Volunteer - Board Member - YMCA of Three Rivers

We’re Looking for Board Members

YMCA of Three Rivers: Call for Nominations

The YMCA of Three Rivers is looking for Board Members to join our volunteer leadership team on or around September 1st , 2025, or another mutually agreeable date in 2025.

The following opportunities are available:

• One Board Member Seat – September 2025*-August 2028, once renewable *or another mutually agreeable date in 2025.

This vacancy is a newly created seat that will expand the size of the Board.

The Role of the Board

• To ensure that Y fulfills its responsibilities, operates effectively, and acts in accordance with the principles of being ethical, accountable, collaborative, open, relational, divergent, and proactive.
• To foster the JAIDE (Justice, Access, Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity) Commitments across our programs, partnerships, and people strategies.

The Responsibilities of Board Members

• The Board is responsible for governing the affairs of the Y, delegating the day- to-day operations to the CEO, and delegating certain other duties to Board Committees.
• Board Members are expected to identify any perceived or actual conflicts of interest to the Board Chair.
• Board Members are a resource to the CEO and Operational Leadership Team. They engage constructively at meetings, volunteer with intention, and continue to develop their own skills.
• Board Members attend a monthly Board meeting (two hours in length, typically in person at a YMCA of Three Rivers location, with occasional virtual meetings), monthly committee meetings (one to two hours in length, virtually), and review relevant preparatory materials for each meeting (thirty minutes to one hour). Additional in-person and/or virtual meetings may be scheduled for some or all Board Members based on special project work.

Composition of the Board

• Comprised of 13 Board Members diversely representing our communities, with one Chair and one Vice-Chair. In addition, there is a Past-Chair serving in an ex-officio capacity.
• Each Board Committee has additional members, who are non-board representing members.

Making the Most of Your Board Experience

All volunteer roles should create mutual benefit, both for the volunteer and the organization. As a Board Member, you should expect a healthy and welcoming environment that values your perspective, and to be offered opportunities that help you achieve your goals, whether that is developing new skills, gaining experiences that can help you in your career, broadening your professional and personal networks, creating tangible community impact, and more.

We need your help to do this important work.

Desired Lived Experiences and Skills

To strengthen our Y’s ability to contribute to our mission and vision, we would like to invite volunteer Board Members with diverse experiences, perspectives, passion, skills, and expertise to serve our communities.

• You are a broad thinker, have a passion for the Y’s mission, and consider yourself a connector in our communities.
• You don’t need to have previous experience on a Board to serve, as you will bring a diverse perspective to all dialogue, discussion, and decisions. We will provide an orientation and onboarding plan to help you learn and grow. Prior experience is helpful but not necessary.
• Skills we’re looking to strengthen within our Board include; o Our Board is strongly focused during this recruitment process to find individuals with Legal Expertise, and/or experience with Public Policy Advocacy or Government Relations who are interested in serving on our Board. o Governance Experience o Community Connections & Partnerships
• We’re excited if you have lived experiences and/or intersectionality from the following diverse communities; o Youth & Young Adults (18-29 years) o Non-Binary Individuals and Women o Members of the Black, Indigenous, and Racially Diverse Communities o Members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community o Members with Diverse Abilities
• Ideally, you are connected to one or more of the communities served by the YMCA of Three Rivers: Guelph-Wellington & Area, Stratford-Perth & Area, Kitchener-Waterloo & Area, and/or Cambridge & Area.

We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive YMCA. We welcome applications for these positions from all interested individuals, regardless of skills, experience, or qualifications. Our goal is to attract, develop, and retain committed and talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, allowing us to mutually benefit from a wide variety of experiences and perspectives.

About the YMCA of Three Rivers

For more than 150 years, the YMCAs of Cambridge and Kitchener-Waterloo, the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph, and the YMCA of Stratford-Perth have served our communities. In 2020, we officially unified and became the YMCA of Three Rivers, allowing us to continue showing up for our communities where and how they have needed us most.

The Three Rivers name was inspired by the history and legacy that rivers played in each of our communities, including the Avon, Grand, and Speed Rivers. Our name is a reflection of these rivers that have given and sustained life on these lands for centuries; lands that are the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Neutral Peoples. Much like the Y, rivers are places of connection. They bring people together. They unite. They foster growth and well-being. Across our communities, this is what the Y has worked to do. And, in unifying, it is our goal to continue doing this — to show up where and how our communities need us most, and work to meet current and emerging needs — well into the future.

As one of the largest charities in our community, our goal is to ensure our Board of Directors and Committee Members represent a diversity of ideas, experiences, and perspectives. We are on a journey to ensure our Y is anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and continues to evolve through the lens of Justice, Access, Inclusion, Diversity & Equity (JAIDE).

Our Justice, Access, Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity (JAIDE) Commitment

Our JAIDE Journey is about how we take action to make our diverse communities healthier and more vibrant. With dignity and respect, our programs and services inspire individuals to reach their full potential.

In 2020, we began the intentional work of dismantling systemic barriers to help deliver on this commitment. To that end, we are currently invested in intentional JAIDE work. An acronym adopted from our consultative work with AgentsC, JAIDE stands for Justice, Access, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity.

Through the lens of this work, we will be reviewing our policies, procedures, programs, and services in order to ensure we are fostering safe, welcoming, inclusive, and supportive spaces for all. Learn more about our JAIDE Action Plan by visiting the JAIDE page on our website.

Application Process

This posting will remain open until we find the right candidate for the role. We will review applications as they arrive and keep our application process open until we find the right candidates for these extraordinary opportunities. To help us reach our diverse communities, we would appreciate your support in amplifying this posting across your network.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please submit a letter expressing your interest and a current resume, through our ADP Candidate Portal . As part of our application process, we will be asking candidates to complete a voluntary self-identification survey. Self-identification questions will include gender, community and ethnic representation, and regional connections, with the option to select out of answering any question.

In our JAIDE commitment, anti-racism, and truth and reconciliation processes, we recognize that it’s vitally important for our Board Members to represent the communities we aim to serve. As such, we are intentionally seeking to recruit nominees who are members of communities that are currently underrepresented on YMCA Boards across the Federation: Youth and Young Adults; Indigenous, Black and other Racially Diverse People; 2SLGBTQIA+ People; and People with Diverse Abilities (disabled persons/persons with disabilities). We will also be considering diverse representation across the regional and geographical areas that the YMCA of Three Rivers serves our communities.

YMCAs are committed to creating environments that are barrier-free. For any accessibility-related accommodation requests regarding any stage of the process, please inform us in advance so we can arrange reasonable and appropriate accommodation

To explore additional career opportunities with the YMCA of Three Rivers, please visit our Career Page.