The Adaptive Organization: A Conversation with Fibers Fund
The Fibers Fund is breaking new ground in the impact investment space as a catalytic fund supporting small U.S. natural fiber and textile producers and processors, with a specific focus on environmental equity.
We spoke with Co-Founder and Managing Director, Sarah Kelley, about how the living charter journey helped shape this innovative financial vehicle.
What challenges led you to pursue the living charter journey?
"We were creating something quite unique – an equity-focused governance structure that would shift decision-making power to those most impacted by the textile industry's past and current extractive practices. While we had settled on a two-part structure with an Advisory Council and Investment Committee, we needed clarity on roles, responsibilities, and day-to-day operations. We kept asking ourselves: 'What are we inviting others into?' and 'How will the governance and guidance actually work?'"
How did the charter process help address these questions?
"The process was incredibly comprehensive. The journey helped us move from a general idea to a clear, specific, and carefully thought-through set of governance documents. During scoping, the proposed approach was to provide a 'living systems' based charter" - this has proved to be completely true for the Fibers Fund, and even as we have gone through some unanticipated structure changes, the Charter has continued to guide us and be a touchstone for our decisions.”
Have there been any surprising outcomes?
"The surprises came after the journey – we learned that whatever contingencies or changes seem most unlikely at the beginning probably WILL happen! These experiences have really highlighted the resilience and ongoing relevance of our Charter. It has become our anchor and touchstone.”
“it's vital to create a process where you are required to consider decision-making flows, contingencies, and what ifs and think through how you would proceed in line with your values in such situations—because they WILL happen.” - Sarah Kelley
How has the charter guided your organization's purpose in practice?
"Having a clear, principled, and detailed Charter was invaluable in helping us share our vision with prospective Advisory Council members and helping us build our beautiful governance team. Since then, it's been our ongoing reference point for how these bodies should interact. Most recently, during a restructuring process, it's helped us hold our north star even while dealing with unexpected challenges. The Charter holds enough of our intention and vision to still provide guidance and grounds for decisions in this new phase.”
The charter was designed to be a 'living' document to guide adaptive organizations. Has that proven valuable?
"Absolutely! When all our other assumptions about Fund structure and partnerships shifted, the Charter endured as our internal guiding document. Without it, we would have had much less clarity and less of a clear rudder to steer through these changes. As we work through our reorganization, we are seeing the Charter come to life as it adapts to reflect the evolution of our Fund.”
What additional benefits have you witnessed?
"The most critical asset was the Charter’s role in sharing our vision with members of our Advisory Council and Investment Committee — I believe the opportunity to review our Charter and understand their roles clearly was critical to engaging these members, and we have since seen our governance bodies come into their own as the leadership of the Fibers Fund. Beyond guiding governance, I believe this thoughtful document has helped strengthen our due diligence materials and responses overall and contributed to recent positive funding news.”
Would you recommend this journey to others?
"Yes! For three key reasons: First, it's vital to create a process where you are required to consider decision-making flows, contingencies, and what ifs and think through how you would proceed in line with your values in such situations—because they WILL happen. Second, creating a Charter through the Living Charter Journey will provide a living systems document that will be an anchor for your organization as the external world, partners, and goals inevitably shift. And finally, the gifted facilitation process provided by Sacred Futures will inspire, align, and propel your team forward."
Is your company grappling with questions of self-organizing, decision-making power, participatory governance, roles and responsibilities? Curious about embodying your values as you build an adaptive organization? Get in touch with us to learn more about our Adaptive by Design methodology to organizational development, which begins with the Living Charter formation process.
