Nonprofit Secretary

The Secretary role is paramount to our nonprofit advancing its purpose, reaching its goals, and making a positive impact in the community. This is a part-time, volunteer position with a 2-year term and a flexible time commitment, including quarterly Board meetings, an annual Board planning session, and recurring interactions between meetings. The Secretary will participate in regular meetings and collaborate with other board members to ensure the success of the organization with a commitment of 5-10 hours a month. The secretary position plays a critical role in fostering communication and diligence through proper management and utilization of important records such as meeting minutes and the organization’s bylaws. The secretary position has wide-ranging responsibilities, requiring much more than simply being present at all board meetings. We are looking for a board secretary who is an expert on board procedures, best practices, and accurate record-keeping. 

Duties:

• Ensures that the records of the organization are maintained as required by law and made available when required by authorized persons. These records may include founding documents, (eg. letters patent, articles of incorporation), lists of directors, board and committee meeting minutes, financial reports, and other official records.
• Participates in Board meetings as a voting member. 
• This individual is responsible for proactively collaborating with board members to set up meetings, giving proper notice of any meetings, and promptly distributing materials like agendas and minutes. 
• Comfortable extracting and communicating key information from lengthy conversations.
• Maintain a board binder that contains governing documents, key governance policies, previous meetings’ minutes, and any other critical resources. 
• Ensures that all critical documents are organized, safely stored, and readily accessible to other board members and staff leadership. 
• Our expert on policies and procedures based on these documents, including any key governing and operating processes that the board has approved.
• Keep up with everyone’s meeting attendance records and communicate with the board chair to make sure they’re completing all tasks assigned during these meetings.
• As new members are onboarded, the secretary should note their terms’ start and end dates.
• Assist in new board members onboarding. Alongside other board leadership, they can help develop a thorough and engaging orientation.
• Keep the organization’s best interests front of mind. The board secretary is a representative of the nonprofit, both inside and outside of the boardroom. Therefore, this individual should invest special time in learning about the nonprofit’s inner workings to keep its best interests at heart with decisions and accurately represent the mission to the public.
• Maintaining a list of association members. 
• Insuring that policy decisions made at board meetings are added to the policy manual

Accountability: 

The Secretary is accountable to the Board of Directors. Through the Board of Directors, certain duties of the Secretary may be delegated to the Executive Director/President, Board members and/or committees as appropriate; however, the accountability for them remains with the Secretary.

RIZE Entertainment is a registered 501(c)(3). After many years as a journalist, our founder, Luna Reyna realized how imperative it is that we have media organizations run by, and for people of culture and systematically excluded identities. RIZE was founded in 2018 and since then, we have built up our arts and culture magazine into an independent nonprofit that partners with the city of Seattle, the Museum of Pop Culture, community organizations and mutual aid groups to bring art that expresses the conditions of an unjust society and facilitates healing to the forefront. RIZE’s work elevates otherwise systematically excluded journalists, photographers, videographers, and creatives of culture in coverage of artists of culture to decolonize and deconstruct the status quo. We also facilitate multiple benefit events per year in which all funds raised are given to a program and/or activist efforts that support meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.