Kaleidoscope is a San Francisco-based organization which brings together community leaders to reflect, discover, and share.
The organization is an outgrowth of the Leadership Group, started by Roger M. Low in the summer of 2013. At the time, Roger was serving on the boards of two nonprofits in San Francisco. Being on the board of one nonprofit in particular raised questions for him. He was uncertain about his role as a board member. Why was he being given certain information? What was he supposed to do with that information? Should he simply rubber stamp his approval? Or should he inquire more deeply? Why were staff-board relations so strained? How do organizations create healthy board-staff relations? Roger spoke to other colleagues who had similar questions.
With support from Diana Dolan, Roger began gathering San Francisco nonprofit CEOs and board members for discussions about governance and other relevant topics impacting their work as leaders. His initial goal was simply to provide a forum for community leaders to have honest conversations about their motivations and challenges.
In the summer of 2016, the organization hired its first Executive Director, Jessica Budnitz, to run the next generation of the group’s activities. We renamed ourselves Kaleidoscope and expanded our offerings to include more leaders and activities.
The organization is an outgrowth of the Leadership Group, started by Roger M. Low in the summer of 2013. At the time, Roger was serving on the boards of two nonprofits in San Francisco. Being on the board of one nonprofit in particular raised questions for him. He was uncertain about his role as a board member. Why was he being given certain information? What was he supposed to do with that information? Should he simply rubber stamp his approval? Or should he inquire more deeply? Why were staff-board relations so strained? How do organizations create healthy board-staff relations? Roger spoke to other colleagues who had similar questions.
With support from Diana Dolan, Roger began gathering San Francisco nonprofit CEOs and board members for discussions about governance and other relevant topics impacting their work as leaders. His initial goal was simply to provide a forum for community leaders to have honest conversations about their motivations and challenges.
In the summer of 2016, the organization hired its first Executive Director, Jessica Budnitz, to run the next generation of the group’s activities. We renamed ourselves Kaleidoscope and expanded our offerings to include more leaders and activities.