can better engage the traditional publishing industry.
All of this work supports great programming, advocacy, and outreach. It supports YOU.
I said it before – I get a little dorky about all of this. But the reality is that — together — we can do good things.
So, as the snow falls in Colorado, I’m looking forward to more seasons with you. I will repeat my previous note with one small change: I have offered my support to the current board organization, and will continue to do so, no matter the results of the election.
I look forward to supporting the organization as we move forward into the future.
2024 Special Election SFWA President Platform
Hello,
My name is Kate Ristau. I am an author, folklorist, and the Executive Director of Willamette Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in education with 1200 members. I work with our board, staff, and 75 year-round volunteers to host 400 community events each year. My goal in joining the ballot as a nonprofit arts executive is to support SFWA and help our community thrive.
I am the Nebula Awards Producer, which means I worked with staff and volunteers to oversee and support the last three productions (from streaming to lighting to the Writer’s Room). I began volunteering with the Nebulas because of my love for the genre and for our community.
I have essays in the New York Times and Washington Post. I have a middle grade series (indie) and a young adult series (small press), as well as other books, articles, poems and stories published. I taught writing at the university level for eight years, and I have led workshops and moderated panels at Norwescon, Orycon, Portland Book Festival, and many other conferences and conventions. I have served on the board of my local public library for seven years, where I am currently Chair, and have served on several other arts boards over the last ten years.
Throughout my career in arts and nonprofit management, my focus has been on building healthy, principled, and strategic organizations. Practically, that means addressing the following priorities, with an eye for long-term stability:
Program Development & Management
If you don’t know me, the dorky thing you will find out is that I am a firm believer in working together and finding common ground, but for organizations, that work requires systems and objectives to support productive continuation into the future. While the work of the board is usually focused on the mission, vision, and direction of the organization, the board is ultimately responsible for the well-being of the nonprofit. During times of transition, it is a board’s responsibility to be actively engaged in recruiting and retention, as well as closely investing in programming staff. This engagement extends to volunteer relations as well.
Immediate areas I would prioritize are:
– Working to settle outstanding employment issues professionally and with appropriate transparency.
– Addressing immediate hiring needs in accounting, events, and volunteer management.
– Collaborating with the board to begin work on a new 5-year strategic plan.
For me, leadership is strategic, honest, and collaborative. I will work with the board, volunteers, and staff to address these priorities.
Organizational Culture
A vibrant and collaborative culture is a standard that must be nurtured, tended to, and modeled by an organization’s leaders. Effective leaders set expectations up front on program management and help staff and volunteers fit in their clearly defined roles (with lots of support!), so everyone can meet objectives together.
Participation on the board, or within a designated leadership or coordination role, confers a responsibility to behave ethically, and with appropriate transparency.
Beyond all that, we specifically have generosity written into our values: “We believe in paying it forward by sharing our collective experience and encouraging, educating, and informing writers through professional development and community-building.”
If we want to support writers and our genre, we have to create a culture of generosity and support — we have to look out for each other.
As the president, I would set expectations of an environment of professionalism and communicate values by prioritizing:
– Staff and volunteer trainings around communication, whistleblower and legal protections, and work/life boundaries.
– Focus on the RACI model of communication, a project management tool that helps define roles and encourages standards-based communications.
– Continue Town Halls and bi-weekly updates to members and the public.
We have the bylaws to guide us as we move into the future, and policies and procedures to follow in the OPPM. I see these guides as a backstop — our insurance policy for good, consistent governance. But governance is more than rules — it is also the environment that we foster so we can pursue our mission.
We can all work better together if we can actively communicate our values and needs in open, honest, and equitable ways. Ultimately, the job of the president is to model these qualities and hold the board and leaders accountable to that standard.
Here to help
There is more work to do, and lots more work that has already been done. I have been impressed with the current board’s work, and know they are facing incredible challenges. I have offered my support to the current board, and will continue to do so, no matter the results of the election. I am here to help the organization; we are a powerful community of writers who tangle with dragons and soar into space. We can do this.