DataCenter is committed to reflecting our social justice values in all of our organizational practices.  In particular, we’ve been engaged in defining, implementing and sustaining concrete practices to dismantle systems of oppression and increase our accountability to communities on the ground.  In order to tackle challenges and dysfunction endemic to social justice-minded non-profits, over the last year we have been developing long-term sustainable leadership—in particular by people of color and working class people—by sharing it across the organization.  By building on transformative work in the movement, knowledge from people of color communities, and on our own thirty year organizational history of participatory decision-making, organizational culture work and anti-oppression work, we’ve successfully piloted and are launching the Shared Leadership organizational structure.  We believe there can be a healthy balance between organizational and individual well-being and social change work.  We believe that leadership of the organization does not belong exclusively to an executive director or the board.  Leadership is the work of every person.  We believe Shared Leadership works!
>>>Frequently Asked Questions about the Shared Leadership Model (pdf)

The Latest Updates

>>Reflections On Shared Leadership for NonProfit Day 2010 08.19.2010
When it comes to the topic of shared leadership, DataCenter had typically responded to small- to mid-size non-profit organizations eager to learn about our experiences in trying to promote a sustainable organizational culture of collaboration over competition, dialog over debate, and “power-with,” over “power-over.”  In most cases, callers had observed a fair amount of unhealthy, challenging power dynamics play out in the organization, and felt the urgency to ‘really do something about it this time.’

>>GEO 2010 National Conference: Insights on Collective Leadership 04.26.2010
As grantmakers continue to explore ways of increasing the effectiveness and impact of nonprofits, we need to think differently about leadership and investments in individuals. There is a growing recognition that to achieve large scale change, we need to unleash collective leadership . …

>>Leadership Learning Community’s Case Study about the DataCenter 02.26.2010
In October 2009, at a Leadership Learning Community (LLC) Bay Area Circle, Miho Kim and Celia Davis of the DataCenter shared their learning about the “Shared Leadership” model adopted by the Center in 2006. .. .