From the Board of Directors

March 13th 2018

by Ian Stoy, Provender Board Secretary

It’s March already and, as we begin to welcome the change of season into spring, we look forward to longer and warmer days. Next month your Provender Alliance  Board of Directors will meet for an in-person retreat so we can dig deeper and work toward growing your organization. Our work together will include a follow up of visioning to our theme for this Fall’s annual conference: Minding Our Mission, Finding Our Future.  These words speak true and continue to focus our drive.

One of the major concepts we feel is important to our organization, and the entire natural products industry, is to be inclusive and diverse.  There are so many things happening right now in our industry, our country, and our world, it’s often difficult to keep up with current events and trends. You may not be completely aware that we as a board have monthly meetings, and also invest extended time to further our connections with you, our members, and community.

We have never ceased  to work on inclusivity and diversity, and how that affects and impacts each one of us and our daily lives. We understand that one consistent challenge is how we can continue to work on inclusivity in the natural products industry and how we can  be a leader with both inclusiveness and diversity.

As the Board has discussed diversity and inclusivity, I have referenced one definition that speaks to me from a nonprofit point of view:  “[we] value the perspectives and contributions of all people, and strive to incorporate the needs and viewpoints of diverse communities into the design and implementation of [our Policies and activities.]  [And that] inclusive organizations are, by definition, diverse at all levels.”

The board is taking a hard and serious look at what we can do to promote and exemplify being inclusive and diverse, we would like to believe that everyone feels welcome and included. As we move forward we also ask each of you to share the thoughts and ideas you have about our work on inclusivity and/or on how we can better meet your needs because, after all,  Provender is All of Us and Provender is You!

Gratefully,