BOARD OF TRUSTEES

GENERAL ROLE DESCRIPTION

Trustees of Underground Ministries are:

• Committed to discerning and articulating Underground Ministries’ mission, purpose, and values in order to advocate for the organization in the wider community

• Providing financial and organizational oversight including operational accountability for staff and volunteers who participate in the ministry

• Responsible for the development of the organization in concert with staff and volunteers to reach mutual goals through fundraising, strategic action, and faith 

• Connectors to others in the communities we serve—including those with influence and affluence

• Advising and counseling in their areas of expertise such as finance, personnel, pastoral care, reentry from prison, and community engagement

• Being personally generous with time, talent and treasure—and so have authority to invite the community to do the same in joining Underground Ministries’ mission

More of the larger heart, faith and spirit of the Board of Trustees is expressed in the Underground Ministries Leadership Covenant. 

THREE HATS

Board members wear three “hats”:

1. GOVERNANCE
   Trustees, when together in a meeting, organize and vote to maintain the integrity and direction of Underground’s mission and missions. Your skills/experience will help us maintain some aspect of our integrity (financial, spiritual, organizational, the experience of incarcerated and releasing persons, etc). 

2. AMBASSADOR
   Each Trustee is an ambassador—representative—of our mission and work—opening doors of trust and relationship to different worlds. You might be recruited due to your added ambassador potential to some of these worlds: partnerships with prison or prison ministry/reentry groups; faith community networks; interested new donors with resources to move our mission forward; incarcerated leaders and programs on the inside; the ability to convey our story and yours to new audiences.

3. VOLUNTEER
   In addition to governing at meetings, and opening doors as am ambassador, the third had is when you bring and donate your unique skill set to our team. Like when our treasurer, a CFO in her day job, brings added accounting labor to our budgets and finances. When a former OneParishOnePrisoner beneficiary sits in on two teams. When a business veteran brings grant acquisition/writing energy to move us forward. It’s not soup kitchen work. It’s bringing your best skills to the mission.

SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

As this is a “working board,” we value that each Trustee’s “time, talent, and treasure” is unique. It’s not one size fits all.

Each Trustee is recruited with a mix of gifts, role and contributions in mind. We want to name, in person and from the start of each Trustee’s time, the key contribution we want to invite you into sharing—with as much passion and impact as possible. 

And we hope each Trustee being aware of fellow Trustees’ invited core contribution will build a sense of team camaraderie and appreciation.

SHARED FAITH?

While not all Trustees or Staff are required to identify as Christians, Underground Ministries’ vision and methods are birthed by the imagination of Jesus’ founding movement (ekklesia) in the gospel of Matthew: where the “gates of Hades,” the barriers between the realm of the dead and the land of the living, are opened by an insistent, divine Love that resurrects what is repressed and fosters healing within and between all humanity. Our mission and our conduct are guided by the final words of the Nicene Creed: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

CORE UNDERGROUND MINISTRIES DOCUMENTS