The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF) seeks to expand its board of directors, adding as many as six new board positions in 2021. To this end, we are issuing this open call for new board members, welcoming self-nominations from throughout the interactive fiction, hypertext, and narrative-game communities.

The board provides IFTF’s strategic leadership, making sure that all its programs fulfill the organization’s mission and adhere to its values, while evaluating new projects and directions as well. Serving a two-year volunteer term on IFTF’s board represents a terrific and highly visible opportunity to advocate for, support, and preserve interactive fiction as an art form.

Serving on IFTF’s board does not require any previous board or nonprofit experience. (In fact, most of our co-founders and current board members had no such experience prior to IFTF!) It requires a time-commitment as small as a couple of hours per month.

Please direct all inquiries to board@iftechfoundation.org, and read on for further details about this opportunity.

Reasons to serve

Service on IFTF’s board gives each member a voice in the organization’s management and direction, including the allocation of resources to public-service programs benefiting interactive fiction. It becomes a real way to personally assist, encourage, and shape this art form.

Participation in a nonprofit board such as IFTF’s provides experience in leadership, business, and philanthropy. You will have the opportunity to build name recognition and forge relationships with leaders in narrative gaming.

While service on IFTF’s board of directors carries no direct remuneration, the organization does financially compensate for administrative support, travel, and accommodation costs in relation to board members’ duties.

About IFTF

IFTF is a charitable nonprofit corporation that helps ensure the ongoing maintenance, improvement, and preservation of the tools and services crucial to the creation and distribution of interactive fiction, as well as the development of new projects to foster the continued growth of this art form.

For more information, please see IFTF’s homepage:

https://iftechfoundation.org/

About this position

The board of directors provides leadership and strategic governance to IFTF. While the organization’s day-to-day work happens at the program level, the board works as partner and advisor to the committees that operate these programs. It also provides executive oversight, assuring that all IFTF program work stays true to the organization’s mission.

As with any other nonprofit, IFTF board members also contribute to the organization’s culture, effectiveness, and financial sustainability. They serve as public ambassadors of IFTF and advocates of IF.

Duties

Board members help the organization in multiple ways:

• Assuring that IFTF meets all its legal and fiduciary responsibilities—this includes approving IFTF’s annual budget, audit reports, and material business decisions.
• Overseeing and regularly reviewing IFTF’s growth efforts, including donor acquisition, mailing list subscriptions, and program participation.
• Ensuring IFTF’s ongoing commitment to a diverse staff that reflects the communities that IFTF serves.
• Serving as a trusted partner to committee leads as they develop and implement IFTF strategic plans.
• Partnering with the organization’s president and other board members to ensure that board resolutions are carried out.
• Serving on committees or task forces and taking on special assignments.
• Representing IFTF to stakeholders and acting as a public ambassador for the organization.
• Assisting the president and officers in recruiting new board members.

Expectations

Board membership requires as little as two or three hours per month, with room to expand that for members choosing to adopt further roles or responsibilities.

These are among the commitments that board members are expected to make—though no one board member is expected to satisfy all of these at all times:

• Attends monthly online board meetings and quarterly organization-wide strategic meetings, or engages in active asynchronous participation if scheduling prevents attendance.
• Volunteers for assignments, and completes them thoroughly and on-time.
• Stays informed about board matters, prepares themselves well for meetings, and reviews and comments on minutes and reports.
• Gets to know other board members and builds a collegial working relationship that contributes to consensus.
• Is an active participant in the board annual evaluation and planning efforts.
• Participates in fundraising for the organization, either directly or through advocacy and referrals.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates will have the following qualifications:

• Commitment to and understanding of any of interactive fiction’s many communities of interest.
• An affinity for cultivating relationships and persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals.
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and a passion for improving the lives of IFTF’s community members.

IFTF wishes to foster diverse voices in interactive fiction. As such, we strongly encourage people of color, women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and other members of marginalized or underrepresented communities to apply.

Furthermore, we encourage candidates from all over the globe to participate. We will accommodate differing time schedules as needed.

Nomination Process and Timeline

Anyone may self-nominate by emailing board@iftechfoundation.org between January 1, 2021 and January 30, 2021. We will accept only nominations for yourself.

Please include a one-page statement of interest that includes the following:

• Personal statement: Why do you want to join the IFTF board of directors?
• Any previous contributions to IF you’d like the board to consider—these may be volunteering, authorship, advocacy, or previous IFTF-related work. None is OK!
• Any notable experience relevant to non-profit administration. This could include financial/bookkeeping skills, legal training, previous non-profit or board positions, or technical expertise. None is OK!
• (Optional) If you identify as a member of a marginalized group, you may provide that as part of your personal statement.

The IFTF board of directors and advisory board will review applications through February 28, 2021. We will review all potential candidates and identify and develop a slate for consideration for “in-person” (remote video) interviews. All candidates will be notified of their submission status by March 15, 2021.

At the conclusion of the interview process, the board of directors will vote to extend invitations to join the board. This is expected to be on or about April 15, 2021.

Please share this!

Feel free to share this open call with anyone you’d like, or on any other forum, blog, or discussion space around the internet. We would love to have this call go out to as broad an audience as possible.

We also welcome any questions about this opportunity at board@iftechfoundation.org.

Thank you very much!