Cledwyn Jones

Nonprofit Oversight & Community Engagement

Running a $1.7m-a-year religious nonprofit responsive to an engaged, on-the-books membership of over 900 individuals involves many moving parts and varied points of connection. At All Souls Church, Unitarian, I have found many opportunities to leverage my skills and perspectives to keep our congregation nimble and growing in a time of contraction for many faith communities. These include:

• Serving as an elected member of the Board of Trustees, entrusted with financial and policy oversight on behalf of the congregation. (2013-2016)
• Creating and Co-Chairing the 2020 Vision Goals & Metrics Task Force, a team of over 15 individuals charged with developing measurable performance goals and related processes for the 2016-2020 reporting cycle.
• Participating on the Board Audit committee, providing congregational engagement with church financial policies and practices.
• Serving as President, and previously as Vice President, of the Young Souls 18-35+ demographic community, with responsibilities that include managing a team of seven volunteer leaders, representing the interests of our age demographic within the larger community, and coordinating events ranging from social justice activities to multi-day, workshop-driven retreats.
• Providing authoritative guidance on parliamentary issues at Annual meetings, as well as at other meetings and functions upon request.
• Coordinating, as a member of the Church Council Steering Committee, the growth and overarching activity of over 50 church committees, organizations, and affinity groups.

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Tenant Rights & Organization

A rent-controlled, ageing building with a diverse population presents a range of challenges on an organizational level. Various competing interests are at play, and incentives can distort otherwise good intentions. While in this living in this building, and serving as president of the board of its tenant association, I:

• Attempted to bridge communal rifts formed during during the building's long history.
• Worked to protect the interests of all tenants throughout a lengthy condo conversion process, avoiding previous factionalism that undermined unity of action within the building.
• Leveraged agreements between tenants and building management to apply selective pressure on a range of issues, including the installation of a handicap access ramp and the maintenance of functional building facilities.

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Student Leadership & Advocacy

• Oversaw the undergraduate student senate, serving as its elected president and conducting monthly meetings involving over 30 students and staff members, while also coordinating the activities of an array of committees.
• Campaigned to support student interests on a proposed grading scale change, working to mobilize volunteers, collect over 3,000 signatures, and write editorials, before ultimately debating the issue with faculty and securing, through negotiations with the ASU President Michael Crow, an amenable compromise that still stands today.
• Collaborated with faculty and staff to ensure student support for and the successful approval of a additional fee for the construction of a new, $110m campus for Barrett Honors College
• Initiated and directed a review and overhaul of the documents governing the undergraduate student population and its representative bodies.

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