A few weeks ago, the Healing Art Missions’ (HAM) Board of Directors held it’s first Board Retreat. We were able to convene all nine current board members together in our home base of Granville, OH. Given that we have board members living on opposite coasts, this was the first time several members had ever met face to face. Dr. Jacques, our Haitian Medical Director, was able fly in from Haiti to join us as well. The purpose of this gathering was to prepare ourselves for a national search to hire an Executive Director to run the day-to-day operations of HAM in the U.S.
Left to right: Jeff Hammond, Connie Ray, Keith Hare, Jean Fritz Jacques, M.D., Adam Rhodes, Leslie Mihalov, MD., Jack Blanks, Cheryl Jalbert, Paul Hammond, Tracee Laing
The Board Retreat and hiring of an Executive Director have been years in the making. For the last twelve years Dr. Tracee and Paul Hammond, have worked together managing HAM’s operations and fundraising as volunteers with no paid staff. Six years ago, Dr. Tracee and Paul realized that the current volunteer administrative model was not sustainable in the long term; they were aging, the needs of the community in Dumay and the operating budget continue increasing annually, and the idea that they would find someone else qualified and willing to volunteer their time and expertise was unrealistic. Immediately they began working on a plan to be able to transition the organization to a paid Executive Director who would manage the daily activities of the organization, and strengthen the Board’s role in governance.
In 2020 HAM received a special grant from the SoHum Foundation specifically for the purpose of planning and preparing for the transition from an all-volunteer staff in the U.S., as has been the case since HAM’s beginnings, to the more-sustainable model of a paid Executive Director to run daily operations. The funds from this grant were to pay for two key elements to support the process: 1) hire outside consultants to help HAM’s current leadership and the Board of Directors define, understand and prepare for their role in the governance of HAM, present and future, and 2) hire an experienced part-time grant writer for one year to see if we could more successfully identify and navigate funding opportunities from foundations supporting humanitarian work such as HAM’s, a complicated process we have had minimal success with in the past.
For the first element we were fortunate to be able to engage the Benefactor Group out of Columbus, OH to work with Dr. Tracee, Paul and the entire Board of Directors in reviewing and updating the organizational bylaws, defining and organizing the boards role in the governance of HAM, and preplanning for the upcoming search for an Executive Director. The Board Retreat was key to this process, and the entire board emerged from the retreat focused and energized, ready to move forward.
For the second element, we contracted with an experienced independent grant writer, Robyn Straley, who has been working five hours per week for us all year long. Just within the last month we received news from the Together Rising Foundation, one of the funders Robyn had identified and submitted a grant request, has granted our request to fund the capital purchase of a new truck in Haiti, as well as funds to complete the new Safe Birthing facilities.
We will keep our supporters updated as we move forward on the transitions plans, the timing of which is somewhat dependent on the ability to safely travel to Haiti. I’m sure more than one of you is wondering about Dr. Tracee’s new role in this transition, but rest assured both she and Paul will remain on the HAM Board of Directors, actively involved in the activities and governance of HAM.