FAQs about Committees & Commissions

1. What will committee and commission meetings be like under the new structure?

Members of committees will continue to determine their own meeting structure and frequency.
Members of commissions will meet four times each year and will set their own schedules. At least one meeting should be an in-person gathering; the others may be phone or Web-based meetings.
Diocesan staff may help organize all-commission gatherings that bring together the chairs of all the commissions as well as representatives from the diocesan related organizations. This will be a time of information and resource sharing.

Electronic meetings may be considered for some of these gatherings.

2. I am currently a member of a committee or commission in the Diocese of Virginia. How will my role and responsibilities change under this new structure?

For many committee and commission members, you won’t see much change in your regular work and regular responsibilities.
You might notice that several committees have been dissolved (Committee on Education and Committee on Higher Education). These are committees that are either no longer active or whose work might be done more effectively in conjunction with the greater umbrella organization of a commission. These decisions were made in consultation with and with the support of those particular committees.
Some committee members who agree to serve as commission representatives will now have an extra time commitment of attending the commission meetings. Because of this extra time commitment, we ask committees to carefully consider the frequency, location and format (electronic versus conference call, for example) of their meetings to honor each participant’s schedule.
The budget request process will change in 2011. Committees will submit their budget request to their commissions. Commissions will, in turn, submit a compiled budget to Annual Council for review. Council will give a total budget amount to each the five commissions, who will in turn decide how much to give to each individual committee. It is therefore crucial that committee representatives represent their committees’ needs to their respective commissions.

3. What role will the Diocese and the diocesan staff play in this new structure?
Staff members will serve as liaisons to both commissions and committees. Staff will serve as the primary point of contact for questions related to diocesan policy, including communications and publicity, canonical concerns or budgetary matters.
Staff will also provide helpful resource documents for committees and commissions, including:

Ideas on how to support and strengthen the priority ministries;
Rules, guidelines and best practices for communications and marketing policies;
Samples of annual reports.

3. What role will the Executive Board play in this new structure?
Currently, each member of the Executive Board serves as a liaison to an individual committee. The role of the liaison has been very loosely defined. Under the new structure, each of the five commissions will have three Executive Board liaisons assigned to them. The Executive Board Liaison is responsible for:

Contacting their Commission in the early fall to assist them with budget requests.
Making the case for their budget requests to the Working Group on Budget.
Attending at least one commission meeting each year as an opportunity to build connections, share the work of the Executive Board, receive any concerns that Committee might have and report back in written format to the Working Group on Program.

4. How would we build up and encourage new leadership in the committees and commissions?
One of the primary goals of this new structure is to reenergize our committees and commissions. New members bring with them new ideas and energy that are vital to our ministries. Plans to encourage new leadership include the following:

Each commission will be responsible for enforcing term limits and membership circulation on their respective committees;
The Diocese has made available an online nomination form which empowers all members of the Diocese to submit for consideration the name and credentials of people whom they would like to see working on any commission or committee of the Diocese;
Commissions will work to evaluate the needs of the Diocese of Virginia, and shall request for new committees or ministry teams to be created, as appropriate.

5. My group used to be a commission and now it’s a committee. Why the change?
All committees are now appointed by the bishop to administer the programs of the Diocese. Members of the Diocese are empowered to nominate anyone for membership to an umbrella commission or to a committee. This places all groups on equal footing.

6. What about related organizations?
Related organizations are those that have been approved by Annual Council as being related to the Diocese of Virginia. These include the Episcopal Church Women of Virginia; Virginia Diocesan Homes; Trustees of the Funds; the Diocesan Missionary Society; Shrine Mont Corporation; Memorial Trustees of the Virginia Diocesan Center at Roslyn; Church Schools; and the Peter Paul Development Center.

Related organizations will not be affected by this restructuring. However, a representative from each of these organizations may be invited to an all-commission gathering.

7. How does this structure support the five mission and ministry priorities?
You’ll note that this new structure does not include a specific committee or commission representing each of the five mission and ministry priorities. It is our hope to empower and equip the commissions to ensure that these ministries are lived out in the daily work of the committees. Moreover, this new structure is designed to allow room for growth.