GEA ALLIANCE
What we need to decide on Saturday →

Setting 2027

Fall board meeting · Saturday, September 26, 2026 · by video
A note from Sunny

In June we spent a weekend in a room together working out what this organization is. This meeting is the other half of that: deciding what it does next year.

So the shape is different. I am not bringing you a year in review. I am bringing you three programs, each with a handful of real choices attached, and a set of draft 2027 goals with actual numbers in them. The numbers are mine, not yours — I put them there so you have something to argue with instead of a blank page. Cross them out, move them, tell me I am wrong. That is the point.

The first chapter is the honest one: everything we committed to in June, scored. Some of it landed. Some of it did not, and a few things quietly fell off. You should see all of it before we talk about next year.

December is when we approve the budget and the final goals. Saturday is when you tell me what to aim at.

- Sunny
Five calls we need on Saturday
  1. Direction on 2027 goals — react to the draft targets; December adopts them formally.
  2. Year-end giving campaign — approve the structure, and each director's part in it.
  3. Board expansion — target size, the skills gap, and who owns recruiting which candidate.
  4. Reserves policy — direction now, policy language approved in December.
  5. Four carried-over votes from June — vision statement, brand identity, shadow ED salary, ED evaluation close-out.
The board meeting
iWhat Saturday decides & the agenda
Where we stand
1Since Hood River — the June commitments, scored
The three verticals — 2027 options
2Summit Scholarship 3The Cairn Project 4GEA Alliance media
What we're asking the board to set
5Draft 2027 goals 6Year-end giving campaign 7Board, reserves & what December approves